Tough decision: varroa eradication abandoned

Eradication of varroa mite has proved impossible with 277 premises infested, meaning the $132m program to address the parasite has been abandoned.

Varroa mites can hitchhike on adult honeybees to infest new colonies.

The nation’s $132 million bid to eradicate the parasitic varroa mite of honey bees has been abandoned, after the NSW Department of Primary Industries reported the pest had now been detected in 277 infested premises.

The national management group has announced “eradication of varroa destructor is no longer feasible based on technical grounds”, provided by the 25-member Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pest technical group.

Hard-hit NSW beekeepers had been lobbying for the eradication program to end, given the cost of destroying hives within 3kms of any outbreak, while others have been forced into lockdown.

NSW Apiarists Association vice-president Matthew Skinner said: “No-one wants the mite, but we no longer support it (eradication), because it’s too far gone”.

The $132 million allocated to varroa eradication, 80 per cent of which comes from the federal and state governments, will now be terminated.

The apiculture industry must now develop a transition package to live with the pest.

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive director Danny Le Feuvre said new funding would have to be sought for a transition package.

He said the industry would need to seek at least three years’ funding to cover beekeeper education, treatment strategies, a breeding program to select varroa resistant stock, and develop a suppression and containment strategy.

But the current emergency response deed only allows for 12 months funding for any transition management plan, unless apiarists can argue exceptional circumstances apply.

Beekeepers do not have the resources to fund a longer-term strategy; their 4.6 cents a kilogram honey levy generated less than $800,000 in 2021-22.