China: success through transhumance, manual labor and drones

In the Middle Kingdom, wild bees are almost extinct. That's why the Chinese are coming up with a few ideas. Read more about unorthodox measures here.

On the road with beehives

In China, wild bees are extinct in many places. The fact that the number of bee colonies has nevertheless increased is due to commercial honey production. In order to take maximum advantage of the flowering season of the orchards, China's approximately 300,000 beekeepers travel around the country with their hives.

In addition, they have largely replaced the European bees, which are endangered by the Varoa mite, with Asian bees because they are resistant to the pest.

Pollination by hand or drone

In the meantime, however, pollen is also applied by workers with brushes. This is mainly done by fruit growers who want to guarantee the purity of their pear and cherry varieties and prevent the pollen of different varieties from being mixed by uncontrolled flying bees.

Last but not least, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences reported that recently experiments have also been conducted with drones that spray liquid pollen onto fruit blossoms.