In 2018, the Mayan Alliance for the Bees of the Yucatan Peninsula, announced that around 350 hives died from aerial fumigations with pesticides. In short: in the Peninsula, the use of pesticides is decimating the population of bees. For years, the Maya communities have denounced the excessive use of agrochemicals and the deforestation of at least 600,000 hectares each year.
Leydi Pech, delegate of the Maya Alliance for Bees of the Yucatan Peninsula, points out that deforestation and the excessive use of pesticides are due to the planting of transgenic soybean or sorghum. ”Since these are monocultures and they are very large, they generate a lot of pests, so they use more pesticides they spray with crop-dusters or helicopters killing everything in the surrounding areas.” The most notorious case was registered at the end of last year in “Ejido Dzonot Carretero de Tizimín”, where aerial fumigations destroyed 91 bee colonies in one single day.
Beekeepers have demanded all agricultural government dependencies and the Agrarian Prosecutor’s Office to declare the Yucatan Peninsula a “State of emergency” and stop deforestation in the Mexican southeast, as well as a complete stop in the use of aggressive pesticides that are killing the bees.
Source: theyucatantimes.com