The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Javier Parrilla, presented yesterday, at the Insular Table of Beekeeping, the lines of the new development strategy for the insular beekeeping sector. It is a program of measures with which it is intended to respond to the structural and health problems of the sector, promote professionalization, the conservation of pollinator populations and their habitats and promote research. A meeting in which the allegations to the PRUG of the Teide National Park, advancing the counselor that it will be requested that the number of beehives allowed go from 1,500 to 3,000.
Parrilla explained that “today we have presented our draft to the sector and now what it is about is that the different associations study it and make all the contributions and modifications that they consider necessary”. Once analyzed, three work tables will be held, before taking it to the Plenary for final approval.
The program includes more than 40 actions, among which the promotion of integrated pest management and the preparation of a manual of good practices in agriculture to avoid and reduce the use of harmful pesticides for domestic and wild pollinators stand out.
The island official also highlighted the need to identify important habitats for pollinators (in order to establish measures for their conservation), to apply a monitoring program, to promote the planting of attractive plant species for pollinators (rich in pollen or nectar), and native seeds of ecologically appropriate varieties adapted to the area.
ALLEGATIONS TO THE PRUG
During the meeting, the insular counselor transferred to the beekeeping associations the five allegations of the technical service of Quality and Agrifood Valorization to the Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park (PRUG), which were endorsed by all attendees.
Parrilla recalled that “beekeeping is a traditional use practiced in the Teide National Park for centuries”, that is why “the defense of beekeeping transhumance and the non-reduction of the number of hives in protected natural areas is inalienable”.
The PRUG draft indicates that the park will only be able to accommodate 1,200 hives in the same season, however, the Cabildo plans to increase this figure to 3,000. “The sector is currently going through a phase of maturity, so there may be moderate and non-damaging growth. So if we have to put a number, let’s do it with the future in mind,” he asserted. From the area it is proposed to eliminate the rotating distribution of the hives, the consideration of beekeeping as part of the material and immaterial cultural value of the national park and its introduction in the catalog of existing cultural assets.
