To many people, these pollinators are simply insects that they see in the garden, but these tiny creatures carry out a vital role in keeping food on our plates. Unfortunately, bees are dying and it's because of human activities
You might have already read or heard about one of the hottest debates in the insect world in recent times — the unexplained population decline in pollinators, particularly bees, which has scientists all over the world trying to explain why and where have bees been disappearing.
In most cases, since there are no dead bees to examine, the theories we are left with are the usual suspects. From killer mites, to fungus, disease, pesticides, cell phone towers, genetically modified crops and the mysterious ‘colony collapse disorder’.
CCD has a devastating effect, with all the worker bees of a colony disappearing without a trace. This is not new news to us, CCD has been documented for years and it is only now within the past decade or so, the cases have increased to alarming levels, and recently in Spain and across Europe.
The human concerns by the end of it are quite selfish. With no bees and other pollinators, our food supply will get affected. Since approximately one third of the global production volume of food crops is dependent on pollinators, almost 75 per cent of the world’s crops would decrease in productivity.
A quote attributed to one of the smartest guys to have walked the earth, Albert Einstein, states that if the bee was to disappear from the earth, so would humans in another four years. There is some speculation whether Einstein did actually say this, but the message that comes through all the research, assumption and quotable quotes is that bees are dying and it’s because of human activities.
A class of pesticide called neonicotinoids has become extremely controversial of late. Neonicotinoids became popular in the late 90s when they replaced older pesticides. Unlike traditional pesticides neonicotinoids were genetically embedded into seeds before planting and were more efficient and longer lasting. A derivative of nicotine, the pesticide targeted the nervous system of insects and seemed to pass all safety and health standards and soon became widespread.
Today, one quarter of all global pesticide sales is of neonicotinoids which are now not only used in crops but also in gardens. However, over the years with more research poured into the phenomena of the colony collapse disorder, the pesticide has now emerged as a prime suspect.
Research and field trials from the UK Food and Environment Research Agency has questioned the direct link between bee population decline and neonicotinoids. Earlier this month an attempt to ban the use of the pesticide across Europe failed. Not surprisingly, the chemical pesticide industry, like other big industries, has a strong lobby and a multi-million dollar war is on to prevent the regulation of chemicals that go into pesticides.
India is not too far behind nor isolated from this increasingly grim scenario. Pollinators have declined in India as well and this is already resulting in lower vegetable yields. Research done in India has clearly indicated that an abundance of pollinators leads to higher productivity in crops. Each year we produce over 7.5 million tonnes of vegetables, which is about 14 per cent of the global total vegetable production. No surprise then that one-fifth of India’s gross domestic product is accounted to the farming sector alone. The service provided by pollinators globally has been estimated to be worth $224 billion dollars each year. It is a service that is there by default and continues as an amazing and complex process following a natural rhythm.
Unfortunately, we stand at a crossroads now with the challenge of billions to feed and limited land. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that we are already in damage control mode.
In industrialised countries, farms have been hiring bees for years now. With local pollinators gone, colonies of bees are actually driven down in trucks and in some cases flown down to farms across countries to pollinate fruit trees and food crops.
In America, where over 90 varieties of fruits, vegetables and nuts are pollinated by bees. A decline in bee numbers can easily result in a crisis. California is well known for its almond orchards which provide about 80 per cent of the world’s almond supply. To keep up with the supply the cultivated land has increased steadily and now around 8,00,000 acres is covered in almond trees waiting to be pollinated.
With more trees, the farmers need more bees and this season in February when the almond blossoms bloomed, more than half of America’s honeybees were brought to California. An estimated two million hives are needed to pollinate this giant expanse and a $3 billion industry, and farmers are holding their breath hoping they can source enough hives in time for the pollination.
In China and Japan pollination by hand is almost the only option left. A couple of years back Australian honeybees meant for pollination accounted for about 80 per cent of imports to Japan, but with mass deaths of hives there is now a shortage even in the ‘bee import industry’.
Pollination by hand is tedious and slow. Climbing on ladders to reach the flowers with a chicken feather at one end of a stick, pollination by hand will take many more men and many more hours to do what a single bee can do within a fraction of that time. Governments are trying to cope, lobbies are trying to hide or save and, farmers are trying to grow, so where does this leave the humble beeIJ Where in this tweaked and chemically engineered world will our pollinators fit inIJ
Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has been working with the Departments of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Northeastern University to develop... hold your breath... robotic bees! They’ve been designed, tested and are steps away from being mass produced!
Of course, inspired by real bees the engineering behind each bee is complex to say the least. With individual nervous systems, power supplies and being fully programmable the bees are autonomous and can also potentially replicate the behaviour of a hive.
Bees programmed to pollinate only specific crops, or pollinate within GPS co-ordinates, are some of the ideas that are being worked on. It’s still early days to say if robotic bees will be actually pollinating our food, but considering how fast the world is moving it might not be too long before even these potential pollinators are tweaked into other uses like military and surveillance.
It’s strange to witness how we’ve reached a point where we are trying to replicate and fix something that was already perfect to begin with. To me the beauty of pollination lies in the fact the honeybee doesn’t even know what a crucial role it’s playing. With its body dusted with pollen it flies to a waiting blossom, squeezing it's way in to reach the nectar and impregnating the flower. With little fuss it flies off to another blossom, unknowingly having completed and begun at the same time, the circle of life.
(The writer is a wildlife film-maker)