Vanishing bees bring down crop yields in Kutch
The Culprit: Pollution & Rampant Felling Of Mad Weed Caused Disappearance Of Dwarf Bee Species From Region ……..Avinash Nair & Himanshu Darji AHMEDABAD
THE unusual disappearance of honey bees is creating a buzz in Kutch. In the last five years, there has been a dramatic fall in not just wild honey collection, but even the yield of certain exotic and native crops like Date Palms, Lemon, Papaya and Kesar mangoes have witnessed a southward trend after thousands of colonies of bees, instrumental in pollination process, have diminished from this semi-arid region of Gujarat.
A study conducted by the Pune-based Central Bee-keeping Training & Research Institute (CBTRI), has found that air pollution and rampant felling of a wild thorny bush -Prosopsis Julifora, known locally as ‘Gando Bawal’ (mad weed) – has caused the disappearance of the Dwarf Bee species from many areas of Kutch district.
“The number of dwarf bee colonies in one square kilometre area has reduced to 20-25 from the earlier 60-70 colonies in and around the Banni grasslands. The first effect of this has been seen on the local honey h u n t e r s (Koli community) who used to harvest about 300 tonne of wild honey annually. This yield has fallen to just 50 tonne this year,” said AS Soman, assistant development officer at CBTRI who has been researching on the bees since the last 10 years. The wild honey collected by the Koli community used to be sold to the Gujarat State Forest Development Corp o r a t i o n (GSFDC). “A kilogram of honey fetches about Rs 150 and since the last two years we have not been able to collect a single drop of honey from Kutch. However, this year we have managed to collect about 50 tonne,” said an official of GSFDC.
“The air pollution caused due to emission of smoke during the charcoal making process (from Ganda Bawal) has not just reduced the yield of wild honey but has also affected the production of crops like Date Palms, Papayas, Lemon and Kesar Mangoes by as much as 50% in some areas,” Soman remarked. In 2004, the Gujarat government had permitted the felling to this notorious wild bush (which usually grows to the size of a tree), for making charcoal. This had provided employment to about 30,000 people. However, last month, the state government banned the felling of ‘Ganda Bawal’ on ‘ecological grounds’.
The worst affected is the 2,500 square kilometres of Banni region (grasslands) where the ‘Ganda Bawal’ has been wiped out.