The bee population of the Western Cape is being seriously threatened by American Foulbrood (AFB) – an infection caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae – with knock-on effects likely to be felt in the downstream agriculture industry, the Western Cape provincial government has warned.
 
“AFB has proved difficult to control. If we do not take quick action, this could result in devastating economic losses in primary agriculture and food security, putting thousands of jobs on the line.

“Crops are dependent on bees for pollination [and] the fruit industry in the Western Cape requires between 120 000 and 140 000 pollination units a year, with demand increasing yearly,” Western Cape Economic Opportunities Minister Alan Winde said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to an estimate by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, the provincial average level of infection within an AFB-infected beekeeping operation was estimated to be between 5% and 10%.
 
Infected colonies either died or were required to be killed by beekeepers to prevent them from contaminating other operations.
 
While the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) had passed legislation that effectively prohibited the movement of any infected colonies, Winde lamented capacity constraints, which made it difficult to enforce these regulations.
 
“We have taken several steps to address the matter, including conducting a site visit to bee apiaries in Klapmuts and engaging with the industry to assess the impact of this illness.

“The provincial Department of Agriculture has [also] hosted an information session with farmers this week and I have written to the Agriculture Minister to offer the Western Cape’s full cooperation in the management of the bee population, particularly in respect of AFB,” he commented.

Moreover, the province’s Red Tape Reduction Unit was conducting an analysis to assess best practice in the management process as well as investigating how to resolve a case in which two containers loaded with honey had been left stranded at a local storage facility in Montague Gardens since 2009.

An inspection had since found that the honey was contaminated with antibiotics.

Further, the DAFF required that imported honey be irradiated, at a cost, to prevent the further spread of AFB. Only one container was irradiated.

“It has now been six years. The containers are rusting and the nonirradiated batch poses an AFB risk, as well as an environmental risk,” said Winde.

He added that the pollination industry was an important economic generator.

“According to research from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, out of the 115 leading global food crops, 87 are dependent on yearly pollination. Bees and pollination services contribute about R16-billion to the gross domestic product of South Africa and about R10-billion of that is generated in the Western Cape,” Winde held.