An Overview Of Our Solution
Bees have declined in the Kullu valley of Himalaya in India. Due to the decline of bees, apple farmers are facing the problem of low yield. Realizing this they have started to supplement their orchards with rented bees brought from the adjoining states.
Earthwatch Institute India are focusing on revival of traditional bee keeping practices and restoration of landscape by planting bee flora. Pollinator diversity, abundance and their preferential flora is being monitored through citizen science..
This is a first of its kind effort to revive traditional bee keeping practices for pollination and restoration of landscape for improving pollinator diversity in the region. Similar restoration and capacity development projects can be replicated in other parts of the world.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Asia
General Information
Organization type
À but non lucratif
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Grasslands
Population impacted
6000
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
2000 ha
Production quantity
40,000 metric ton
People employed
2000
Solution
Describe your solution
After researching for 3 years we have identified the bee forage plants and raised their nursery and with community participation planted them as hedge row or in community land. We are trying to revive the traditional knowledge and bee keeping practices by developing the capacity and skills of local farmers in bee keeping. Involvement of women farmers in bee keeping is being promoted as its regarded as a male genders job. Awareness and capacity development programmes are being conducted to aware the farmers on the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services mainly pollination services.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
In your response, please include the following: (2000 characters max)
- Specific activities and/or specifically what your solution does to address the identified problems above in the Context Analysis section
- How you ensured your solution was adopted and promoted change in human activities
- Enabling conditions
- Key success factors
- Any obstacles and how you overcame them
External connections
List some of the key partners or stakeholders engaged in your solution development and implementation. Explain how your efforts connect with other sectors, such as fisheries and forestry, and other practices, such as policy and finance. (300 words max.)
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
The ecological challenge that we are targeting is decline of native pollinators and pollination ecosystem services.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Farmers in the Himachal state in India mainly grow apple. Apple is the main livelihoods of the people. Each family on an average has a landholding of about 0.5 ha which yields approximately 0.6 million Indian rupees. People had traditional bee keeping practices. These practices can still be seen in the remote villages of Himalaya, they are dying a slow death owing to modern housing. Depletion of forage attributing to mono cropping, changing climate, indiscriminate use of insecticides and pesticides are the other major factors responsible for the loss of habitat of bees and native bee species. Today the farmers have to depend on migrant bee keepers to sustain their farm productivity and have to pay for the services which was earlier free.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
In order to conduct the research we used the citizen science model and involved students, corporate employees and general public who collected data under the supervision of scientists. Approximately 150 citizen scientists were engaged.
To raise awareness on biodiversity and ecosystem we trained approximately 500 farmers both men and women including youths. We raised the nursery of native bee flora and planted almost 3000 seedlings through community participation. We altered the farm ecosystem by planting bee flora like mustard and coriander approximately in 5 hectares to improve the pollinator diversity and density to sustain apple production
Language(s)
Hindi
Water
Plantation of bee flora will help in water retention in soil in coming times
Food Security/Nutrition
The intervention will help in sustaining apple production which is the main livelihoods crop of the farmers in the entire state. Revival of bees and restoration of the landscape will help in food security
Economic/Sustainable Development
The project has helped in sustaining the economic sustainability in the region by sustaining the crop productivity.
Climate
Plantation will help in making the environment better by not only sequestering carbon but also in making the climatic condition favorable for growing apples as it requires cool chilling temperature.
Sustainability
The activities undertaken will sustain the crop productivity which in turn will sustain the economy of the people. Capacity development activities will empower the farmers to continue bee keeping. Plantation of bee flora will help in improving the pollinator population which will help in pollination services to sustain apple production
Return on investment
To achieve the result approximately INR 35,00,000 was invested in different activities which in turn will help in getting much more benefits in the long run as each family involved earn approximately INR 6,00,000 each year from just apple. The increase in pollinator population will help in increasing the productivity of other crops as well which will give better economic returns.
Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Yes the activities can be replicated in other parts of the state or in the mountain regions. Funding will be required for implementation to manage the project, for capacity development workshops/training's, for introducing modern bee hives and for plantation. Funding requirement will vary depending upon the magnitude of the project.