Honeybee populations in the world are declining rapidly — and everyone is affected, not only those who put honey in their pancakes.

According to data by the United Nations Environment Program, in the United States alone, beekeepers have been losing approximately 30 to 40 percent of colonies annually since 2006, often exceeding 60 percent in extreme cases. Primary causes include parasite attacks, pesticide exposure, habitat loss and climate change, which collectively create unsustainable, high-density losses in bees and colonies especially during winter. 

With bees pollinating over 75 percent of leading food crops, their decline endangers the production of fruits, vegetables and nuts, risking malnutrition and economic crises.

“Bees are actually major pollinators. Without bees and pollinators, we’d all be eating rice and corn — no main course, no fruits, no vegetables, only grass,” beekeeper Larry Ong explained partly in Filipino in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.

Over a decade ago, Ong learned about the decline in colonies, so he sought for a way to help.

“We started long before as a hobby. We didn’t expect for this to happen,” shared Ong, who used to work in a hardware. “Somebody bought a screen from us to turn into a (beehive) colony. That piqued my interest to also try it as a hobby.”

After buying his first colony, Ong was happy to have harvested guava-flavored honey. From then on, he did not stop — from learning more about bees and taking care of them, to propagating them. Today, his colonies number to about a hundred, encompassing different bee species like European, stingless and native, in his own bee farms in Naga City, Camarines Sur and Albay.

“We do sustainable honey harvest for wild bees,” Ong affirmed.

From the initial harvests, the demand for Ong’s honey continued to grow, so from honey, his company, Orange Country Enterprises, has expanded to include honey-based products like lip balms, sauces, herbal supplements, and even sustainable and biodegradable beeswax wraps. Among the company’s latest ventures is a bottled vegetarian line of Filipino specialties such as Sinantolan and Dinuguan.