Pesticides Kill 300 Bee Hives in Yucatán, Farmers Demand Justice

Tekax, Yucatán, Mexico — An environmental and economic catastrophe has struck the rural community of Nohalal, a village in Tekax, Yucatán, where more than 300 beehives died en masse within days, leaving the community without its annual honey harvest. Local beekeepers attribute the deaths to pesticide poisoning, accusing a neighboring citrus producer of spraying chemicals—allegedly via drones—on lemon plantations, leading to the mass mortality of honeybees.

A Scene of Devastation

The apiaries presented a grim sight, with carpets of dead bees covering the ground around the hives—a phenomenon residents describe as a true “ecocide.”

“We Were Left Without a Honey Harvest”: Voices of the Beekeepers

The beekeepers of Nohalal expressed outrage and sorrow. Eliseo Chan Gómez, one of the primary affected beekeepers, recounted that since April, they had noticed hives weakening and eventually becoming devoid of bees. He and his colleagues suspect a citrus-growing businessman from the neighboring San Rufino ejido, who allegedly applied toxic substances to combat lemon pests without regard for collateral damage.

“More than 300 full hives have died due to the herbicides that were sprayed,” Chan Gómez denounced, directly accusing an agricultural company (Granos y Vegetales de Yucatán) that uses modern drones for fumigation.

Another beekeeper, Gregorio Chan Ramírez, stated that such an incident had not been seen in the area for 50 years. According to testimonies gathered by residents, the accused lemon producer even ordered his entire harvest to be cut before fumigation to prevent chemical damage to his fruit—suggesting awareness of the pesticide’s lethal effect on nearby apiaries.

With a trembling voice, Gregorio Chan summarized the tragedy’s impact:

“We have been left without a honey harvest this year. A lot of money has been lost,” he declared, emphasizing that years of work vanished in days.

“Just as they [the company owners] have a right to their fruit, we also have a right to harvest the honey that sustains us,” the visibly distraught beekeeper added.

Each lost hive housed approximately 60,000 bees—totaling millions of dead pollinators—a figure confirmed by local reporters visiting the site. Economically, the community estimates losses exceeding 300,000 pesos in production value and equipment.

“This has never happened before… and we’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” lamented Emilia Gómez, the ejidal commissioner of Nohalal, whose son lost 46 hives in a single night.

Nohalal is a 100% beekeeping village—practically all 15 families living there depend on honey for their livelihood. The loss of their bees means losing their primary source of income.

Investigations and Lack of Official Response

Following the beekeepers’ complaint, personnel from the Intermunicipal Biocultural Board of Puuc (JIBIOPUUC) visited Nohalal to collect samples of dead bees and investigate the poisoning’s exact cause. However, beekeepers were warned that lab results could take up to three months.

The affected parties demanded that JIBIOPUUC expedite investigations and, above all, determine “what and who” caused this pollinator massacre. So far, no state or federal authority has sanctioned those responsible. The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), tasked with monitoring agrochemical use and environmental crimes, was notably absent in Tekax.

“Where was Profepa?” questioned local press editorials, highlighting the impunity prevailing in Yucatán’s countryside.

Beekeepers report that no authority has yet “faced them” regarding the issue.

This alarming case in Tekax is not isolated. In the neighboring municipality of Tzucacab, beekeepers reported the death of 300 hives earlier this spring due to chemical use in habanero chili crops. Pesticides were allegedly applied within a two-kilometer radius, wiping out bees in the area. Combined with the initial wave of over 100 hives exterminated in Nohalal, Yucatán has recorded more than 400 bee colonies killed by agrochemicals in 2025 alone.

The collective economic losses easily exceed 300,000 pesos for small local producers, who are pleading for support and compensation.

Images of thousands of dead bees scattered across the ground—wings still, bodies lining hive entrances—stand as evidence of an unaddressed “ecocide” in the region. This occurs just six months after Mexican courts legally recognized bees as “subjects of rights” and Maya communities as their natural guardians. Even this historic precedent has not spurred decisive action. Environmental organizations argue that federal authorities have failed to enforce bans on pesticides highly toxic to bees, despite legal recognition.

Yucatán, a Honey Powerhouse with Challenges (2020–2024)

Paradoxically, Yucatán is Mexico’s leading honey-producing state, but bee mortality threatens this status. In 2023, the state produced approximately 9,450 tons of honey, securing its national lead. This marked a slight 2.4% increase from 2022 (~9,220 tons). However, Yucatán has yet to recover pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, the state achieved a record harvest of 11,589 tons of honey, valued at 444 million pesos, comfortably ranking as the country’s top apicultural producer. But 2020 saw a drastic collapse—COVID-19 (closing markets and limiting operations) and extreme weather (flooding from Tropical Storm Cristóbal in June 2020) severely impacted the sector. Annual honey production fell below 6,000 tons that year.

