In early April, the skies in Serbia were sunny, the orchards were flowering, honeybees were busy collecting nectar and pollen from more than 1.2 million bee hives in the country. Within a week, however, the bees suddenly began to spread in several locations across the country. The pollen they fed was poisonous, because farmers over-sprinkled the trees with pesticides.
The head of the Beekeeping Society of Serbia Rodoljub Zivadnović said that the country's agricultural sector may suffer losses of more than 200 million dollars annually, due to lack of vaccination, and if the poisoning of bees. "There may be horrific scenes, sometimes bees spend on the spot and sometimes, after a period of pollen containing pesticides," he said.
Since 2006, honey bees and other pollinators worldwide have witnessed a rapid decline in their numbers due to several factors, including the excessive use of chemicals.
Nenad Savic, a bee breeder from a village outside Belgrade, said that although Serbia, which wants to join the European Union, has imposed strict guidelines on the use of chemicals in agriculture, many farmers ignore them.