Day bees, Millefiori honey superstar for Italians

 - Wildflower honey, witness of biodiversity, is the preferred variety by 27% of Italians, followed by acacia (24%) and chestnut (22%). It is used as a sweetener for drinks (59%), while 52 % eats it spread on bread.

And if 49%, mostly women, use it to combat seasonal ailments, 34% use it in food preparations.

This is what emerges from the survey of the magazine Vita in Campagna carried out on a national sample of 1300 hobby farmers, to evaluate the habits with respect to this food in view of the World Day of bees on May 20.

On the purchasing front, over 2 out of 3 Italians go to local producers, while 20% go to supermarkets or food shops.

An encouraging sign for the world of small agricultural producers and which represents a virtuous link with the territory and with zero-kilometer choices.

The data on self-production is considerable, reaching 13%, with a prevalence of male beekeepers.

Honey consumption in Italy has been growing in recent years, but still far from the levels of other European countries.

If the average per capita is 500 grams, while in Germany it reaches a triple share.

An increase that, according to Paolo Fontana, apidologist at the Edmund Mach Foundation, president of the World Biodiversity Association and beekeeper, was interrupted in 2021 (-14% consumption, -40% production compared to the average of recent years), for the climate change.

The national annual production, in fact, fails to meet the needs (Italy is the sixth importer in the world), a country that could be the ideal place for bees where there are 1.5 million hives in 2021. In net there is an increase in honey producers who today are 73,000, of which 70% for self-consumption and 30% professionals.

And hobbyists in particular are growing: in 2017 they were 3,000 while in 2021 they rose to 52,000.

(HANDLE).