The Institute of Plant Protection, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan held the International Honey Bee Conference on Bee Pollination Under Climate Change Scenario via webinar today. Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister on National Food Security and Research was invited as the chief guest on the event.
The Minister said that Pakistan has great potential for beekeeping due to a diverse bee flora and suitable environmental conditions. Honeybees are an essential component of modern agriculture and economy. Beekeeping and honey production is becoming a profitable business in Pakistan along with being an eco-friendly practice.
Pakistan has three species of native Apis and one exotic honeybee. Currently there are about 10,000 beekeepers in Pakistan managing almost 1.1 million Apis mellifera colonies. Annual honey production is about 15750 Metric Tons in the country. Pakistan ranks 20th in the world for honey production and 34th in honey export. Beekeeping in Pakistan is mainly focused in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central and north regions of Punjab but nowadays it is growing rapidly due to the demand of honey and its byproducts locally and internationally.
As one of the most important pollinators in the world, bees are crucial for food production, human livelihood and biodiversity. Cross-pollination provides genetic variability in the offspring than by self-pollination.
Plant diversity is directly dependent upon pollination success and vice versa, thus to understanding the management of pollinators is very impotent. Unfortunately, bees and other pollinators are declining in abundance in many parts of the world with recent figures suggesting by as much as 30 per cent per year.
Honeybees pollinate approximately 73% of the world’s crops. The total economic value of pollination of crops worldwide has been estimated at 156 billion euros per year (Gallai et al., 2009).
Climate Change has negative impacts to the productivity of honeybees; such as altering plant flowering time, increasing water stress especially in situations of drought, thus reducing pollen and nectar availability, inhibiting movement, affecting bee communications, causing physical damage of hives, colony starvation and retarding bee forage activities.
Some constraints that pollinators have include climate change, changes in land use, intensive agricultural practices, mono cropping, use of pesticides, fragmentation and degradation of bee habitats and pests and diseases.
Interventions can be made to enhance Pollination such as, Growing more flowers, shrubs and trees that provide nectar and pollen as food for bees and other pollinators throughout the year. Planting herbs and vegetables – lavender, basil, mint and tomatoes provide food for bees as well as for humans can also help in pollination. Many people choose to avoid chemicals and adopt methods like physically removing pests or using barriers to deter them and Encouraging the managed crop pollination through beekeeping are good ways to enhance pollination.
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