Bees on its knees: Climate change decimates honey production in Gaza

Mohammed Abu Rjailia has been forced to wait for more than a month than anticipated to begin harvesting his honey. 

In years gone by, the beekeeper from Khan Yunis – a city in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip – had begun his harvest around mid-April but this timeline has been drastically skewed by climate change. 

"Climate change has stunted pollination and has prevented us from harvesting nectar," Mohammed told The New Arab. 

"Matters have been made worse by a sharp fall in demand from local customers. Inflation, unemployment and generally dire economic conditions have impacted purchasing propensity. Honey is now a luxury for most Gazans"

As a result, Mohammed has had to incur huge financial losses this year. "Hundreds of my bees have died," Mohammed explained, noting that he has lost approximately 300 bees, with only 100 hives surviving. 

Honey production is also down dramatically. A hive, which previously would yield 15 kilogrammes of honey now only produces 4-6 kilogrammes. 

Mohammed is not alone in his predicament. Abdul Rahman Abu Ouda, a beekeeper from Beit Hanoun has also lost thousands of dollars due to the death of his bees. 

Having gone into beekeeping ten years ago after failing to find employment in his preferred field of engineering, the money made by Abdul Rahman through the beekeeping business helps support his family, in a poverty-stricken area of Gaza. 

"I thought I would have had a better life. However, climate change has massively impacted my only source of income. I now have debts that I cannot afford to pay, which means my family will have to suffer," Abdul Rahman explains to The New Arab. 

Matters have been made worse by a sharp fall in demand from local customers. Inflation, unemployment and generally dire economic conditions have impacted purchasing propensity. Honey is now a luxury for most Gazans. 

"In previous years, customers would buy organic honey in large quantities for their families. Now, I can hardly sell to these very same customers," he noted, adding that the price of each kilogramme has declined from $40 to $15. 

Meanwhile, the Gazan authorities have allowed beekeeping and honey production to fall by the wayside. There seems little motivation to keep this important sector afloat. Training methods are scarce and facilities lacking; the impetus to keep beekeeping as a tradition alive falls upon the beekeepers themselves. 

Abu Rjaila and Abu Ouda are among 300 beekeepers in the Gaza Strip, most of whom are located in the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip, according to Taher Abu Hamad, director of the Department of Animal Production in the Hamas-run Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza.

Most beehives are spread around the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, near the border fence with Israel. This is on account of the lack of residential properties in the area, as well as their proximity to agricultural lands on either side of the border. 

That said, agricultural lands in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip have been sprayed with pesticides by Israeli planes on numerous occasions, which has led to the killing of both flowers and bees. 

"The Ministry has recorded a noticeable decline in honey production compared to last year," Hamad told The New Arab, adding "this decline is due to the spraying of pesticides along the eastern border, and the effects resulting from atmospheric climate changes, which negatively affected the bees' feeding of the hives.”

In addition, the spread of the parasitic Varroa disease has contributed to the limitation of honey production, saying that “this disease affects bee insects, and lives between the abdominal rings of male bees or on larvae, and these parasites feed on the body of the bee itself, by making a hole in its body. And sucking its blood, killing it.”

Sally Ibrahim is The New Arab's correspondent from Gaza