The Co-operative has warned the problems facing the British honeybee population are being exasperated by a new economic phenomenon - “beeflation”.
The mysterious decline in the number of honeybees, coupled with the growing popularity of beekeeping, has led to a dramatic rise in the cost of the insects.
A five-frame nucleus of bees, which is needed to set up a new hive, cost keepers just £40 in 2008 but now it costs more than £150.
Beekeeping was traditionally a countryside pursuit, but more and more city dwellers are taking it up since the plight of the honeybee population, which experts believe halved in England between 1985 and 2005, was publicised.
As part of its ongoing Plan Bee campaign, The Co-operative has funded beekeeper training and start up kit including bees for an army of new urban beekeepers.
Plan Bee is a ten-point plan, worth more than £500,000, to help reverse the decline of the UK bee population and includes initiatives such as inviting beekeepers to establish hives on its farmland and temporarily banning the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh and frozen produce.
Chris Shearlock, sustainable development manager at The Co-operative, said: “A series of factors have come together to have a devastating impact on honeybees, which are nature’s number one pollinating machine.
“In order to help reverse this decline in the bee population we have been supporting city dwellers to take up urban beekeeping but now ‘beeflation’ could put it out of the reach of some people.”
Last year, The Co-operative piloted an urban apiary and beekeeping courses in a Manchester park and following its success, announced in March that similar courses would be running in London and Inverness.
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