Beekeepers Rally in Athens to Save Greek Honey

Beekeepers rally in Athens on Thursday raising the alarm for the future of Greek honey which has long been considered the best in the world.

They call on the Greek government to take steps to prevent imported honey from being sold as Greek and for assistance in tackling higher production costs.

Δυναμικό συλλαλητήριο #Συνταγμα οι #μελισσοκομοι κάπνισαν την κυβερνητική αδιαφορία #αγροτεςhttps://t.co/LDYwJPODep pic.twitter.com/aUz3XnNOLZ

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Beekeepers are concerned about the dubious quality or even adulterated honey that is imported into Greece from China, Mexico, and Argentina among other places. These end up on the shelf and are sold as Greek at extremely low prices.

“We want a separation of imported and Greek honey,” Giorgos Sentementes, the president of the beekeepers of Messinia, Arcadia, and Laconia, said in speaking to ANT1.

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They also want the government to do away with the law which limits the use of beehive smokers in the forests during certain times.

“Our requests are to allow us to work in the forests, to stop these regulations that forbid beehive smokers,” said Giannis Grigoriadis, vice president of the Thessaloniki Beekeeping Association. “It is most unfair. We can’t work without the smokers. Just like a surgeon cannot operate with a scalpel.”

A bee smoker is a device used in beekeeping to calm honey bees. It is designed to generate smoke from the smoldering of various fuels.

Beekeepers struggle to save Greek honey after wildfires, floods

Beekeepers in Greece faced several catastrophic events recently, including the wildfires in Evia and the deadly floods in Thessaly. Some beekeepers became nomads, transporting their bees—at significant costs—to other areas.

According to European Union data in the period 2020 to 2022, there were approximately 9,500 professional beekeepers in Greece. This was a very low figure compared to the 24,500 between 2017 and 2019.

For thousands of years, Greek honey has been collected for its delicious, sweet taste and healing, nutritious properties, proving that we have always had a taste for the sweet substance.

Greek honey is unique because of the country’s famed biodiversity and temperate climate. The wide variety of trees and flowers found in Greece makes the country a playground for bees, which produce honey with different tastes depending on their surroundings.

Bees play an integral role in pollinating many plants that we rely on for food and other uses. Without them, many plants and entire ecosystems would be destroyed.

Climate change has impacted bee populations, which have been decreasing at an alarming rate. Scientists and bee-experts emphasize the importance of supporting beekeepers and buying sustainably-produced honey, as it helps keep essential bee populations strong.

Related: Why Greek Honey Is the Best in the World: A Beekeeper Explains