The difficult situation of the sector means that beekeepers are increasingly joining the protesting farmers. However, these are grassroots initiatives, and so far the Polish Beekeeping Association has not announced an official position on this matter.
The protests have been going on for almost a month and are getting bigger and bigger. Other sectors are also joining farmers. Unofficially, it is said that hunters have also joined the action, and beekeepers are also increasingly appearing on strikes, whose difficult economic situation results primarily from the flood of honey imported mainly from China and Ukraine, the prices of which are incomparably lower than the costs of honey production. national.
However, information on social media shows that the Polish Beekeeping Association – the main organization associating beekeepers – has not yet responded to the grassroots initiatives. We asked the PZP office to respond to the action, we will publish the answer immediately after receiving it.
PZP appeals to the Minister
However, it would be unfair to say that the PZP is standing on its hands. At the beginning of February, the association’s management sent a letter to the deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Michał Kołodziejczak, appealing to block the inflow of cheap honey from Ukraine. The letter reads as follows:
We ask you to support beekeeping families so that they can survive by continuing the activities they have been doing for generations. It is not true that Polish beekeepers expect imports because they have problems with selling honey from their apiaries. Honey purchasing companies have completely suspended purchases from beekeepers, explaining that they have very large stocks of imported honey in their warehouses.
We also read:
We would like to point out that there is a lot of talk about counterfeiting bee products not only in the European Union, but also around the world. The primary goal of the Polish Beekeeping Association is to represent the interests of the members of our organization and to legally protect the name “honey” and other bee products and promote them. Unfortunately, we are unable to influence the so-called “mixers” or “businessmen” who make fortunes on imported products at much lower prices than Polish ones.
Slovakia set an example
In its letter, the PZP management board gives the example of Slovakia, which has introduced a ban on the import of certain food raw materials and products derived from them from Ukraine. The original resolution, which included a ban on the import of four products, was valid until the end of last year, and was then extended to include other groups of goods. A procedure for closing customs duties has also been introduced for all other agricultural and food shipments from Ukraine transiting through the territory of Slovakia. This list includes, among others, honey, royal jelly and propolis.
The full text of the letter is published below
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