Doing the work of bees
In China’s mountainous Maoxian region in Sichuan Province,
there are almost 6,500 hectares of pear and apple orchards.
Every year, villagers descend on the farmlands to begin the
monumental task of pollinating every single fruit blossom –
by hand.
Apple production in the Maoxian Valley began in 1946
with 400 trees. By the 1980s, the region had over 200,000
trees, with apples being the county’s leading crop yield.
By the late 1990s, Maoxian was producing over 30,000 tonnes
a year to the value of USD6.4 million. With this burgeoning
commercial success came the increased use of pesticides,
overtaking the more traditional organic fertilisation methods.
The 1990s saw overall apple productivity decline by half,
attributed to the mysterious disappearance of bees.right Heavy pesticide use
on fruit trees in the area has
caused a severe decline in
wild bee populationsabove The long-term
viability of hand pollination
is being challenged by rising
labour costs and declining
fruit yields
Pesticide use, habitat loss, diseases, parasites
and global warming are plunging the honeybee
population into decline, so much so that fruit
farmers in China and elsewhere are doing the work
of bees. Why? Because you have a bee to thank for
every one in three bites of food you ingest
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