Honey producers facing a sticky problem are trying to tackle the worldwide decline of honey bees.

Wallingford-based Rowse Honey, the UK’s leading honey producer, is co-ordinating a campaign to save the English honey bee and has the support of MP Ed Vaizey.

Numbers of English honey bees have plummeted in the last year because of problems with parasites, disease and weather conditions.

Beekeepers now fear the pollination of dozens of varieties of fruits and vegetables could be under threat because of the problem.

Mr Vaizey, who toured the factory with chairman Stuart Bailey and managing director David Bondi on Friday, promised to call for a debate in the House of Commons to raise the profile of the problem.

He said: “The problem could be disastrous for the UK agricultural sector. I think we should be very worried about the problem. It’s a much bigger issue than just honey.”

Last October, the firm donated £100,000 towards research into saving the honey bee and is supporting British Beekeepers’ appeal to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to provide £8m in emergency funding over five years to help tackle the problem.

It is also labelling every jar of its honey ‘Save the Honey Bee’.

Mr Bailey, who employs 160 people at the firm’s Moreton Avenue base, said: “There are no major threats to jobs at the moment.

“Last year, the honey market grew and we grew. We are in a recession and honey is an expensive item, but we are in a strong position.

“There is a honey bee crisis. Some beekeepers are saying last year was the worst year for 28 years.

“If there’s serious losses this year, beekeepers will give up. If the same losses happen next year people will be saying ‘where are our apples, pears, raspberries and strawberries’, which all the bees pollinate.

“The honey bee carries out 80 per cent of pollination.

“We are coordinating this campaign to raise awareness of the problem.

“Honey has never been so popular, but we need to make sure we are protecting British sources.”

A Defra spokesman said: “£1.3m is spent annually on bee health, including £200,000 on research. Defra has provided an extra £90,000 to investigate higher levels of colony loss.

“A bee health strategy is being developed with stakeholders, which aims to set out the objectives and priorities for the bee health programme.”

The National Audit Office is also due to publish a report into the issue later this month.

wallingford@oxfordmail.co.uk