Deputies asked to ban the import of bees from Asia

“The mite Tropilaelaps clareae was discovered”

A group of State Duma deputies proposed to ban the import of bee material from Central and Central Asia and its sale on Russian trading floors, including Internet sites. They stated their request in a letter to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert.

The requirement is due to the fact that in 2022, on bees imported to Russia from the mentioned regions, the mite Tropilaelaps clareae was found, causing a deadly disease of bees – tropilelapsosis, which can destroy entire apiaries in a short time. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the behavior and modes of transmission of this parasite are not well understood. Effective methods of treatment and prevention have not been developed. In addition, it is not always possible to identify it as a result of the check.

“This quarantine disease is capable of destroying a huge number of bees in Russia within a few years, which will drastically reduce the production of bee-pollinated crops and may cause a food crisis due to a lack of pollination,” Kaplan Panesh, deputy chairman of the Committee on Budget and Taxes, comments on the “MK” initiative. – In addition, such imports negatively affect the genetic potential of bee breeds, which negates the efforts of domestic breeding farms and breeders. Finally, it creates non-competitive business conditions for entrepreneurs involved in the production of domestic packages and mother breeding. We believe that it is necessary, on the contrary, to stimulate the development of domestic selection, the creation of bee reproducers in the southern regions of Russia.

Also in the appeal, Deputy Panesh demands from the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor the creation of specialized reserves to preserve endemic subspecies of honey bees in the wild and proposes to transfer large apiaries from honey production to the production of bee packages to fill the market and replace imports.