Officials at the Miaoli District Agricultural Improvement Station (MLDAIS 苗栗區農業改良場) said yesterday that a Council of Agriculture project aimed at promoting beekeeping has been launched nationwide in a bid to raise pollination efficacy, and to boost the quality of agricultural production.
"One common reason for the malformation of fruits, such as asymmetric carambola or pears, is incomplete pollination," said Lin Hsin-shan (
A decline in the bee population and other pollinators in Taiwan is a problem caused by human disruption of their habitats and the extensive use of pesticides on farmland.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Touring the gardens at the station yesterday with reporters, Lin said that if it were not for the presence of bees, many plants would be unable to produce fruits or seeds.
Scientific research has shown that bees are responsible for pollinating more flowers than any other creature on the planet, Lin said.
"That's why we are working with other stations around the country to raise and improving the Italian honeybee population to meet farmers' demands," Lin said, adding that this particular type of bee is an efficient pollinator.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Scientific researchers at the station said that while visiting flowers, honeybees pick up pollen grains from the anthers on male stamens, which stick to the insect's heads, wings and legs.
A honeybee can carry on its body about 5 million pollen grains at a time -- which then brush off onto other flowers of the same species to pollinate them, Lin said.
"Besides producing natural health products, such as honey and royal jelly, honeybees are also very valuable insects as pollinators," Lin said.
"In Taiwan, 44 agricultural crops depend on pollinators such as honeybees or other insects that disseminate pollen, accounting for about NT$52.3 billion in production," Lin said. Around 20 percent, or NT$10.47 billion, of that total is attributable to the honeybee alone, Lin said.
Agricultural officials at the station said according to scientific research by the US Department of Agriculture, improving honeybee pollination could boost total crop production by 20 percent to 30 percent.
Anticipating the economic impact caused by Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organization, agricultural researchers have come up with strategies to save labor and enhance the quality of agricultural production, such as raising pollination efficacy.
"We are improving greenhouse pollination techniques. As long as we can expand cultivated acreage and reduce malformation, the quantity of production will be improved," said Wu Teng-chen (吳登楨), head of the silkworm and honeybee division at the station.
Wu said that honeybee pollination of crops grown inside greenhouses could replace labor-intensive hand-pollination that is currently the standard practise here.
Officials at the station said that the area of cultivated crops using honeybee pollination has reached 3,500 acres, and that coverage is still expanding.
By the end of 1999, there were 1,052 registered beekeepers in Taiwan. However, agricultural officials said the figure would increase because the government had chosen to focus its efforts on beekeeping.
Lin stressed that comprehensive pest control work could keep Taiwan's honeybee population from being threatened by its worst natural enemies -- varroa mites and small hive beetles.
As for criticism from conservationists regarding the choice of raising the Italian honeybee rather than the original native wild bee, agricultural officials said that Italian honeybees are more valuable economically.
"It's difficult to estimate the population of Taiwan's wild bees, but their number is surely declining," Wu said.
That main reason for the decline could be that native vegetation such as wild flowers, which native pollinators depend upon to feed themselves and their larvae, have declined with the widespread farming of cash crops.
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