About 25 experts and pollination management project managers from seven countries, who recently participated at international workshops in Chitwan and Kathmandu, stressed the need to formulate country strategies to manage pollination by preserving pollination agents like bees, bumble bee, wasp, flies and birds.[break]
The 3rd International Steering Committee Meeting on Pollinator Conservation was jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) with the support from Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UN Environment Program (UNEP).
“More than 35 percent of the total pollination is caused by animal pollinators. Due to growing threat to the existence of such pollination agents, food security in the world has come under severe risk. So, we agreed to come up with national programs to preserve them,” said Dr Hari Dahal, national coordinator of Global Pollination Project, Nepal.
Wind, water and animals are the key factors of open pollination in crops, fruits and vegetable farms.
Experts have identified encroachment in natural habitat and growing use of pesticide as the major causes behind the declining number of pollinators across the world.
Dahal said Nepal has initiated five-year ´Conservation and Management of Pollinators for Sustainable Agriculture through Ecosystem Approach´ in Chitwan district as a pilot project in Nepal, with the $125,000 project cost supported by FAO.
Representatives from Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa had participated in the workshops.
Related story
Declining pollinator population alerts experts
