Is it really worth protecting bees?

It is 17h00 on a Thursday afternoon. You rush out of the office and get to your car. You still

have to pick up the kids from sport practice. Stop at Pick a Pay and pick up some groceries.

Not to mention the city traffic you have deal with on your way home…

Cooking dinner. Helping the kids with homework. Washing. Doing dishes. You eventually go to

bed exhausted. Does this sound familiar? I am sure it does.

We live in this fast lane world, filled with highly developed technology. Our days are a

constant chase to get thinks done. Work and personal life takes up so much time that we

sometimes take the simple things for granted.

Who in his or her right mind has time to think about a bee?

They pop up in your mind when your six-year-old runs screaming into the house after he or

she was stung by one. And then you are shaken back to reality. Bees do exist!

You run outside, praying that this was a once off sting and that a colony hasn’t moved into

your property. But when last have you just walked into your garden and just observed? The

bees are there. Silently working. Flying from flower to flower. And while we go about our busy

lives, they go about giving us a life. A life of abundance.

Where do you think that juicy mango comes from? Or the tomato in your salad? The avocado

on your morning toast? Bees are the little creatures that make sure we can feed our families.

They are life giving. And without them we will surely be lost.

Pollinators like bees and butterflies help pollinate approximately 75 percent of the world's

flowering plants. They pollinate roughly 35 percent of the world's food crops—including fruits

and vegetables.

In Europe alone, 84% of the 264 crop species and 4,000 plant varieties exist thanks to

pollination by bees. Some attribute the following quote to Albert Einstein: "If the bee

disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.

Without bees, supplies of foods such as apples, berries, avocados, coffee and onions would

fall drastically since they require the help of pollinators to reproduce. With plummeting

supplies, the prices of these foods would skyrocket, making them rare and inaccessible to

most people. Further, as plants that rely on bee pollination die out, so would the animals that

rely on these plants. Can you imagine the domino effect? With time we won’t have much left,

now, would we?

The question we need to ask ourselves is “What are you and I doing about it?” Are we just

watching? Or are we going to make a difference? It is our children’s future after all… What are

we leaving them with?

So how can you help?

To start off, you can become bee – friendly. And this is not that difficult. By using bee –

friendly pesticides in your garden, you give our bees a fighting chance. We all have had the

occasional honey bee colony moving into our properties, and if you need to have them

removed, make sure you have it done by a qualified and trained beekeeper, that has

experience in bee removals. They will make sure that the colony is removed safely and

relocated to an apiary where they can flourish.

We all love a beautiful garden, filled with flowers and trees. When planting, use plants that

will attract bees and other pollinators. This way you make a positive contribution to bee

conservation and they will reward you, year after year, with a garden abundant in flowers.

Next time, when shopping for a bottle of honey? Make sure it is locally produced honey and

not imported. Supporting local bee farmers help us to protect our African honey bee species.

Remember, our bees need you. And we need them.