Do you doubt the disastrous consequences of chemicals on the environment?
Then the experience of Cuba should convince you!
You probably know it:bees are threatened all over the world by destructive pesticides.
Everywhere ? No ! There is a place on Earth where bees are safe. This sanctuary is Cuba!
The reason is simple. Cuba simply gave up on pesticides in the 1990s.
Interesting when you know that the survival of bees depends on the survival of our ecosystem.
What if we followed this example in France?
Yes, in Cuba there are not only old cars, rum and cigars. There are also bees to the delight of beekeepers!
Some of them even manage to harvest up to 45 kg of honey per hive . Enough to make our French beekeepers jealous who are struggling to recover some 20 kg per hive!
The honey harvest is so abundant that organic honey is the 4 e most exported product in Cuba.
Beyond the ecological interest, the economic interest is obvious.
In 2014, the island produced 7200 tons of honey with an estimated value of 23.3 million dollars.
If you want to taste Cuban honey, you can find it here.
In reality, the success of honey in Cuba is the result of chance.
In the 1990s, Cuba's ally, the USSR, could no longer export its pesticides to Fidel Castro's island. Cubans are then forced to do without.
Good news for the bees who take advantage of this to develop!
A Cuban beekeeper, Raul Velasquez, gives his version of the facts to the Reuters news agency:
"The government is not allowed to sell us chemicals. That could be the reason the bees don't die here like they do in other places. It's a very natural environment here."
Honey therefore becomes gold in Cuba, especially since the production is organic. But, the interest of this phenomenon has another importance for the planet.
Indeed, what must be remembered is that stopping the use of pesticides allows bees to thrive again.
And bees are pollinating insects of major importance.
It is thanks to them that we have most of our food resources.
They therefore condition our survival on Earth.
But let's go far from the exotic Cuban shores...
Because another island has also proven that stopping the use of pesticides allows bees to develop again.
On the island of Ouessant, in Brittany, pesticides are almost banned.
And we see that the mortality rate of bees in winter is 3%...
While it is 30 to 40% in the rest of France.
What are we waiting for to give up all these chemicals in agriculture once and for all?
