Tizimín, Yucatan — Beekeepers in the Yohactun Hidaglo neighborhood are gathering court evidence after a mass die-off in their hives.
Fumigation work in neighboring fields have devastated more than half the hives in the region’s apiaries, beekeepers said.
Moreover, honey production in August was down 60% over the same period last year, beekeepers reported.
Official data tracks 582 tons of Yucatan honey in August 2018, and just 206 tons in August 2019. Honey producers blame the chemicals, which they say drift over from agricultural fields.
The beekeepers filed a complaint with the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), but no sanctions against the farms were reported.
More than 10 million bees were killed in Yucatan last year due to pesticide use, according to one report.
The beekeepers indicated that they will collect samples to be analyzed in a laboratory and presented as evidence to back up an eventual law suit.
With information from Milenio.
{ From 2015: Mayan beekeepers fight the odds }
