World Bee Day (20/05) is an opportunity to talk about something much deeper: the resilience of the Greek land, the quality of our food, biodiversity, the productive identity of the country and the people who keep the countryside alive.
The bee is one of agriculture's most silent, yet most critical allies. It not only produces honey. It contributes to pollination, crop fertility, ecosystem maintenance and ultimately food security itself. Simply put: without the bee, agriculture becomes poorer, nature becomes more vulnerable and our food becomes less quality.
In Greece, beekeeping is not a marginal activity. It is a vibrant and productive industry, with more than 20,000 beekeepers, about 2.2 million hives and an annual production estimated between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of honey. It is an industry linked to mountains, islands, forests, aromatic plants, nomadic movement, knowledge passed down from generation to generation, but also to the modern need for certification, extroversion and added value.
Greek honey has a strong identity. It is not a uniform product. It is pine honey, thyme honey, eletisio, anthomelos, chestnut honey, herbs and special local ecosystems. It is a product of Greek nature, geography, climate and the experience of the beekeeper. However, this quality is not enough. It must be protected, documented and promoted.
This is the great challenge for the coming years: to move from the logic of simple production to the logic of value. To support the real producer, to strengthen quality, to shield the credibility of Greek honey and to place the sector where it deserves to be, at the forefront of a modern, sustainable and extroverted agricultural economy.
The State supports beekeeping with specific resources. Through the Sectoral Beekeeping Programme of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, the sector is supported with a total budget of 61.6 million euros, i.e. 12.3 million euros per year. In the three-year period 2023-2025 alone, almost €36 million have been disbursed, with very high absorption rates: €11.9 million in 2023, €11.85 million in 2024 and €12.2 million in 2025.
Behind these numbers there are real interventions: support for the Beekeeping Centres, technical assistance and training, support for nomadic beekeeping, replacement of hives, equipment to facilitate movement, analyses of honey and bee products, surveillance actions for pests and diseases, applied research, promotion and promotion of hive products.
But support alone is not enough if it is not accompanied by fairness, transparency and rules. The new era in beekeeping must be an era of credibility. The National Electronic Beekeeping Register, the Individual Digital Beekeeping Identity and traceability tools such as the e-honey platform are not bureaucratic processes. They are tools to protect the producer himself. They are the way to know who produces, what they produce, where they produce it and how the product reaches the consumer.
This also applies to organic beekeeping. Real organic beekeepers, those who follow the rules, invest in quality and respect the consumer, have nothing to fear from transparency. On the contrary, they have every reason to demand it. Because any distortion, any sham practice, any attempt to exploit a system of aid ultimately does injustice first and foremost to honest producers.
Consolidation is not a punishment for the industry. It is a prerequisite for it to be properly supported. It is the only way to get resources to those who really produce, who really invest, who really keep beekeeping alive. Fair support is the best response to injustice and the strongest foundation for the day ahead.
At the same time, the climate crisis is changing the conditions under which beekeeping is practiced. Changes in flowering, prolonged droughts, high temperatures, fires, pressure on forest ecosystems and new bee enemies are creating a more difficult environment. The beekeeper is often at the forefront of this change, long before it is noticed by the rest of society.
That is why the protection of bees is at the same time an environmental, productive and social policy. It means protecting the beekeeping flora. It means better knowledge and education. It means cooperation with the scientific community. It means support for professionals in the sector. It means market controls, combating fraud and promoting Greek quality.
Beekeeping can become an example of how we want the primary sector as a whole to move: with respect for tradition, but without fear of technology; with support for the producer, but with the obligation to follow rules; with emphasis on quantity, but mainly on quality; with a Greek identity, but with an outward-looking orientation.
The future of the industry cannot be stagnation. It must be upgrading. More knowledge, better organisation, stronger collectives, more bargaining power, more certification, better market presence, more consumer confidence. This is the way to make Greek honey even more valuable.
World Bee Day reminds us that rural development is not just about economic indicators. It is the relationship between man and the land. It is the balance between production and the environment. It is the capacity of the countryside to produce wealth, quality and potential.
The bee is small, but its message is big: nature cannot stand indifference, production cannot stand sloppiness and the real producer must not be left alone.
It is our duty to stand by him. With resources, with rules, with transparency, with a plan and with respect. So that Greek beekeeping can have a brighter future. And for Greek honey to continue to be not only a high quality product, but also an ambassador of the Greek land to the world.
Spyros Protohpsaltis
