Representatives of New Zealand's fragmented bee industry have called for Government support to reintroduce commodity levies for honey and the creation of a national body by April next year.
Appearing before the primary production select committee, John Hartnell, chair of the Federated Farmers Bee Industry Group, Ricki Leahy, president of the National Beekeepers Association and its chief executive, Daniel Paul, said government backing is needed to reimpose commodity levies to fund a single, comprehensive national association to represent the industry, worth an estimated $5.1 billion annually.
New Zealand's wild bee colonies were effectively wiped out by the arrival of the varroa mite in 2000, which halved the country's pollination workforce. The number of registered beekeepers increased 12 per cent in 2013/2014 to 4814, and are nearly back to pre-varroa levels.
Meanwhile, total hive numbers reached 500,000, an increase of 55,000 on the previous year, with about 750 commercial beekeepers accounting for more than 90 per cent of those hives while hobby beekeepers, defined as 50 hives and under, number 4590. But in July last year, there were only about 800 members across the two bee industry groups.
The National Beekeepers' Association was funded by commodity levies in the late 1990s but when members voted against renewing the levies in 2002, membership also became voluntary.
