It called on the Government to restart shelved research programmes and to fund
new ones to try to save the insects.
Tim Lovett, the association's president, said: "The situation has become
insupportable and the Government is unwilling to take steps to avoid disaster.
"We're increasingly unable to cope with threats as they arise. No bees means a
huge cost to agriculture, without touching on the ecological and environmental
issues. We're facing calamitous results."
Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out,
although losses were higher in some areas.
In London, about 4,000 hives - two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital -
were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so
far this year, all have been wiped out.
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