In 2021, only 5,529 tons were harvested—the lowest volume in recent decades—and Yucatán lost its national honey leadership for the first time. Since then, Yucatecan beekeeping has shown gradual recovery: 9,250 tons in 2024 (preliminary figure), still below pre-pandemic peaks but confirming local beekeepers’ resilience.

Between 2021 and 2024, Yucatán’s apicultural sector processed about 36,000 tons of honey in total, maintaining its national dominance.

Economic Importance and Export Challenges

Yucatecan honey is highly valued for its quality (low moisture, nutrient-rich) and unique floral origin—derived from native flora like dzidzilché and tajonal, which give the honey distinctive characteristics. Approximately 38.5% of Mexican honey is exported, primarily to the U.S. and European Union.

In 2023 alone, Mexico exported over 22,000 tons, generating more than $67 million in revenue. Yucatán, contributing nearly a fifth of the national total, plays a key role in these exports. Germany and the U.S. are among the top buyers of Yucatán’s “liquid gold.”

However, this commercial success is threatened whenever health issues arise—exportable honey requires healthy bees. Some Yucatecan honey shipments have been rejected in Europe due to pesticide residues, closing doors for local producers abroad.

This is a double blow for beekeepers: losing hives and market trust. In response, the federal government recently launched the “Miel del Bienestar” program to promote domestic honey consumption and ensure fair prices for producers. Yet, incidents like Nohalal’s tragedy undermine these efforts by reducing production and exposing lax pesticide controls.

Environmental Impact: “Without Bees, There Is No Life”

The mass death of bees in Yucatán raises ecological alarms far beyond apiculture. Bees are essential pollinators—over 70% of global food crops depend on animal pollination (primarily by bees) to bear fruit. Without these insects, production of many fruits and vegetables would plummet, jeopardizing food security.

Beekeepers summarize it simply:

“Without bees, there is no pollination; without pollination, there is no life.”

Mexico hosts around 2,000 native bee species (of ~20,000 worldwide), including European honeybees (Apis mellifera) and numerous wild bees—all vital to ecosystems. The sudden disappearance of millions of bees disrupts ecological interactions: reduced pollination means fewer plants, affecting other insects, birds, and wildlife dependent on those plants.

What happened in Tekax and Tzucacab represents, according to experts, an incalculable ecological loss—assigning a monetary value to the death of millions of pollinators is nearly impossible.

Effects are already being felt elsewhere. In San Luis Potosí, declining bee populations have led to orange production deficits in citrus-growing municipalities like Rioverde. Poor orange tree flowering—directly attributed to pollinator shortages—has significantly reduced local citrus harvests.

This is a concrete example of how the bee crisis leads to agricultural crises: fewer bees mean fewer available foods. Not only cultivated plants suffer—Yucatán’s wild vegetation, rich in low deciduous forests, loses one of its key ecological allies.

Maya communities in the region have practiced meliponiculture (raising stingless native bees) since pre-Hispanic times, integrating bees into their culture and agroforestry systems. This biocultural heritage now faces unprecedented threats.

In November 2024, a historic court ruling recognized bees as part of the ecological and cultural legacy of Maya peoples, emphasizing that mass bee mortality undermines ecosystem integrity and Maya beekeeping identity.

Economic Repercussions for Beekeepers and the Region

The economic blow from hive mortality is devastating locally. In Nohalal, beekeeping is not a hobby—it is families’ primary income source. The lost 2025 honey harvest represented sustenance for dozens of people throughout the year. Now, these beekeepers face expenses (artificial hive feeding, queen bee replacement) without honey sales.

Some desperate beekeepers are selling their bees or equipment for immediate income—a pattern seen in other Yucatecan communities affected by drought and low prices.

Statewide, if these die-offs continue, Yucatán’s position as a honey leader and the economic benefits it generates could be compromised. The value of Yucatecan honey production exceeded 420 million pesos in 2022, and the economic value of pollination services bees provide in Mexico is estimated at over 79 billion pesos annually (nearly 19% of national agricultural value).

Bee disappearance affects not only beekeepers but also farmers in other sectors and the broader food economy.

A study by El Colegio de la Frontera Sur calculated that Mexico lost over 301,000 bee colonies in the past decade due to pesticides—a massive blow to biodiversity and productive capital.

Tourism and Yucatán’s image could also suffer. Maya honey is an emblematic export product; now, there are concerns that international buyers may associate local honey with agrochemical contamination. The EU has already tightened controls and rejected Mexican honey shipments containing traces of fipronil or glyphosate.

If buyer confidence erodes, exports will decline, and prices paid for Yucatecan honey will fall. Domestically, honey scarcity could drive up consumer prices.

In short, Yucatán’s rural economy—supporting some 13,000 mostly small-scale beekeepers—is at stake. Many combine beekeeping with other activities to sustain their families; losing hives could force migration, debt, or abandonment of an ancestral tradition.

Pesticides Under Scrutiny: Legislation and Omissions

Irresponsible agrochemical use is central to this issue. In Mexico, pesticide use is theoretically regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture (SADER) and monitored by environmental agencies like Semarnat and Profepa. Yet, loopholes and omissions abound.

