World bee day: The hum beneath our harvests

In a country where rice paddies stretch endlessly and mustard fields glow golden, the soft hum of bees often fills the air. These tiny creatures -- nature's most vital workers -- are the quiet pulse beneath our harvests.

Globally, the buzz is fading. But in Asia, a rare story of resilience is unfolding.

As we mark World Bee Day today, the question before us is urgent: what more can we do to protect and promote healthy bee populations -- not just globally, but here at home?

Bees are more than honey-makers. They are the backbone of our food system. Nearly 75 percent of global crops depend, at least partly, on pollination -- and bees are the most efficient pollinators. From fruits and vegetables to oilseeds and pulses, the presence of bees directly shapes our diets.

Encouragingly, Asia has shown a more hopeful trend than much of the world. While Western nations report sharp declines in bee populations, countries like China -- the world's top honey producer with over 400,000 metric tons harvested annually -- are seeing stability or growth. Rich biodiversity, longstanding beekeeping traditions, and growing commercial interest have all played a role.

Bangladesh, too, has seen steady progress. According to the Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute, as of 2017, 1,551 beekeepers were managing 42,911 bee boxes across the country. Mustard fields hosted the highest concentration, reflecting the crop's significance to bees. This structured beekeeping not only boosts honey yields but also improves pollination, strengthening food security.

Yet, this progress is fragile. The most pressing threat comes from pesticides. Chemicals like neonicotinoids are used freely across our farmlands, often with little awareness. These substances disorient bees, impair memory and navigation, and often prove fatal. Entire hives have collapsed overnight. For small-scale beekeepers, the damage is devastating.

Equally worrying is habitat loss. As forests give way to brick kilns, roads, and industrial sprawl, wild bees lose access to flowering plants and safe nesting sites. Traditional rural apiculture has sharply declined. Climate change adds another layer of stress, disrupting seasonal rhythms and floral cycles. During a heatwave in April last year, honeybee colonies in Satkhira reportedly abandoned their hives in search of cooler zones.

These patterns risk unravelling more than just bee populations -- they threaten our agricultural cycles and ecological balance. But some local initiatives are showing promise.

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and districts like Jamalpur and Jashore, community-led beekeeping projects are empowering women and indigenous farmers. With support from NGOs and the Department of Agricultural Extension, these groups are setting up apiaries, improving yields, and earning supplementary income.

An especially creative solution has emerged in response to human-elephant conflict. In areas like Horikhola, Teknaf -- where refugee settlements and elephant corridors intersect -- communities have adopted beehive fencing, a technique inspired by Kenya. Backed by IUCN Bangladesh and UNHCR, the method was introduced in 2021 after a feasibility study.

Here, 20 farmers, including women-led households, were trained in beekeeping. Their hives now form a "beehive fence" protecting homes within a one-kilometre radius. Elephants, which instinctively avoid bees, are deterred without harm. By March 2025, over 30kg of honey had been harvested, and elephant incursions had notably dropped.

This rare initiative offers a win-win: mitigating human-wildlife conflict while safeguarding pollinators and livelihoods.

Each year, World Bee Day is marked with posters, school campaigns, and awareness drives. Companies like Syngenta Bangladesh have led youth programmes spotlighting bee protection. These efforts matter -- but they are not enough.

We need structural change. Stricter regulations on harmful pesticides. Legal safeguards for habitats. Research on native bee species. Real investment in sustainable farming. As a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Bangladesh is obligated to act.

Bees don't need rescuing. They just need us to stop harming them. And in doing so, we protect our own future.

This World Bee Day, let us place pollinators at the heart of our environmental discourse. Let us stop poisoning our fields. Let us plant flowers, not factories. Let the buzz return -- steady and strong.

Because when bees thrive, we all thrive.