New Zealand's sizeable and growing population of bee lovers will honour the humble, hardworking bee this World Bee Day today.
World Bee Day was established by the United Nations to raise awareness of the critical importance of bees, and other pollinators to the health of the planet and its people.
"The world over, people are becoming more aware of the value of bees and the vital role they play in keeping us fed and our environment thriving. This is particularly true in New Zealand," Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Kos said.
The most recent figures showed New Zealand had 10,340 registered beekeepers.
In comparison, figures from the UK - which had a population 14 times that of New Zealand - showed beekeeper numbers were close to 38,000.
In New Zealand, 75 per cent of registered beekeepers were considered hobbyists - operating 10 hives or less.
This group had grown significantly over the past five years, up 45 per cent, while the number of registered beekeepers with 11 to 50 hives had increased by 50 per cent.
This growth was driven by a variety of factors, Kos said.
"For many people, it comes from a desire to grow their own food, and a heightened interest in health and wellbeing prompted by Covid-19.
"For others it's about doing something good for the environment, and then many others are just fascinated by bees and want to learn more about them."
While beekeeping was "a wonderful hobby" it was a lot more complex than "putting a hive in your garden and letting the bees go for it," Kos said.
"You need to know how to identify and treat for disease and pests. Bees can travel up to 5km, so if you don't look after your bees' properly, they can quickly spread problems to other hives."
Apiculture NZ encouraged people interested to join a local beekeeping club to find out what was involved before they invested in a hive, Kos said.
There were also options for people who wanted to support Kiwi bee populations, without becoming a beekeeper themselves, Kos said.
"The best thing that people can do to help bees is grow bee-friendly plants."
"Some of the best plants for bees are gardeners' favourites like lavender, rosemary, basil as well as many pip fruit trees, citrus trees and natives like harakeke, rātā and rewarewa."