Many pesticides highly toxic to pollinators—such as fipronil and neonicotinoids—remain widely used nationwide, despite being banned or restricted elsewhere due to harmful effects.

The EU, for example, banned fipronil and several neonicotinoids for outdoor crops in 2013 after linking them to bee declines. In Mexico, these compounds are still readily available in farm supply stores and applied with little oversight.

Civil organizations and beekeeping collectives have long demanded a total ban on fipronil and neonics in Mexico. Some recent legal advances offer hope:

In November 2024, a federal judge granted an injunction to Maya communities in Hopelchén, Campeche, compelling authorities to act against bee mortality. The ruling orders “all necessary measures” to protect bees’ environment, including:

• A total ban on agrotoxics like fipronil and neonicotinoids (already banned in much of Europe).
• Full enforcement of the presidential decree restricting glyphosate.
• A ban on aerial fumigation in beekeeping zones.

It even proposes officially declaring bees as “subjects of rights” and Maya peoples as their legal guardians, recognizing their ecological and cultural value.

This historic injunction—achieved by beekeepers and environmental NGOs—sets an important precedent. However, its impact remains to be seen. Beekeepers fear the ruling may be challenged or ignored if authorities fail to enforce it.

At the state level, Yucatán has had declarations protecting beekeeping since 2016, such as banning transgenic soy crops (which involved heavy glyphosate use) in honey-producing areas. But no local regulations specifically prohibit pesticide spraying during bloom periods or near apiaries—a gap exposed by the Tekax case.

Beekeepers have organized “community watch” efforts, monitoring neighboring fields and alerting social media to dangerous fumigations in the absence of swift institutional response.

Academics have also stepped in. The Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP) trains beekeepers in documenting mass bee deaths. Dr. Leticia Guadalupe Yáñez Estrada, a researcher there, explains they teach beekeepers to collect and preserve samples for lab analysis and have created a national incident registry portal.

Similarly, the Maya Alliance for Bees Kabnalo’on—with experts from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur—developed an “Action Protocol for Bee Deaths Due to Pesticides,” offering practical guidelines for prevention (e.g., notifying neighboring farmers, temporarily relocating hives) and post-event steps (identifying chemicals, filing complaints, demanding compensation).

Semarnat and SADER initiated working groups in 2024 to address prevention, response, and damage repair. Yet, no concrete policies have been implemented in Yucatán to curb the bee crisis. Beekeepers remain largely unprotected against fumigations conducted mere meters from their apiaries.

Experts Warn and Beekeepers Demand Solutions

Environmental specialists agree on the need for comprehensive action.

“Excessive agrochemical use is the main cause,” warns Dr. Yáñez Estrada (UASLP), noting that aerial pesticide application is especially harmful—only 40% lands on target crops; the rest disperses, potentially affecting bees up to eight kilometers away.

Exposed bees suffer neurotoxic damage, becoming disoriented and unable to return to hives, condemning them to die far from home. Thus, a key demand is banning aerial spraying near beekeeping zones—precisely what the Hopelchén injunction mandates.

Researchers and organized beekeepers also urge stronger action against uncontrolled deforestation in the peninsula, as habitat loss eliminates vital nectar sources and forces bees to travel farther, increasing chemical exposure.

Eric Vides, a scientist with the Bees and Territories project, stresses that beekeeping must be recognized as a priority activity, ensuring ecological, economic, and social conditions for its survival. This requires shifting from industrial agriculture to sustainable practices—organic farming, biological pest control, and integrated crop management instead of neurotoxic insecticides.

The beekeepers of Nohalal seek justice and support. Having lost years of work in days, they demand criminal investigations into those responsible—even considering legal action against the pesticide supplier. They also call for reparations; many lost not just honey but bees, hives, and equipment.

So far, no compensation has been provided—a recurring issue, as Campeche beekeepers received none after losing thousands of hives last year.

“Where is the government when these things happen?” asks Gregorio Chan, determined not to let his bees’ deaths go unpunished.

An Urgent Call to Save the Bees

Yucatán’s crisis underscores the urgent need to protect bees—not just to preserve an emblematic industry like Maya beekeeping but for the future of our food and ecosystems.

“Protecting these insects is not just a rural issue; it affects all of society,” emphasizes Dr. Yáñez. Without pollinators, food production will plummet, and everyone will suffer the consequences.

Beekeepers and environmentalists jointly call on authorities at all government levels to:

• Ban the most bee-hazardous pesticides.
• Establish effective prevention and response mechanisms for hive poisoning.
• Promote agricultural models that coexist with pollinators rather than exterminate them.

Yucatán, the ancestral cradle of honeybees, now faces a crossroads. The mass death of 300 hives in Tekax is a stark reminder that the balance between agriculture and nature has been broken. Restoring it will require political will, science, and community commitment.

As Maya beekeepers warn, protecting bees is protecting life.