Unusual weather driven by climate change is wreaking havoc on bee populations, including in northern Italy where the pollinating insects crucial to food production are struggling to survive.

Italian winters have in general become milder and shorter, and this year -- just as in 2017 -- a warm spring arrived early, only to be followed by hailstorms and an abrupt return to lower temperatures.

"This was the most difficult harvest of my life," beekeeper Riccardo Polide says, fighting back tears at the fate of his hives in Mondovi, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Turin.

The bees could make only "pitiful quantities of honey, not even enough to keep alive", he told AFP.

A bitter blend of increased pesticide use, falling prices due to foreign competition and climate change -- which affects whole ecosystems, including bees and plants -- has hit keepers like Polide hard in recent years.

Like many others whose livelihood depends on the buzzing insects, Polide had to feed his colony fructose-based syrups this year to make sure they did not die of hunger.

"The spring season started well, but there was a sudden cold snap that seriously affected the blossoming of flowers," he said.

Acacia blossoms, the source of one of the best-loved types of honey, were especially scarce.

Meanwhile in Demonte, another area in Italy's Piedmont region near the French border, Lidia Agnello also saw her bees "starving to death".

She and her husband tried moving their hives several times to follow the flowers as they bloomed, but that failed and this year's honey harvest has been their worst yet.

- Chinese honey -

Beekeepers in Italy have seen "repeated poor harvests over the past seven years", says Samuele Colotta, a technician at Aspromiele, the local association of honey producers that Agnello chairs.

"Plants have had a regular annual life cycle for millennia. Changes to the climate and exceptional rainfall create problems. They no longer offer optimal pollen and nectar," he warned.

Bees are also being poisoned by pesticides while increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect nectar production.

The mass import of foreign honey -- particularly from China -- has also driven down prices, meaning Italian producers struggle to make enough profit to cover their costs.

There is currently no European legislation requiring sellers to specify the origin of honey, and many beekeepers say Chinese blends are "adulterated", for example by being cut with syrup.

"The situation is desperate," Agnello's husband Maurizio Biancotto said, standing in a small, almost-empty workshop in the basement of the couple's house overlooking the mountains.

Aspromiele has asked the government to declare a natural disaster so beekeepers can benefit from aid, such as a moratorium on loan repayments.

"It would give those in difficulty a bit of breathing room, in the hope that things will get better next year," says Agnello, adding that she is not optimistic about the future.

Agnello and Polide both managed to produce other types of honey this summer aside from acaia, but those harvests were disappointing.

Chestnut trees, for example, flowered for just a few days -- rather than two to three weeks as normal -- because of the unusual early heat.

Polide's total honey production came to less than 10 kilos (22 pounds) per hive, compared to some 60 kilogrammes previously.

"The production was worth less than it cost to feed the bees," said the apiculturist, who was also forced to feed his colonies in September, boosting them so they can survive the winter.

"If other difficult seasons follow, it will put the (business) at risk," he said.

He keeps his head above water by breeding and selling queen bees, needed to establish new colonies -- but if the sector remains in crisis, that income stream will also be threatened.

Polide said the EU should do more to protect beekeepers and consumers from those who dress inferior honeys up as the real thing.

But despite the stress and hard work, he said there was no question of him giving up.

"It's a passion... a wonderful job."

Black year for European beekeepers
Milan (AFP) Oct 4, 2019 - This year has been a black one for many European beekeepers, particularly in France and Italy, where unpredictable weather has produced what are being termed the worst honey harvests ever.

- 'Worst on record' -

Italy's main agricultural union Coldiretti said 2019 has been a "black year", with "a harvest almost halved" from the 23,300 tonnes of honey collected in 2018.

In France, it's expected to be "the worst on record", according to the National Union of French Beekeeping (UNAF), with "fewer than 9,000 tonnes" -- almost a quarter of the crop harvested in the 1990s.

Romania was European honey "champion" in 2018, with some 30,000 tonnes. But this year the country's production will drop below its recent yearly average of 25,000 tonnes, the ROMAPIS association told AFP.

And in Spain, the leading country in terms of number of hives, the harvest has been poor since 2015, with a drop of 5.2 percent in 2017 and a 2018 season which was "not up to expectations", according to the country's agriculture ministry.

- Climate change to blame -

January to early September saw over 1,000 extreme weather events in Italy -- up over 50 percent on 2018 -- including hail, storms and heat waves, Coldiretti said.

In France, spring was curtailed by a sudden cold snap, followed by a heat wave at the end of June. In some areas of southern France, the heat melted the wax in the hives, trapping the bees, UNAF said.

In Romania, "the lack of rainfall last autumn and winter hit rapeseed crops hard", resulting in "very low honey production", according to beekeeper Marian Patrascu.

Frost, drought and heavy rains resulted in fewer flowers or flowers without nectar, according to Italian, French and Romanian beekeepers, many of whom were forced to feed their bees to avoid them starving to death.

- What next? -

The fall in production in Italy is expected to lead to a drop in income of 73 million euros this year, on top of feed expenses.

The worst-off beekeepers will struggle to cover their costs, and the blow will be especially harsh for young farmers in debt.

All are pinning their hopes on better weather conditions next year.

But UNAF's president, Gilles Lanio, fears "a backlash".

To save the colonies, "the bees have killed all the males to get rid of extra mouths to feed". The lack of males for mating may lead to a "lack of fertilized queens" next spring, meaning fewer new colonies and bees.

Bee mortality has also shot up in recent years due to an "epidemic" of the Varroa parasitic mite, the uncontrolled spread of the Asian hornet in Europe, and the "intense use of pesticides in agriculture", according to the French Cyclops report.

- Chinese honey -

Beekeepers are sounding the alarm over massive imports of Chinese honey, which they say is "adulterated", for example by being cut with syrup.

There is currently no European legislation requiring producers to specify the origin of honey.

Labels can state it is a "blend of honeys originating and non-originating in the European Community", even if the product contains 99 percent Chinese honey and only 1 percent of, say French honey.

In Spain, beekeepers have held several protests against low-cost Chinese honey and authorities are planning to impose new labelling requirements which would list the percentages of honey included per country of origin.

In France, a decree is expected to come into force on January 1, 2020 which would list all countries that have supplied more than 20 percent of the honey in a jar, in order of importance.

- Northern Europe -

Thanks to a particularly hot summer in 2018, there has been renewed interest in beekeeping in Norway and Sweden, although it remains a marginal activity.

According to the Norwegian Association of Beekeepers, which now has 4,000 members compared to 2,500 a few years ago, production is around 1,300 tonnes, which far from satisfies the local market.

In Denmark, where production was up in 2018, local producers are finding it difficult to shift their produce.

The country's association of professional beekeepers says stiff competition from cheaper foreign honeys has left its members with an estimated 800 tonnes or more of unsold stock.

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