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<b>FAO-IIED Press release<br><br>
5-step guide to help farmers evaluate agriculture’s hidden
heroes<br><br>
</b>Smallholder farmers will soon be better able to weigh up the cost and
benefits of adopting new practices that support some of the most
overlooked contributors to global food security the insects and other
animals that pollinate their crops and boost yields. <br><br>
“Three quarters of all food crops need insect pollinators such as bees to
get good yields, and 35% of all food production globally comes from crops
dependent on pollinators but there are worrying reports of declines in
pollinators from several regions of the world,” says Barbara
Gemmill-Herren of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO). <br><br>
Now, Maryanne Grieg-Gran of the International Institute for Environment
and Development and Gemmill-Herren have co-authored a handbook that
smallholder farmers and organizations that work with them can use to
identify such pollinator-friendly practices and evaluate their impacts on
livelihoods, incomes and health. <br><br>
“Sharing information with farmers about pollinator-friendly practices is
a good first step,” says Grieg-Gran. “But farmers will adopt
pollinator-friendly practices only if they can see that these practices
will bring benefits to them – and while cash always helps, other less
tangible benefits may also be important.”<br><br>
There are striking examples of farmers managing for pollination services
- in Ghana, a mango farmer realized some of the common weeds growing
under his trees attracted pollinators into the orchard. To conserve those
pollinator species, the farmer chose to hand-weed rather than use
herbicide even though weeding was four times more expensive. In Southern
India, farmers who grow coffee and cardamom have chosen to plant
selections of shade trees that flower at different times from the crops
to ensure continuous forage for the pollinators. But farmers are often
not aware of how best to manage their farms to make the most of this
natural service.<br><br>
The handbook, which will be published on 8 March by FAO, draws on work
with farmers in Ghana, India, Kenya and Nepal.<br><br>
To improve pollination of their horticultural crops, farmers in the
Mankessim area of Ghana chose to try out reducing pesticide use, protect
riverside vegetation and sacred groves that provide habitat for
pollinators and allow flowering plants to grow along field borders.
<br><br>
In Uttarakhand State, in India, farmers who plant grasses to prevent soil
erosion at the edges of their fields could instead use plants that also
attract pollinators. <br><br>
The handbook provides a five-step approach, centred in the farmer field
school tradition, for smallholders to assess current production systems,
identifying and testing new practices, and evaluating their impacts. It
will enable farmers to weigh up the costs and benefits of adopting
different approaches to farming.<br><br>
“Wild pollinators are some of the most important contributors to global
food security, but farmers often overlook them,” says Maryanne Grieg-Gran
of IIED. “Farmers need to be directly involved in testing practices that
encourage pollinators to visit their crops so that they can assess the
benefits and costs for themselves.”<br><br>
Barbara Gemmill-Herren of FAO adds: “As agriculture intensifies with
large-scale monocultures and greater use of agricultural chemicals,
pollinators are increasingly threatened. There is a critical need to
develop agricultural practices that sustain and increase yields, based on
the ecosystem services such as pollination provided by wild
species.”<br><br>
The publication has been produced under the Global Pollination Project, a
Global Environment Facility-supported project, implemented by United
Nations Environment Programme and executed by the Food and Agriculture
Organization, with seven national partners. The production of the
handbook was facilitated by funding from the International Fund for
Agricultural Development.<br><br>
<b><i>To download the book as a PDF visit</i></b>
<a href="http://www.internationalpollinatorsinitiative.org/documents.do">
http://www.internationalpollinatorsinitiative.org/documents.do</a><br><br>
<b><i>Contacts for interviews <br><br>
</i></b>Maryanne Grieg-Gran<br><br>
Principal researcher<br><br>
International Institute for Environment and Development<br><br>
<a href="mailto:Maryanne@iied.org">Maryanne@iied.org</a> / +44
(0)2034637399<br><br>
Barbara Gemmill-Herren,<br><br>
Focal Point, International Pollinator Initiative<br><br>
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations<br><br>
<a href="mailto:Barbara.Herren@fao.org">Barbara.Herren@fao.org</a> / +39
0657056838 <br><br>
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