Friday May 19th, 2023

World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20th, a date chosen in 2017 by the UN General Assembly to encourage education and public actions for greater awareness of these pollinators. According to the United Nations there are currently between 25 and 30 thousand varieties of these insects in nature. Data from Embrapa also indicates that more than 1,500 native species have already been identified in Brazil.

Both beekeeping and fruit growing are economically important and closely linked activities. UN estimates that 90% of flowering plants depend on animal pollination in some way, impacting about 35% of world agriculture. Many of the participants involved in Frutas do Brasil — the export program of the Brazilian Association of Producers and Exporters of Fruit and Derivatives (Abrafrutas), with the support from the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) — already work together with beekeeping to increase its fruit production.

The pollination of fruit flowers ensures the production of high quality fruits in sufficient quantity to supply the domestic and foreign markets. To get a picture of ​​the market’s size, according to IBGE data the fruit production in Brazil has grown around 3% in 2020, reaching more than 48 million tons.

Without bees, many fruit crops would have a significant reduction in its production, directly impacting the country’s economy. And in addition to contributing to fruit production, beekeeping is also a sustainable activity that helps to preserve the environment. Bees are important for maintaining biodiversity, as they help to pollinate native plants and ensure the production of seeds, fruits and flowers, which are essential to maintain the ecosystem’s food chain.

There are even cases in which beekeeping is a fundamental activity for fruit production, as it is the case of Agrícola Famosa. The producer Luiz Roberto Barcelos, founding partner of the company, highlighted the importance of bees in the production of his melons. Pollination only occurs by the insect’s action, that by visiting numerous flowers, takes the pollen grains with it.

Handling

According to Barcelos, it is essential that all producers dedicate themselves to special handling and place at least four boxes or five beehives per hectare during the flowering period.

To ensure that the bees have a favorable condition for pollination in the melon harvest, Agrícola Famosa takes the insects to an exclusive area to feed them with their own honey, which is stored in periods of abundance to guarantee a supply in periods of drought, when production naturally decreases due to the scarcity of flowers of cultivated and wild species.

In this way it is possible to maintain a regularity in the fruit’s production and assure the productivity that keeps Brazil competitive in the sector.

Barcelos also emphasized that the presence of bees in the production process has an impact that goes beyond the production of melons: it develops preservation awareness in employees, increasing their commitment to practices that respect the environment, a critical fator to keep sustainability necessary and required by society.

About Frutas do Brasil

Abrafrutas (Brazilian Association of Producers and Exporters of Fruits and Derivatives), in partnership with ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), develops a project to support Brazilian exporters in their quest to expand their business; opening new markets; recognition and differentiation of Brazilian fruits; increase the healthy habit of consuming tasty and superior quality fruits. Since the project started in 2014, Frutas do Brasil aims to show that Brazil is a provider of quality fruits produced in a sustainable way.

About Abrafrutas

The Brazilian Association of Producers and Exporters of Fruit and Derivatives (Abrafrutas) is a non-profit association whose purpose is to represent and promote Brazilian fruit growing in the international market. Created in 2014, Abrafrutas has approximately 70 associated fruit exporters and holds approximately 85% of the total volume of fresh fruit exported by Brazil.