1.1. Insects for human welfare and environment

Insects as a group, with about 750,000 species described already, overwhelm all the other organisms on the earth constituting more than half of all living species (Primack, 1998; Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke, 2002). Their contributions to terrestrial ecosystems especially are immense as regards their diversity, life forms and in their roles as herbivores, pollinators, parasitoids and predators (Lasalle and Gauld, 1993). Terrestrial ecosystems would collapse but for the key ecosystem services like pollination and nutrient recycling rendered by the insect community (Ritchie and Olff, 1999). Most insects have heavy dependence on plant community for food and shelter, and in turn caused many plants to co-evolve to suit the needs of beneficial insects or to avoid damages from them through production of various defensive phytochemicals or other physical means such as increased hairiness on tender parts, thick cuticle, wax layers etc. Great majority of flowering plants, including agricultural crops are insect pollinated (Kevan, 1999). Among the insect community the honeybees render foremost service as pollinators. Native to the Old World, the honey bees were introduced into the Americas and Australia concurrent with European settlement. Honeybees constitute a group of social insects which are today widespread in the world in habitats that are suitable to them. Although honey continues to be an important product of honeybees, their most valuable service is pollination, the magnitude of which is yet underestimated by humans.

Apiculture (Latin apis = bee) is the study and practice of beekeeping. It is a forest and agro-based industry, which is beyond the ordinary realms of industry, in the sense that the humans derive benefits from interaction between two living things like plants and bees without affecting adversely both. Plants, including many crops, prosper and the bees flourish sheltered by humans, giving honey and different other products like beeswax, propolis and royal jelly are major by-products of beekeeping. Beeswax is used in carpentry, production of candles and cosmetics. Propolis is a substance made by bees from plant resin. It is used for cosmetics, medicine and food. Royal jelly is a nutrient rich substance from beehive. Bee keeping, though has roots in pre-history, can play a very important role in uplifting the livelihoods of especially rural people in India while also benefiting the environment.

The quality and origin of the honey is a major factor in price setting. Whereas China supplies the lowest-priced honey, Argentina takes a middle position and honey from Mexico and Australia receives the highest prices. Light honey is more valued than darker ones because of the general preference for clear honey with a mild taste. Single floral honey is more valued than mixed origin honey. Honey infused with various flavours, such as of ginger, vanilla and cinnamon is becoming increasingly popular. The most common determinant of the flavour is the flora in the area where the beehives are kept (EPOPA 2006).

Majority of world production of honey is in the developing countries, barring USA among the developed countries, which are the largest consumers of honey. During the period 2002-2007, China, Turkey, Argentina, USA and Ukraine were the leading honey producers of the world accounting for 41.71% of the world production.  Brazil, India, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mexico, Kenya and Angola are other large producers of honey. Canada, Germany and Spain are large producers of honey from the developed countries, apart from USA. The largest honey exporters were Argentina, China, Mexico, Germany and Hungary, and largest importers were USA, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and France. The EU consumption of honey was around 305,000 tons in 2004- which was more than 20% of the world’s honey production then. Of it 6,500 tons was organic honey.  China’s annual production of natural honey increased was 182,000 tons in 1995. It rose significantly to 298,000 tons in 2005, of which 201,090 tons was used domestically, by far the world’s highest honey consumption by any country. China also produced 12,800 tons of beeswax, 1000 tons of pollen and 800 tons of royal jelly and is presently the biggest exporter of honey, beeswax and other bee products. The second and third largest producers Turkey and Argentina produced 82,000 and 80,000 tons, respectively during 2005 (EPOPA 2006; Michener, 2007; Denis et al., 2009).

Ranking seventh among the honey producing countries India has been exporting honey since 1991-1992. The quantity exported was around 8,000 tons until 1998, increasing substantially to 15,587 tons in 2009. India exports honey to approximately 62 countries, with Belgium, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States being the major purchasers (Sharma, et al., 2012). The major honey-producing Indian states are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The average number of beehives in the world was estimated to be 72.52 million, of which India, China, Turkey, Ethiopia and Iran occupy the top five positions accounting for 40.69% of the hives. Despite having the credit of having largest number of bee hives in the world India ranks only seventh in honey production (Michener, 2007; Denis et al., 2009). A variety of factors may be responsible for this backwardness in Indian honey production in spite of having rich diversity of bees.

