By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News, 28 September 2010 | Read the full article >>‘Pollination crisis’ hitting India’s vegetable farmers
A decline in pollinating insects in India is resulting in reduced vegetable yields and could limit people’s access to a nutritional diet, a study warns. […]Despite the concern, no study had been done to assess directly the scale of the decline in natural pollinators, explained Parthiba Basu, from the University of Calcutta’s Ecology Research Unit. […]He explained that certain crops did not depend on insects for pollination, including cereals. Instead, the plants used other mechanism – such as relying on the wind to carry the pollen.However, many vegetables – such as pumpkin, squash, cucumber and gherkin – were reliant on insects, such as bees. […]Dr Basu said: “There is an obvious indication that within the ecological farming setting, there is pollinator abundance. This method typically provides the habitats for natural pollinators – this is the way forward.”He added that if the team’s findings were extrapolated, this would offer a “clear indication” that India was facing a decline in natural pollinators, as ecological farming was only practiced on about 10-20% of the country’s arable land. […]Troubling timesThe UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that of the slightly more than 100 crop species that provide 90% of food supplies for 146 countries, 71 are bee-pollinated, primarily by wild bees, and a number of others are pollinated by other insects. […]In industrialised nations, such as the US and in Europe, many farms employ the services of commercial hives to pollinate fruit trees and food crops, and ensure they harvest adequate yields.But Dr Basu said the use of domesticated bees in this context was not widespread in South Asia.“There are honey farmers, but using hives in the field to pollinate crops is not at all common in India,” he said. […]
A number of possible causes have been suggested, including the misuse of pesticides, habitat loss and fragmentation, and the spread of parasites and diseases. […]
Source: BBC News – ‘Pollination crisis’ hitting India’s vegetable farmers
Address : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11418033
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