Morocco Launches Nationwide Survey to Investigate Bee Colony Collapse

This is a joint operation between the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA), who have launched a series of studies to determine the origin of the phenomenon, said government spokesman Mustapha Baitas.

To this end, a total of 20,000 hives were examined in a first step and it appears that climate change, rainfall deficits and new beekeeping practices are potential factors that may be at the origin of this phenomenon.

The bee samples were sent to national and foreign laboratories for study, the minister said.

In this regard, the government has released an amount of 130 million dirhams (MDH) to provide treatments against several diseases such as varroa, to compensate affected beekeepers by providing them with new hives, to support beekeeping farms to improve their skills and to encourage scientific research in this field, he added.