Miguel Cruz lives in the countryside of southern Jalisco, Mexico, and has been raising bees for more than 40 years. Recently, and out of personal conviction, he decided to stop consuming avocados and berries, the star products of the most prolific agro-industries in the region.
«It is a form of protest and the only thing I can do. As long as there is someone who consumes, there will be someone who produces», says the beekeeper, a direct witness of the devastating effects that this type of business can have on the hives.
The use of pesticides and the loss of habitat due to deforestation are two of the main threats faced by bees, and consequently, three-quarters of food plants depend on their pollination.
Miguel says that his town, Atoyac, began to be «invaded» by agribusinesses just over five years ago. From the entrance to the town, the avocado fields and the berry greenhouses are visible. A good part of the surrounding hills, which until recently were covered with wild vegetation, are now covered by another monoculture: the tequila agave.
Jalisco claims to be the agri-food giant in Mexico, as the national leader in the sector. The beekeeper explains that businessmen come to towns like his and seek to rent as much land as possible. Most people accept the deal, as it represents a secure income with no investment or work involved.
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or it was the case of Araceli Paniagua, Miguel’s partner and partner, to whom several times they have offered to rent a piece of land he inherited. They gave him 60 thousand pesos a year (about 3,000 dollars) for his 10 hectares, to plant avocado or maguey: «They begged me and begged me, but I told them it was not for rent. We have hives: how am I going to leave the bees without food for this?».
Avocados, blackberries, raspberries and other mass-produced fruits are export products and are not usually marketed in the villages. «Here they just leave us the pollution,» says Miguel. «They are polluting everything.»
The loss of bees is a global problem, and it has been proven that one of the main factors is the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on crops. These chemicals, similar to nicotine, affect the central nervous system of insects. It causes paralysis and eventually death.
«Bees lose their ability to orient themselves, they develop a type of Alzheimer’s: they forget where they live, wander and end up dying in the field,» explains José María Tapia, president of the Center for Research on Bees at the University of Guadalajara. «Another group of bees, feeling intoxicated, leave the hive, which does not happen normally.»
According to the expert, the disappearance of hives in Mexico ranges between 15% and 40%, accentuating in places where industrialized agriculture abounds. «In Jalisco we have evidence of massive poisonings in the apiaries that are next to the avocado plantations, mainly, but also around the berries,» says Tapia.
Despite the above, many beekeepers accept to place their hives next to these crops, since the payment they receive from the companies can be more lucrative than the honey harvest itself.
And it is that, paradoxically, the plantations that make the bees sick and kill them also need their pollination. Other foods such as beans, chili, tomatoes, squash, coffee, apples and, in short, 75% of plants for human consumption, require pollinating insects to produce their seeds and fruits.
The bees also pollinate the pastures consumed by the cows, which in turn are a source of meat and dairy. According to Tapia, the value of pollination in Mexican crops is estimated between 12 and 19 billion pesos (between 600 and one billion dollars).
Due to the ecological and economic value of bees, the European Union banned the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides in 2018.
Mexico is the largest producer and exporter of avocado in the world: half of the fruits consumed globally grow in Mexican territory. Jalisco is the second state with the highest production, only after Michoacán, and the first in relative growth. Between 2012 and 2017, the volume of Jalisco avocados registered an increase of 315%, according to the Agrifood Atlas.
The fruit is also known as «green gold», as it is the basis of an extremely lucrative business. The national value of exports in 2017, mostly directed to the United States, amounted to $ 3 billion.
But avocado crops not only have effects on bees. A documentary on the television channel ‘France 2’ shows various problems related to these plantations through testimonies collected in a Michoacan town. The most serious are deforestation, pesticide-related illnesses in workers, extortion, and organized crime violence.
Awareness of these negative effects is increasingly widespread. An Irish chef, JP McMahon, decided to stop serving avocados at his restaurant. The chef recognized with a Michelin star refers to the fruit as «the blood diamonds of Mexico.» A coffee shop on the outskirts of London announced something similar last year.
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On the other hand, the sustainability demands of markets such as Europe, Japan and Canada, are beginning to be heard by some Mexican businessmen in the sector. In Jalisco there are already around 800 hectares of certified crops – out of a total of 22,000 – that have been approved by the international organization Rainforest Alliance.
Through certification, farmers prove that they protect the ecosystem, do not contribute to deforestation, support and protect endangered species, among other good practices.
Some have also realized “that the pollinators are killing their friends,” says José María Tapia. He himself promoted an agreement that has just been signed in Ciudad Guzmán (Jalisco) by several avocado and berry producing companies, the State Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Bee Research Center that he presides over.
The farmers pledged to contribute money for projects proposed by our research center ”, explains the academic. Tapia mentions a pollinator census around crops, the placement of flower patches so that bees have a place to reproduce and feed, and educational programs on agrochemicals that are friendly to them.
The production and consumption of organic food is less and less a luxury and more a necessity. This is how a group of rural women organized against the ecological degradation of their villages understands it.
«We fight for our right to health and a healthy environment free of pesticides and pesticides. We want our lives to be respected and to stop violating our rights,» says a joint statement by the Jalisco Defenders Network, which defines itself as an ecofeminist organization.
Araceli Paniagua, Miguel Cruz’s partner and partner, actively participates in this association. She and dozens of women who work in the countryside of southern Jalisco met at the beginning of October in Ciudad Guzmán to exchange experiences and imagine solutions.
The organic food produced by each of them can be found in the Flor de Luna Market, in Guadalajara, including honey, propolis and other products produced by Araceli and Miguel’s bees. The main objective of the organization, say the women who compose it, is to promote «agriculture for life, compared to agriculture for death that we experience every day.»
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