1.2. Global beekeeping scenario

Though honey has been used as food from time immemorial, prior to 1500 AD, there was not any notable development in the field, which was more a rustic exercise, hovering around little more than honey hunting, robbing it from established nests in nature. As early as 5000 BC, honey hunting was depicted in a rock painting at Cueva de las Aranas, Spain. The Philistines dabbled in beekeeping as did the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Sumerians, and others.  The worker honey bee of Apis mellifera was a symbol in ancient Egypt as early as 3100 BC. Although no written descriptions of bees or beekeeping are known from ancient Egypt, some depictions from excavations suggest that beekeeping methods reached a higher level there than elsewhere during the 2400–1400 BC period. The method used by traditional beekeepers in Upper Egypt today is not much different that depicted in 1450 BC. The same method was also transmitted westward along the North African coast and to Sicily, and some –but not all parts of it, reached Greece and Rome (Crane, 2004)

During 980 – 1037 A.D, Avicenna illustrated that ‘king’ of bees (probably referring to male bees?) were reared in extra large cells. Ibn-al- Awam (1100 A.D) stated that the smallest bees in the hive are females, which have a sting. Larger bees are males, which take no part in the preparation of honey. The ‘kings’ are twice as large as the bees that make honey, and Ibn-al-Awam knew that it was advantageous to the beekeeper to have only a small number of these in a hive. Even before the honeybee was introduced to the Americas, other kinds of bees were kept for honey and wax. The Inca and Maya of the New World cultured the stingless bees (Meliponidae). There is a renaissance in this activity in the American tropics, but the term “beekeeping” has always been reserved for those managing the Old World western honey bee (Apis mellifera). From 1500 to 1851 (pre-modern beekeeping), knowledge about honey bees progressed significantly. The queen was discovered to be female in 1586. Drones were first identified to be males in 1609. Pollen was determined to be the male part of plants in 1750. Drones were shown to mate with the queen in 1792. In 1845 it was found that the drones parthenogenesis (origin without fertilization). The book Bees and Apiculture was first printed in Europe in 1459 AD. In Spain, volumes 2 and 5 of Gabriel Alonso de Herrera’s (1513) compilation of writings on agriculture by earlier authors were devoted to writings on bees by ancient Greek and Romans (Crane, 2004)

After 1800 AD, with the increased availability of new scientific equipments and methods, studies on honeybees and their products increased rapidly. The modern beekeeping era began in 1851 when the Reverend L.L. Langstroth, considered as father of beekeepers in USA, realized significance of the “bee space,” leading to the invention of the movable-frame hive. Major Hruschka produced an extractor in 1865. Moses Quinby invented the smoker in 1875 and published his first bee book in 1853. Comb honey production began with W.C. Harbison of California in 1857 (Ghosh, 1998). New bee foods, including high fructose corn syrup and the Beltsville Bee Diet were introduced in the 1970s. Honey became a world commodity in the 1980s.

During 1860, honeybee Apis mellifera ligustica was first introduced into the United States, and Frank Benton imported Cyprian and Tunisic stock in the 1870s. Many more introductions succeeded these first attempts. African honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) were brought to Brazil in 1957. Varroa jacobsoni, mite parasitic on Apis mellifera, (now known as Varroa destructor) was accidentally introduced into USA in the 1950’s through its original Asiatic host Apis cerana. This mite had spread to all continents except Australia by the 1990s. The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) was introduced from South Africa into the United States in 1998 (Capinera, 2008).

1.3. Beekeeping in India

Although information is scattered, the roots of organized beekeeping in India during the pre-Buddha period can be traced to the Hindu holy books. Ramayana described the existence of ‘Madhuban’ in Kishkinda maintained by King Sugriva. This Madhuban was maintained exclusively for rearing bees for honey. Bees were reared in hollowed logs open at one or both ends, broken gourds or earthen pots in many of our villages; but extraction of honey was by primitive method by squeezing the hive.  This crude method does not yield pure honey, as it contains pollen, wax particles and extract of eggs, larvae and adult bees, and gets fermented soon (Ghosh, 1998). The early attempts for bee keeping on scientific lines in India using movable frame hives for Apis cerana were made in 1880 in Bengal and in 1883-84 in Punjab and Kullu Valley.  However, these met with only little success. Foundations of modern beekeeping in South India were laid by Rev. Father Newton in 1890, at Shembaganur, near Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu, with the introduction of movable frame “Newton hive”.

