Pollination crisis' hitting India's vegetable farmers

'Pollination crisis' hitting India's vegetable farmers

The first sentence of this article hits the nail on the head, “A decline in pollinating insects in India is resulting in reduced vegetable yields and could limit people’s access to a nutritional diet, a study warns.” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11418033)

In the United States and parts of Europe, we are experiencing the same phenomena as bees are dying by the millions and no one can put a finger on exactly what is killing them. Many factors are to blame; pesticides, switching the queen bees from their colonies, transporting the colonies thousands of miles (causes stress on the bees), parasites, etc…

In India, the use of domesticated bees isn’t as common as in the US. So the question of causality remains unanswered. This is disconcerting because of the population of 1.2 billion people, many of which are reliant on food programs. While grains remain the major crop in India, and these types rely on the wind being the pollinator, many rural farmers (such as those of WOTR) would rely on insect pollinators for their vegetables. Would this mean that without their own crop yields in rural areas, the people will be subjected to migrate to the cities in search of work in order to feed their families? It will certainly create a change in diet, as the first sentence of the article suggests. With malnutrition already a concern in India, this is definitely something to keep an eye on……

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11418033