"There's no air in the village. You don't know where to breathe." Beekeepers in Tatarstan are again complaining about the use of pesticides in their fields.
According to Tatyana Okhotnikovawho lives in the village GulkinoLast night, equipment from the Soyuz-Agro agricultural holding company was spraying a mustard field just a few meters from her fence. The woman believes it was pesticides, as they left a distinctive odor.
After these treatments, the lungs literally cannot breathe, — she told NeMoskva. — This has been happening for several summers now. We have to live with the windows closed. There's no air in the village. You don't know where to breathe.
Okhotnikova works at a village school, and her husband works in a boiler room. Their 23-year-old son is disabled—he is deaf and has poor speech. To make ends meet and pay for his medical treatment, they maintain an apiary of 30 hives. However, due to frequent poisoning, the bees are dying. The most recent die-off occurred last fall, and a neighbor suffered the most, losing over 100 hives.
The apiary is everything to us, — says Okhotnikova. — We're keeping her for our son, to give him a career as a beekeeper. So he can earn a living when we're gone. Because there's no need to talk here, and he knows his way around bees.
Chief agronomist of the Soyuz-Agro holding Raushan Galiev confirmed to NeMoskva that the fields near the village of Gulkino were indeed treated for pests and rodents on the night of June 21st. According to him, the crops were sprayed with a third-hazard class pesticide, which poses no significant harm to bees or humans. Furthermore, there is no requirement to notify the public of its use.
We started refueling at eight o'clock in the evening, and worked at night, as required by law, — he clarified. — The equipment arrived at the village only around 11:00 PM. They finished at 2:00 AM.
Galiev also emphasized that a few days prior, completely harmless liquid fertilizers had been applied to the fields. Even then, several beekeepers raised the alarm and, without investigating, began calling the police.
— We also have complaints about beekeepers, — he said. — They transport bees to our fields without warning us. And as soon as they see the sprayer, they immediately start making complaints.
Okhotnikova still claims that the equipment began spraying pesticides near residential buildings at 5:00 PM, before sunset, when bees were still flying. The police are currently investigating the circumstances.
The war between Tatarstan's beekeepers and farmers has been going on for years. Previously, "NeMoskva" told, how one of them was able to recover 435 thousand rubles from an agricultural holding company, due to which he lost 30 hives in 2022.