After independence the Government of India initiated rural developmental programmes with importance given to beekeeping, as an agro-based economic activity, providing employment and generating income, (Wealth of India, vol. 2, 1988).  Swami Shambhavananda in the Coorg district of Karnataka, S.K. Kallapur and S.G. Shende in the Western Peninsula, and R.N. Muttoo in the Central Himalayan foothills pioneered establishment of beekeeping industries and initiated the rural population to adopt this income generating enterprise (Nair, 2003). All India Beekeeper Association was organized in 1938-1939. Beekeeping Research Station was established by the Indian Council of Agricultural research (ICAR) in Punjab in 1945. A second one was established at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, during 1951. Since 1950, ICAR has been funding various research projects on beekeeping. Thanks to the initiative of All-India Khadi and Village Industries Board in 1953 beekeeping captured the attention of rural masses. The Board paid considerable attention to the development of rural beekeeping programmes and management of beekeeping industry. This time witnessed beekeepers, bee hunters in the wild and part-time workers trying to keep bees in modern hives (Thakar, 1976). The programmes achieved only partial success as bee diseases and other problems that required practical training to cope up with curtailed the growth rates of bee-keeping. The National Commission on Agriculture has recommended the importance of beekeeping industry in every village. Bee research was started in 1954 at Mahabaleshwar which later got reorganized as the Central Bee Research Institute (CBRI), with a broader scope of work, at Pune under the auspices of KVIC. These efforts strengthened the efficiency of native bees through improvement in bee forage, bee management and bee breeding through genetic selection and scientific processing of bee products. In 1980, ICAR started All India Coordinated Project (AICP) on Honey Bees Research and Training which at present has 8 centres throughout the country with administrative centre at Haryana Agricultural University Campus at Hisar in Haryana state (Sivaram, 2012)

1.4. Beekeeping in Karnataka

Beekeeping in Karnataka relied mainly on the Indian bee Apis cerana indica and the introduced bee, Apis mellifera. The introduced species constitutes only a minor portion of beekeeping in the southern part of state. The Western Ghats, clad in forests of varied kinds and other kinds of land uses, especially cultivation of a variety of horticultural crops, provides pollen and nectar sources almost round the year to both wild and domesticated bees, thereby providing rich opportunities for beekeeping.  Before 1985 Karnataka dominated in honey production in India, producing 7, 50,000 kg of honey and about 6,000 kg of bees wax.  The pollination activities of many crops by bees, obviously, increased the crop yields also. Thereafter the bee beekeeping industry suffered a collapse due to infection by “Thai sac brood” virus which made most people shy away from bee-keeping almost until 2000.  The current century saw the Central and State Governments promoting beekeeping activities, resulting in beekeeping activities picking up especially in rural Karnataka.

Beekeeping industry is gaining increasing popularity in Uttara Kannada and is accepted as complementary activity to agriculture. Apis cerana indica is perhaps the only domesticated bee in this region as the introduced species such as A. mellifera were found to be not suitable, according to Dharmendra Hegde, of Kangod, Sirsi taluk, an ardent bee keeper. Central Western Ghats of the Uttara Kannada provides congenial environment for domestication of bees and organized beekeeping as nectar sources from wild plants are abundant. Some of the local communities of Uttara Kannada such as Siddis, Halakkivokkals, Krivokkaligas, Kunbis and Kumri Marattis have special skills in wild honey collection that remained an enigma for most others. Before Indian independence, beekeeping practices were promoted though taluk level beekeepers cooperative societies. The first such society was started in Honavar taluk, of Uttara Kannada, in 1941. Five more such societies were established in the district, between 1945 and 1985. From 2004 -2005, the National Horticulture Mission encouraged beekeeping activities though “Suvarnabhoomi Yojana” programmes and also by giving subsidies for purchase of bee boxes. Many NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) involved in promoting village economy through a series of programmes also tried to popularize beekeeping along with poultry, cattle rearing, and dairying. For instance, Prakruthi Samsthe, of Sirsi taluk, selected about 20 villages  and conducted practical training in beekeeping, along-with other such rural economy based activities (personal communication). LAMP Society of Yellapur is involved in educating and training of the Siddi community in wild honey collection and also providing marketing supports. Although beekeeping is picking up as an enterprise in Uttara Kannada, the public awareness on beekeeping, its significance to ecosystems and pollination services, especially for crop plants, are still lagging.

