Food production is hampered by the shortage of bees

The production of food is hampered by the shortage of bees

27/08/2015

A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council ensures that the shortage of bees will affect global food production and ensures that the extent of our dependence on animal pollination, as far as global agricultural production for human consumption is concerned, has not been previously evaluated.

The report ensures that previous estimates for countries or continents have rarely used primary data.

In this review we have expanded previous estimates using new primary data from 200 countries and found that fruits, vegetables, or 87 seed production of the world's major food crops depend on animal pollination, while 28 crops do not depend on this pollination.

However, global production volumes give a contrasting perspective, since 60% of world production comes from crops that do not depend on animal pollination, 35% of crops that depend on pollinators, and 5% are without evaluating.

The use of all the crops that are quoted in the world market and leaving aside the crops that are only self-pollinated (pollinated by their own pollen), pollinated by the wind, or parthenocarpic (fruits obtained without pollination), then evaluated the level of dependence on animal pollination for crops that are consumed directly by humans. In this exercise they found that pollinators are essential for 13 crops, production is highly dependent on pollinators for 30, moderate for 27, slightly for 21, unimportant for 7, and is of unknown importance to the rest.

In addition, the report evaluated whether local administration for natural pollination services could help maintain crop diversity and production.

Case studies of nine crops on four continents revealed that agricultural intensification endangers wild bee communities and their stabilizing effect on pollination services on a global scale.

The key element in the case of the danger of extinction of wild bees are pesticides, which for decades have revolutionized agriculture along with biotechnological advances that have allowed genetically modified plants, exponentially increased food production worldwide.

A transgenic food, or genetically modified, is the one that contains in its genome or DNA, a gene from another plant, animal or organism, that is, it loses its quality as a natural or organic food.

Experts in the food industry argue that it will not be possible to feed 11 billions of people in the world for the 2050 year without the use of biotechnology.

But on the other hand, the reality is that pesticides are causing a dramatic problem in the ecosystem causing the disappearance of bees. It is estimated that in the United States alone, more than 30% of all bees have disappeared in recent decades.

Bees, it must be remembered, are responsible for cross-pollination and transport pollen and seeds from one plant to another, enabling the fertilization of these plants in a universe that covers more than 30% of the world's crops.

Source: Blueberriesconsulting.com - Martín Carrillo O.