A smaller quantity of bee honey will be harvested in Moldova this year as 30-50% of the bees kept at apiaries died this spring owing to the drought of last summer and because the bee families overwintered with difficulty, said the president of the National Association of Beekeepers of the Republic of Moldova (ANARM) Ion Maxim, IPN reports.

According to Ion Maxim, the beekeepers affected by the drought of the summer of 2020 weren’t included in direct subsidization because the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment didn’t work out and approve the common system for identifying apiaries and beehives according to the EU policies in the field.

The lack of state financing for the 2021-2022 action plan for implementing the national apiculture development program for 2021-2025, which was approved by the Government, is another serious obstacle to the development of the beekeeping sector.

Contacted by IPN for details, Valentin Roșca, head of the animal products manufacture, processing and quality regulation division of the Ministry of Agriculture, said it is not true that there are no funds for the 2021-2022 action plan for implementing the national apiculture development program. “Most of the actions are stipulated in the subsidization regulations and they are implemented through subsidization. No one will allocate a separate sum to them (beekeepers, e.n,),” stated Roșca.

Asked why the beekeepers affected by the 2020 drought weren’t included in direct subsidization, the official noted the direct payments are not damages, but are stimuli for a particular sector. Insurance is one of the requirements for benefitting from subsidies that in Moldova are offered for development. The insuring of the purchased goods, which are later subsidized by the state, is a condition for obtaining subsidies. The beekeepers should insure their crops and the state will compensate 70% of the value of insurance premiums.

Contacted repeatedly by IPN for a comment, Tatiana Nistorică, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, responded by a message that she is busy and cannot speak on the phone.

On April 16, representatives of associations of the agrifood sector, including ANARM, had an online discussion with President Maia Sandu. This centered on the problems caused by the pandemic and the drought of 2020. President Sandu noted she will support the beekeepers so that the sector develops sustainably, including by extending discussions with the development partners so as to attract high-quality investment to agriculture, and assured that such dialogues will be yet held.

According to official data, there are about 8,000 beekeepers in Moldova at present.