1.5. Honey: physico-chemical nature and uses

In Uttara Kannada four species of bees namely Apis dorsata, A. cerana indica, A. florea and Trigona iridipennis gather nectar from plants and prepare honey in wild. A. cerana indica and Trigona iridipennis are also domesticated by bee keepers and are the sources of ‘box honey’. Both wild and domesticated bees gather nectar from plants and convert it into honey. This process involves combining nectar gathered from plants with specific kinds of secretions from the bees and dehydration of the ultimate product mainly through fanning by their wings so as to set up air currents. To produce 100 g of honey, a foraging bee must suck nectars from nearly a million flowers. The transformation of nectar into honey takes place within the cells of the comb. When the total soluble solids attain about 75% to 80% of the honey the bees cap each comb cell with a thin layer of wax secreted from their abdominal glands.  When the hive is filled with honey, the bees are kept away by exposing them to controlled smoke and the combs are scraped off wax seals to collect honey.

The composition of honey depends on several factors like floral source, composition of nectar(s), climatic conditions, beekeeping practices and method of harvesting and processing.  The nectars from different plants vary widely in the type and concentrations of their sugars.  The total sugar content in the nectars varies from 20 to 40%.  There are three patterns of sugar compositions found in the plant species such as high sucrose nectar, high glucose and fructose nectar and nectar with equal amounts of fructose, glucose and sucrose.  For instance, the nectar of alfalfa has high sucrose while that of Brassica sp., has high concentration of glucose.  Trifolium sp., contains more fructose than glucose whereas the nectars of legumes have equal proportions of the three sugars (Manjunath, 1999).  Beyond sugars, honey contains numerous compounds such as organic acids, proteins, amino acids, minerals, polyphenols, vitamins and aromatics.

The physico-chemical composition of Indian honey has been studied extensively by several workers (Singh and Bath, 1997; Manjunath, 1999; Joshi, et al., 2000; Bogdanov, et al., 2008: Basavarajappa, et al., 2010; Kaur, et al., 2010). Balasubramanyam, (2011) studied important chemical parameters of honey samples of three different bee species from Uttara Kannada (Table: 1.1). Nanda et al. (2003) studied the physico-chemical properties and estimated the mineral content of honey collected from different parts of northern India. Similarly mineral variations of honey from different districts of Western Ghats, in Karnataka were studied by Balasubramanyam and Reddy (2011). Joshi et al. (1998) have made mellito-palynological investigations on Apis and Trigona honey collected in and around Pune.

Table 1.1: Chemical characteristics of honey1 from Uttara Kannada district
(Source: Balasubramanyam, 2011)

1.5.2. Uses of honey:

Honey is a remedy for many common ailments.  In Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine, honey has special importance and also recommended along with breakfast because of its richness in simple sugars (glucose, fructose etc.). These essential sugars are absorbed rapidly in the system.  Also, honey contains high quantity of fructose which is insulin independent.  Honey has been found to contain enzymes (glucose oxidase, catalase), many amino acids (ascorbic acid, flavonoids, phenolic acids and organic acids), carotenoid derivatives and proteins (Gheldof, et al., 2002). It inhibits the growth of micro-organisms like bacteria, fungi and virus. The antimicrobial effect of honey is due to hydrogen peroxide content; other factors, such as acidity, osmolarity, potentiation by metal ions, ascorbic acid, and non-peroxide factor are also contributing to its antimicrobial action. Honey as such is not bactericidal but bacteriostatic. It inhibits growth of many pathogenic bacteria like Bacillus anthracis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Salmonella sp., Proteus sp., Vibrio cholerae and many other pathogens (Molan, 1992; Wealth of India, 2004; Bogdanov, et al 2008). If bacteriostasis prolongs for a particular period the bacterium loses its capacity to recover. Gram positive strains are first affected in 3-24 hours followed by gram negative strains which take up to 48 hrs.

