DISAPPEARANCE OF HONEY BEES

[Anchor Lead]

Beekeepers are suffering from great losses, as a large number of honey bees have disappeared and died en masse in Jeju and Gyeongsangnam-do Province. Experts say this strange phenomenon is due to unusual weather conditions and the spread of pest.

[Pkg]

At a bee farm in Jeju City, this yard used to be filled up with more than 300 beehive boxes. But now, there is only one row left, since millions of honey bees have disappeared or died.

[Soundbite] Lee Soon-cheol(Beekeeper) : "I have been farming bees for nearly 40 years. This year is the first time to see such a strange phenomenon. It is really frustrating."

There are roughly 500 bee farms on Jeju-do island. Recently, some 280 bee farms or more than half of them have reported that a total of 20,000 beehive boxes were left empty. One box accommodates 20,000 bees. Therefore, it is estimated that about 400 million honey bees have gone missing. The Rural Development Administration conducted a joint investigation with civilian experts on some 90 bee farms across the nation. It found that the mass disappearance of honey bees is mainly due to the spread of parasitic mites, which do serious harm to bee farming. Other reasons include the excessive use of chemicals to get rid of the pest. It is also presumed that exhausted bees could not return home after going out to collect pollen from flowers, which bloomed prematurely amid an unusually warm weather last winter.

[Soundbite] Choi Yong-soo(National Institute of Agricultural Sciences) : "The temperature was unusually high in November and December. So spring flowers bloomed and bees went out to collect honey. But with weakened immunity, exhausted bees died outside and could not return."

Bee farms in Jeju-do island, Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do provinces are found to have been hit the hardest. The agricultural ministry plans to provide financial support and pesticide to the affected bee farms.