Why a farmer needs beneficial insects and bees on their farm

Jane Muthoni, a farmer in Kiumbu, Mwea East, Kirinyaga County, attests to the benefits the beneficial insects such as wasps, ladybirds, and bees.

Since time immemorial farmers, have had to compete with harmful pests in crop production. But though the majority of farmers hate seeing any insect spectacle in their farms, there are certainly beneficial insects that perform useful functions and are of essence not only to the environment but also to human life, plants and pollution control.

Peter Bundi, a lecturer at Chuka University in the Department of Environmental Studies and Resource Development (DERD) says that “Beneficial insects are quite important as they act as a source of food and are medicinal. To the industries, they provide raw materials and are quite essential in pollination while playing a key role in recycling nutrients into the environments thus aiding decomposition.”

When it comes to a food source, insects have always served as food for human beings as there are over a thousand edible species of insects. Insects are also medicinal and have been used for years in therapeutic purposes.

In pollination, nearly all world seed plants need to be pollinated as without pollinators the world and all earth’ native ecology would not survive as more than half of the world diets of fats and oils come from animal pollinated plants. About 75 percent of the staple food and 33 percent of the food crops require visits from bees while relying on insects to transport pollen from one flower to another.

During pollination, flowering plants are known to produce breathable oxygen after utilizing the carbon dioxide produced by plants and animals when they respire. Flowering plants thus help purify water and prevent erosion as roots hold the soil in place and the foliage cushions the impact of rain as it falls on the earth. The water cycle thus depends on plants to return the moisture to the atmosphere and plants depend on pollinators to help them reproduce.

Pollination is thus a vital process of nature which is extremely important for the food growing processes, as for the fruit seed to develop, pollen has to be transferred between flowers of the same species which then fertilizes the flower and allows the production of healthy seeds on the plants. Pollinators are thus equally important in reproduction and without them existing populations of plants would decline even if soil, air, nutrients and other life-sustaining elements are present. Albert Einstein stated, “If the bees disappear, humans would have four years to live on.” The federal institute of technology in Switzerland blames the waves produced due to mobile telephony as being capable of disorienting bees causing them to lose their sense of direction thus putting their lives in danger.

Honey bees are the most widely known pollinator though there are other pollinators like wasps, moth flies, beetle, birds and ants, bees have been declared to be the most important living beings on the planet. Though quite vital, studies indicate an otherwise worrying state as up to 90% of bees have been said to disappear with some of the reasons being: uncontrolled use of pesticides, lack of safe places to nest and changes in the soils.

Farmers should use pesticides cautiously as overuse can potentially harm pollinators, farmers should thus research on the least harmful type of pesticide before embarking on its use as changes in the agricultural practices and use of broad-spectrum pesticides are said to interfere and destroy the long established pollinator environs.