Pollination & honeybees: What we do and where we work
Both of the following projects are due for completion in early 2014:
The GEF/UNEP/FAO GLOBAL POLLINATION PROJECT has been set up to address a decline in pollinators and pollination services that is expected to affect food production and human livelihoods in many parts of the world. This Global Environmental Facility (GEF) project is implemented through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and executed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in coordination with the governments of seven project partner countries: Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa.
The purpose of this project is to promote co-ordinated action worldwide to:
- Document the diversity of pollinators
- Address the lack of taxonomic information on pollinators
- Monitor pollinators to determine if economically and ecologically important pollinators are in decline, and identify the causes
- Assess the economic value of pollination and the economic impact of the decline of pollination services
- Study key pollination systems and identify good practice
- Promote the sustainable use of pollinators in agro-ecosystems through the implementation of best practice
- Promote awareness about the importance of pollinators
The HONEYBEE FORAGE PROJECT, funded by the Working for Water Programme of the Department of Environmental Affairs' Natural Resource Management branch, aims to contribute to the knowledge base of honeybee forage species and make recommendations about the proper management of these resources.
The relative importance of the various forage resources in South Africa is currently very poorly understood. Beekeepers utilise crop species, natural vegetation, forestry species and alien plants as forage for their colonies at various times during the year. With the human world’s need for increased food production, our reliance on the honeybee and other wild pollinators is growing. Consequently, our reliance on viable forage resources for pollinators is also growing. However, land use for the sole purpose of pollinator forage or as a pollinator habitat is financially unsustainable, so the land and forage species need to have a primary use (such as forestry, agriculture, conservation, recreation).
The Honeybee Forage Project intends to contribute to knowledge on:
- Relative importance of forage resources
- Spatial data of forage resources
- Alternative forage resources to alien species
- Optimal forage management
How we work
The Global Pollination Project has a crop/regional focus, with some of the seven countries studying the same crops to provide a global picture. The Honeybee Forage Project has a national focus with the aim to gain a better understanding of forage resources in South Africa.
The Global Pollination Project consists of four official components, and results of the Honeybee Forage Project will contribute to these components:
- Knowledge base (monitoring pollinator status, detecting agricultural deficits, understanding forage resource use)
- Management practices (landscape management considerations, case studies/profiles)
- Capacity Building (produce material, provide training, rally experts)
- Mainstreaming (policy issues, research to practice, public awareness)
Each of these components has various activities, sub-activites and deliverables. A one-page summary of the activities can be downloaded here.
To tackle this work, SANBI has put together a team of researchers, students, project management and communications experts. Please see the who we are page for more information
Where we work - South Africa’s Pollination Regions
The Honeybee Forage Project is a national project, with the aim to provide information about honeybee forage at a national scale. The Global Pollination Project studies the pollination service and honeybee linkages in more detail in three pollination regions.
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is indigenous to South Africa, and has two sub-species: scutellata and capensis. The sub-species are separated by a buffer zone and the so-called “Capensis Line”, which runs approximately through Niewoudville, Craddock and Port Elizabeth. As a result of the two sub-species, the intensity of crops and the distances beekeepers are able to cover, pollination services to crop agriculture in South Africa occurs in three large regions – regions where the same beekeepers provide a service to growers. These regions are being researched and described, but can be summarised as:
The Western Cape (west coast, inland to Touwsrivier and Swellendam, and along the south coast to Bredasdorp) is mainly a deciduous fruit production area, with many other crops like canola supporting honeybee populations in the greater landscape. Apples are a good example of a crop requiring pollination. The majority of apple farms are in intensely cultivated areas and the use of managed pollinators, for which the farmer pays, predominates. Correct pollination ensures the shape of the fruit, which is important for export. Research will include investigating the dependence of managed pollinators on natural areas for forage at certain times.
The Southern and Eastern Cape Region (from Riversdale to East London, and north as far as the Capensis Line, including the whole of the Klein Karoo) is famous for seed production and lucerne, with onion seed production being an interesting example crop. The onion seed industry consists of private farmers contracted to commercial seed companies. Pollination can be a limiting factor in a very labour-intensive and expensive production process and if it fails (as it does periodically), the farmers face huge financial loss. Onion seed production takes 28 months and the pollination phase is just 30-40 days. Farmers pay for managed bees to provide a pollination service. Research in this region includes management practices between fields with close proximity to natural vegetation (wild pollination service) and those far from natural veld.
The scutellata region, north of the Capensis Line is where beekeepers cover immense distances to provide a pollination service to growers and ensure year-round forage for their colonies. Sunflower are an example crop in this region. Sunflowers are rotated with grain sorghum, cotton, millet, maize and some wheat. Farming is predominantly by private commercial farmers. Farmers do not pay for managed bees, but beekeepers bring hives to the region during the flowering season for sunflower honey flow. Bees have been shown to increase both the yield and quality of sunflower seeds. Research includes how the distance from natural veld can impact seed yield.