Abstract:
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the impact of pollinator habitats and managed bee pollination on yields of pollinator dependent crops in North West of Amhara region, Ethiopia. The data sources for this study include farm household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The data was collected from 248 randomly selected pollinating crop producers selected from Ankesha, Dandila, Machakel and North Mecha woredas. Multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the impact of pollinator habitats and managed bees on pollinating crops yield. The results revealed that there is significant and negative correlation between value of pollinating crop and plot distance to forest, proxy to pollinator habitats. Value of pollinating crops reduce as the crop plots are far away from forest resources; this is probably because insect pollinators, especially widely pollinators, may not be effective if the distance of crop plots from forest is long. On the other hand, there is a significant and positive relationship between value of pollinating crops and number of managed bee colonies in a village. Other covariates that significantly influence value of pollinating crops include: distance of crop plots to grassland, household head sex, household head education status, household size, access to extension service, access to crop production training, crop rotation and location dummies. This study recommend on the importance of designing strategies to improve productivity of pollinating crops through enhancing pollinators, managed bees and farmers access to insect pollination service and beekeeping information at grassroots level.
Keywords: pollinator dependent crops; managed bee; pollinator habitats; value of crop