The Ministry of Agriculture and industry organizations discussed measures to reduce bee mortality.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Stефан Burdjеv convened a meeting with industry organizations in sectors such as beekeeping, crop production and plant protection to discuss the problem of high bee mortality. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, following a commitment made at a previous meeting with representatives of the beekeeping sector on May 13.

During the meeting, the main factors leading to bee mortality were discussed, including the improper use of plant protection products and veterinary medicinal products, including imports from third countries. Representatives of industry organizations stressed that such a meeting had not been held in the last three years, and welcomed the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food for organizing it.

Deputy Minister Burdjеv noted that in addition to the way of applying plant protection products, the lack of continuity and poor communication between honey producers and plant producers are also among the causes of the problem. He pointed out that in some areas with good communication between stakeholders, poisonings are not a problem, and this approach should be applied throughout the country.

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency reported that teams from the regional directorates are carrying out increased control in the period from March 15 to May 31, including on weekends. In connection with the adopted amendments to the Law on Plant Protection, the transformation of the Electronic Platform for Announcement of Plant Protection Activities (EPOPD) into a public electronic register is being prepared, for which a public procurement will be announced soon.

The participants in the meeting also pointed to other factors determining the problems with bee families, such as unfavorable climatic conditions, poisoning, diseases, etc. Deputy Minister Burdjеv stated that the meeting was of high quality and substantive, and is a good basis for future professional discussions. He stressed that it is important for the meetings to continue at the regional level in order to solve specific problems in the regions, and called on industry organizations to participate actively in this process.