Honey has property of inhibiting mutagenic substances (Trp- p-1) and regulates the mutations of the genetic materials. The anti-mutagenic activity of honeys from seven different floral sources (acacia, buckwheat, fireweed, soybean, tupelo and Christmas berry) against Trp-p-1 was tested by the Ames assay and compared to a sugar analogue as well as to individually tested simple sugars (Wang, et al., 2002).

The reduction of inflammation could be due to the antibacterial effect of honey or to a direct anti-inflammatory effect. Nearly all type of wound healing is attributed to honey therapy. Application of honey as wound dressing leads to stimulation of healing process and rapidly clears the infection. Honey has cleansing action of wounds, stimulates tissue regeneration, reduces inflammation and honey impregnated pads act as non adhesive tissue dressing. It has been used for the treatment of various ophthalmological conditions like lepharitis, keratitis, conjunctivitis, corneal injuries and chemical and thermal burns to eyes (Bansal, et al., 2005). Honey compared with dextrose caused a significantly lower rise in plasma glucose levels in diabetic subjects. It also caused reduction of blood lipids, homocysteine levels and CRP (C reactive protein) levels in normal and hyperlipidemic subjects. Hence, the honey plays important role in regulating body metabolism, increase immunity, balance the nutrient components and control diseases. Honey contains antioxidant components like hydrogen peroxide and non peroxide which inhibit growth of Shigella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus helping in food preservation (Jeffrey and Echazarreta, 1996; Bansal, et al., 2005; Bogdonov, 2008, 2009).

1.6. Other products from beekeeping
Although beekeeping provides a number of valuable products apart from honey and wax, unfortunately, the Uttara Kannada farmers are unaware or negligent of the by-products, of which a brief account is given here.

• Bee wax: the young worker bees possess wax glands on the ventral surface of the abdomen from which is secreted wax which on contact with the air gets hardened. Bee wax consists of fatty acids, esters, alcohols, carbonyls and hydrocarbons.  The wax is used by the bees to construct honeycomb cells, in which their young are raised. After removal of honey from the honeycomb, the wax is purified and used for many products, particularly for making candles, furniture polish, shoe polish, lubricants, and for treating skin ailments (Ghosh, 1998; Fujiyoshi and Nakamura, 2009; Capinera, 2008; Wealth of India, 2004; Hepburn  and Radloff, 2011).

• Bee-pollen: Beekeepers install pollen collectors in front of hive entrances so that pollens can be collected by causing the pollens to be scraped off the hind legs when honey bees pass through holes only large enough to let them manage to get through. Pollens as they are moist and get infested with fungi, have to be dried immediately after collection. Pollen from bee hives is marketed as such for preparation of especially cosmetic and pharmaceutical products (Fujiyoshi and Nakamura, 2009; Wealth of India, 2004).

• Royal jelly or bee milk:  This highly viscous secretion of the pharyngeal glands of the worker bees is used for feeding the larvae. It contains phenols, bee-wax, sterols, fatty acid, uronic acid, reducing sugars, proteins and vitamins, making up a highly nutritious food with well balanced contents of all nutrients, unlike honey consisting mainly of carbohydrates. In this regard, royal jelly can be used in disorders associated with old age.  It is used for improvement of appetite, gain in body weight, reducing mental tension and to regulate blood pressure. It is added to cosmetic products as an ingredient having moisturizing effects (Wealth of India, 1998; Phadke, 2008; Fujiyoshi and Nakamura, 2009).

• Bee-venom: Honey bees possess a venomous sting and use it as the only arm against enemies. Venom contains amines like histamine, enzymes like melitin and phospholipase, and apamine as a nerve toxin. It is well known for its curative and medicinal properties, and possesses immunogenic properties; the dose prescribed should, however, be many times lower than the toxic or lethal one (Wealth of India, 1998; Phadke, 2008; Fujiyoshi and Nakamura, 2009).

• Propolis or Bee-glue: Propolis is a mixture of resinous substance, balsam, wax and non-volatile components, prepared by worker bees from plants and their own grandular secretion.  It is used to protect the colony from insects, moulds and other infections particularly during winter and early spring. It contains flavonoids and other essential elements like Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, and Zn. It has uses for treating skin ailments in form ointments, and as lozenges for the inflammation of throat. It is used as a household remedy for wound and burns, and as a base of some antiseptic preparations used in the treatment of surgical cases (Wealth of India, 2004 and Phadke, 2008).

