Malaga beekeepers travel to Cyprus in search of solutions to defend their hives

"It's been six years now (2019) since the hornet arrived here and we've been demanding that the authorities take action ever since. In May we managed to get it declared an invasive exotic species and since then they should have taken some measures, but they've done absolutely nothing and we're desperate." This are the words of Joaquín Becerra, who is a technical specialist in this sector for the agricultural organisation Coag, and also a beekeeper in his own right.

Faced with this inaction, Malaga province's honey producers have organised a trip to Cyprus at the end of August. "We're going to learn how their beekeepers fight against Vespa orientalis, since it originates from there," he explained. The goal is to learn about the types of traps, attractants, repellents and other techniques they use.

Last year was already a serious problem, and this summer the expert predicts it will be even worse, because there have been enormous numbers of queens. "At the end of February with the rains many of them perished. But the queens that went into hibernation were so numerous that despite that mortality, since spring we're seeing many more queens than last year."

"At this point in the summer we already have pressure on the hives, when in other years at this time there was hardly any; and that means there are more nests and from now until their cycle ends, with the arrival of cold weather in mid-November, there are still more than two months left in which this could wipe out countless hives."

The beekeeping expert confirms the expansion of Oriental hornets throughout the province: "In Cuevas del Becerro, last year there were a few; this year we have many and the beekeeping industry is going to suffer tremendously." So much so that, if it's not remedied, Joaquín Becerra warns that this plague "will wipe out the sector, because many beekeepers are going to quit the activity".