Te Tiaki Whare Pī, Mahi Mīere hoki Apiculture

While Aotearoa has native species of bees, they are not considered suitable for producing honey. It is believed that honeybees were probably introduced here in March 1839, when Mary Bumby (sister of a Methodist missionary) brought two hives ashore at the Mangungu Mission Station in Hokianga. The introduced bees flourished in the native bush, and wild colonies multiplied rapidly. By the 1860s, Māori had become the first commercial beekeepers in the country, with the commercial production of honey beginning in the late 1870s after the introduction of the Langstroth hive (a moveable-frame beehive which is still used today). By 2020, an estimated 12% of Aotearoa apiculture businesses were Māori-owned.

In 2020, we counted 3,100 people in the Apiculture industry (also referred to as the beekeeping industry), and in 2019, the number of registered beehives peaked at around 918,000. This number has since been declining, with 2022 having a total of approximately 730,800 registered beehives and around 9,900 registered beekeeping enterprises, producing a total of 22,000 tonnes of honey. Production for the 2022 season increased 7% on the previous year and this was the fifth season in a row that saw production levels above 20,000 tonnes. This has resulted in increasing mānuka stocks, alongside a fall in exports due to COVID-19. There is now a glut of honey, with industry reports suggesting that the total amount of mānuka honey in storage is more than an entire year of production.

Consequently, the number of beehives now outstrips consumer demand and export prices for honey are declining, with the added pressure of pests such as varroa mite, and wasp invasions. Disease and pests are one of the biggest challenges for the industry. Landcare Research estimated that over winter 2021, the colony loss totalled 14%, or approximately 109,800 colonies, with 5% of losses being attributed to varroa mite.