Chile’s drought hurting bees

Chilean beekeepers are facing a shortage of flowers to feed their bees, a result of a severe 13-year-long drought. The lack of flowers, they say, have forced some beekeepers unable to travel to more habitable land to feed their bees with sugar water and other nutritious mixtures to keep them alive. "We have to prepare food with nutrients, with vitamins, with pollen on it because pollen is like eating a piece of meat. It has the same proteins, so an apiarist knows that have to make adequate food for the bees." President of Colina Apicultures said. Nearly all of the world's flowering plants need to be fertilized by pollinators, especially honeybees.

They pollinate plants when they fly around them, carrying pollen that fertilizes and allows them to produce seeds and fruits. A study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay, found that 75% of agricultural crops depend on pollinators.