SHADOW Secretary of State for Defra and Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has called for a significant proportion of funding to go towards tackling the decline of the honey bee.
Defra invested up to £10million to help to identify the main threats to bees and other insect pollinators earlier this year, but Mr Farron wants to see a large amount of that money spent specifically on the honey bee.
“Honey bees are responsible for about 75 per cent of pollination in this country so we need to target that species,” said Mr Farron.
He has put forward an early day motion in the House of Commons asking for funding to be allocated to the honey bee and for the Government to fund the Sussex Plan for Honey Bee Health and Well Being.
The project looks at methods of controlling the Varroa mite, which is believed to be killing the honey bee, as well as monitoring hives for other possible causes and breeding disease-resistant honey bees.
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