Varroa mite threatens Australia's horticulture: report

SYDNEY, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Australia's horticultural industry faces a growing risk to pollination services due to the spread of the varroa mite, a parasitic pest that attacks European honey bees, a new report said on Monday.

The mite, first detected in New South Wales in 2022 and now deemed ineradicable, poses a serious threat to key pollinator-dependent crops such as almonds, mangoes, and macadamias, according to the report of Rabobank, an agribusiness financial service provider.

Pollination demand in Australia is rising faster than the growth in managed beehive numbers, which have remained stagnant since the 1990s despite booming horticultural output, the report warned.

"This slow growth falls short of the projected demand for pollinators in Australia, as we have modelled," said general manager of RaboResearch Australia and New Zealand Stefan Vogel, the report author.

Rabobank modelled scenarios based on Canada and New Zealand, where hive numbers dropped by about 8 percent within five years of a varroa outbreak, followed by gradual recovery. In the United States, losses reached up to 25 percent over seven years.

Australia could face similar declines, leading to a national pollination shortfall within three to five years, the report said.

Beekeepers also face rising costs due to varroa mite control measures, inflation in labor and energy, and a fall in honey prices, it said, adding domestic honey production is increasingly undercut by imports, which now account for nearly 20 percent of Australia's supply.

To mitigate the risk, the report recommends increasing commercial hive numbers, improving interstate hive movement, exploring alternative pollination methods including drones and native pollinators, and breeding more self-pollinating crops. ■