Initiatives and innovations promoted by Keystone Foundation have helped promote bee keeping amongst farmers and tribal communities around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The impacts are visible in terms of better yields in coffee, mango and vegetable crops.
Promotion and growth of the pollination enterprise can help improve livelihoods for several mountain farming families by
generating employment and income as well as boosting the production and quality of crop. Managed pollination of apples as practiced in Himachal Pradesh, India is an excellent example of enhancing income and food security of not only apple
farmers but also beekeepers. However, there is a need for scientific research, capacity building of farmers and putting appropriate rules in place to strengthen the system of managed pollination of apples in the state.
India started exporting a small amount of honey in 1991-1992 and has now established itself as an important honey exporter to the world market. The quantity exported has increased substantially, and today India exports honey to 62 countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Pollination is a concern for cardamom farmers as it is difficult to maintain pollinator populations in plantations between
years. The innovative solution that is gaining popularity for ensuring quality pollination services to cardamom in South West India, is the use of managed forestry to create "sequential blooms" in mixed coffee and cardamom plantations.
Populations of honey bees and other pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years. A variety of stressors have been implicated as potential causes, including agricultural pesticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are widely used and highly toxic to honey bees, have been found in previous analyses of honey bee pollen and comb material. However, the routes of exposure have remained largely undefined. We used LC/MS-MS to analyze samples of honey bees, pollen stored in the hive and several potential exposure routes associated with plantings of neonicotinoid treated maize.
To maximize the potential of agricultural scale up, NGOs need to act as facilitators of multi-stakeholder processes that establish new types of farmer organizations, alliances to influence policy and investment, new business models, and innovative ways of delivery market services.
European foulbrood disease is a broad disease in honey bees caused by a bacterium, Melissococcus plutonius. By now, various herbal and chemical drugs have been tried to control it. In the present study, the effects of different organic extracts of three different bryophytes and a standard drug (positive control) have been tried to control the bacterium in vitro by using agar disc diffusion and micro broth dilution method.
Global warming has led to many plants blooming ever earlier and also before honey bees emerge from hibernation, leading to fears of a long-term decline in pollination.
A combined research group centred at Munich's Technical University (TU) has carried out a study into how bees are dealing with the change in global temperatures.
