Mass bee killings may occur in Azerbaijan-Georgia border areas

Measures to combat the brown marmorated stink bug spread in the border areas of Azerbaijan and Georgia may result in a mass destruction of bees in the country, Badraddin Hasratov, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Beekeepers Association Public Union, told Report.

“The Food Safety Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture carry out joint control measures against that pest through spraying. This can lead to massive bee killings. Georgia has already experienced this problem. We would like to give preference to biological control measures. We know that the brown marmorated stink bug is a serious agricultural pest. But still, there are other ways of biological control. We are very worried about the fact that medication will harm beekeeping. We also suggest that the spraying be coordinated with us. When areas are sprayed, we should be warned to move our bees away from those areas,” he said.