1.7. Pollination services 

In agriculture, it is widely held that, maximum crop yield can be obtained by a combination of factors, mainly through 1: agronomic inputs using good quality seeds and planting material, and good practices such as good irrigation, manure and fertilizers and pesticides and 2: use of biotechnological methods, such as manipulating rate of photosynthesis and biological nitrogen fixation, etc. Despite using both these crop production at some stage reaches stagnation. The third and relatively less known method of enhancing crop productivity is through managing pollination of crops using friendly insects, which in the process of searching for food (mainly nectar and pollen) pollinate flowers and render invaluable service to agriculture. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has recognized pollination as a key driver in the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem function (Partap and Partap, 1997).

Unfortunately the enormous benefits that the humans reap from the silent services of honeybees towards crop productivity and to national income get only lesser attention and low priority, in spite of the fact that it needs low capital, it is non-polluting, needs less labour and is complementary to farming and forest ecosystems. The beekeeping industry is rarely put forth as a Key-Factor (Input) in agricultural production. Bees are the most effective pollinators of crops and natural flora and are reported to pollinate over 70 percent of the world’s cultivated crops. About 15 percent of the hundred principal crops are reportedly pollinated by domestic bees, including honey bees, and at least 80% are pollinated wild bees (Kenmore and Krell, 1998).

Honeybees and flowering plants are interdependent for their life cycle. In other words, apiculture and agriculture/horticulture are interdependent and cannot develop in isolation. Integration of apiculture and agriculture is necessary for mutual benefits of both beekeeper and the farmer. Warnings have been, however, sounded by environmentalists and scientists that excessive use of insecticides, monoculture, pollution etc., causing depletion of useful pollinating insects, are threatening to reduce our food production by 1/3 (Phadke, 2008). Bees, among other insects, are more effective pollinators than other insects because, because they are social and collect nectar and pollen for their own needs as well as to feed their young. Their body hairs help transfer pollen from flower to flower; they show flower constancy and move from one flower to another of the same species; and many species can be reared and managed for pollination (Partap and Partap, 1997).  Research has shown that pollination by honeybees increases fruit set, enhances fruit quality and reduces fruit drop in apple (Dulta and Verma, 1987). Among different species of honeybees, the hive-kept species (Apis cerana and Apis mellifera) are of special value because they can be managed for pollination and moved to fields/orchards where and when necessary for pollination. Some of the estimates showing the value of honeybee pollination to crop production are given in the Tables 1.2. & 1.3.

Table 1.2: Estimates showing the value of honeybee pollination to crop production per year

Table 1.3: Impact of honeybee (Apis cerana) pollination on fruit productivity

1.8. Crisis in pollination

Pollinator populations and diversity have declined worldwide in the recent years mainly due to the following reasons (Verma and Partap, 1993; Partap and Partap, 1997; Partap and Partap, 2002; Chandrasekaran, et al., 2011).

• Decline in the habitat, with the accompanying decrease in their food (nectar and pollen) supplies as a result of decline in pristine areas
• Land use changes due to deforestation, extend agricultural land, urbanization, and industrialization.
• Increase in monoculture-dominated agriculture; earlier, farmers used to grow a variety of crops, which bloomed during different months of the year and provided food and shelter for a number of natural insect pollinators
• Negative impacts of modern agricultural interventions, e.g. use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Mono-cropping also requires increased pesticide use which led to the killing of many pollinators due to pesticides.
• Proper disposable of waste, especially paper cups for tea and soft drinks can act as sticky death traps of bees.
• Infestation by diseases and predators.

The decline in pollinator population and diversity presents a serious threat to agricultural production and conservation and maintenance of biodiversity in many parts of the world. In the Himalayan region, decline in natural insect pollinators, especially bees which are the most effective pollinators of crops and natural flora, reported to be pollinating over 70 percent of the world’s cultivated crops, has been reported. About 15 percent of the hundred principal crops are reportedly pollinated by domestic bees, including honey bees, and at least 80% are pollinated by wild bees (Kenmore and Krell, 1998).

