Beekeepers Qualify for Green Diesel on Paper, but the Off-Road Vehicles That Reach Their Hives Are Shut Out
Beekeeping is an eligible activity for Portugal's cheaper farm diesel, but the rules cover only tractors and farm machines, not the 4x4s that reach remote apiaries. The beekeepers' federation wants fuel aid like the help given to transport firms.
Portugal's beekeepers have asked the government for help with fuel costs, saying the all-terrain vehicles they need to reach their hives are barred from gasóleo verde, the cheaper "green" diesel that farmers use. The National Beekeeping Federation (Federação Nacional da Apicultura, FNA) made the request on Friday 13 November at the 25th National Beekeeping Forum in Mogadouro, in the Bragança district, Lusa reported via Observador.
It is the latest sector to ask for a share of the fuel aid the government has extended this autumn, after hauliers and bus firms and private patient transport firms.
What green diesel is
Green diesel is the everyday name for gasóleo colorido e marcado (coloured and marked diesel): ordinary diesel dyed and chemically marked so inspectors can tell it apart, and sold with an exemption from, or a reduced rate of, the fuel tax (ISP). The rules are set by Portaria n.º 50/2020, published by the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) in a consolidated version (Portuguese only).
Under that order:
- The benefit is drawn only with a personal, non-transferable electronic card issued by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DGADR).
- Farmers apply through their regional agriculture directorate, listing each machine they want to fuel and proving they own or lawfully hold it.
- Applicants must have their tax and social security affairs in order.
- Both the activity and the machine must be on the order's lists.
That last condition is where beekeepers run into trouble. Beekeeping (apicultura) is on the list of eligible activities in Annex II. But Annex I, the list of eligible equipment, covers tractors, excavators, chainsaws, sprayers, harvesters and similar farm and forestry machines, each with an annual allowance in litres. It does not include ordinary road vehicles, such as the pick-ups and four-wheel drives beekeepers use to reach their hives.
What the beekeepers want
FNA secretary-general João Casaca told Lusa that the sector burns a lot of fuel because apiaries are always far from towns and reachable only by all-terrain vehicle, and that those vehicles are "barred" from green diesel. He said beekeepers who signed crop pollination contracts early in the year, before fuel prices jumped, finished the work in summer with costs higher than expected and will not recover the loss.
The federation wants a support measure similar to the help given to transport firms. The Lusa report does not give an amount. According to Casaca, Portugal has 750,000 hives, and 55 to 60 percent of them belong to more than 1,100 professional beekeeping businesses.
What it means for you
If you keep bees, even as a small side business, green diesel can help only with an eligible machine, such as a small tractor, registered on your card. Cars and 4x4s are not on the equipment list, and the card is cancelled if the benefit is revoked for breaking its conditions. Ask your regional agriculture directorate what you can register. Pump prices for everyone else are tracked in our weekly fuel price report. The federation says it is now waiting for the government to respond.