In the Himachal Pradesh, northern Pakistan and parts of China where despite all agronomic inputs, production and quality of fruit crops, such as apples, almonds, cherries and pears, were reported to be on the decline. Extreme negative impact of declining pollinator populations was seen in northern Pakistan where both farmers and institutions had failed to understand the importance of managed pollination. Disappointed with the very low yields and quality of apples as a result of poor pollination several farmers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir of Pakistan are reported to have chopped off their apple trees (Partap, 2001).

Many varieties of cash crops are partially or completely self-incompatible and cannot produce fruit or seed without cross-pollination of their flowers. Moreover, it is not only self-incompatible varieties that benefit from cross-pollination, but self-fertile varieties also produce better quality fruit and seeds if they are cross pollinated (Free, 1993). While other agronomic inputs, such as the use of manure, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation are important, without cross-pollination desired crop yield and quality of harvest cannot be achieved.

1.9. Renting bees for pollination services

US farmers are reported to have taken beehives on rent (at $150 per hive) from honey producers. These hives are used to assist in the agricultural production to fertilise flowers in order to increase the output of other agricultural commodities (EPOPA 2006). Although some farmers in Uttara Kannada are aware of the pollination benefits from honey bees, they rear the bees mainly for honey, with isolated exceptions (see Box)

1.10. Need for promoting bee keeping in Uttara Kannada

Bee-keeping can be developed into one of the best developmental options for Uttara Kannada, as a major productive and employment sector next only to farming and fishing, but with favourable impact on environment and productivity, unlike intensive farming or fishing. More of apiculture better it is for environment due to following reasons:

1. Honey production does not require ownership of land and is ideal for employment generation, in rural Uttara Kannada, a wooded district dotted with farmlands producing fruits and spices, betel-nut and coconuts.  The bee keepers, if they require, should be permitted to keep their bee boxes in the peripheral areas of forests, in areas designated by the forest department, so that the under tapped honey resources of the vast forest areas could be gathered without any damage to forests. On the other hand presence of more bees will promote pollination and fruit setting in the forest plants.
2. Rural economic activities will get elevated as such places turn into centres of honey production, purification and marketing. Such activities would be a deterrent for current trends in large-scale emigration to the cities.
3. The products like honey, beeswax and propolis are not perishable and can be stored for long periods and even exported.
4. It is ideal for generating employment for women and self-help groups.
5. The technology required bee-keeping is minimal and can be practiced with ease even by educationally backward segments of the society. No foreign technology is involved here and the equipments used are of low cost nature.
6. Transportation of honey is fairly cheap for unit volume unlike most other agricultural products, and being not perishable the transit need not be rapid and of high cost.
7. Bee keeping ideally practiced will dissuade locals from destructive collection of wild honey, so that bulk of the wild bees can be spared for performing the vital ecosystem services
8. All the necessary inputs are locally available and input required is very low compared to most other enterprises. Production cost of honey is very low compared to other farming activities or cattle keeping. Bulk of the nectar and pollen from a great variety of plants in Uttara Kannada, predominantly a forested cum horticultural district, goes waste, or underutilized as the practice of be keeping is minimal as compared to the vegetational richness.
9. Being a tropical landscape the need for off-season feeding of honey bees can be minimized as a great variety of plants produce flowers during different times.
10. It supports agricultural activities through facilitating critical processes like cross pollination thereby enhancing food production.
11. Bee colonies can be transported from place to place to make best use of flowering by wild plants and crops at different times.
12. Dry areas with large water tanks/ponds covered with lotus can be made centres of producing lotus honey which is highly priced mono-floral honey.
13. Beekeepers do not burden on natural resources; there is no slashing and burning of forests for creation of grasslands or crop fields; digging up of soil or lopping of trees for manure are not needed for bee-keeping; there is no forest burning to create grasslands. Instead bee keeping helps to improve the ecology and food production through cross pollination.
14. Promotion of bee keeping in low rainfall areas like Mundgod in Uttara Kannada, through some special attention paid to the vegetational composition can be a great insurance against the unpredictability in rainfall.
15. Honey itself makes good nourishment, being rich in various nutrients and is used both in traditional medicine and in modern pharmaceuticals. Regular intake of pure honey is believed to increase immunity in humans.
16. It facilitates healthy linkages between biodiversity (insects and plants) towards sustainable livelihoods.
17. Bees are prey for a variety of insects, mammalian and bird predators thereby making themselves important links in the trophic networks operating in ecosystems.