Pune: The ICAR-Directorate of Floricultural Research (DFR), Pune, has created the country’s first Pollinator Habitat Restoration Kit to support the preservation of pollinators and improve crop yield. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and moths play a significant role in food security; overall, 35 per cent of the world’s crops depend on them. However, shrinking floral diversity has turned out to be a big threat for their survival.
To overcome this problem, ICAR-DFR scientists have been doing research on pollinator species, their searching behaviour, and their favourite ornamental plants. They did research on more than 600 ornamental plant species that attract 153 types of pollinators. After this, the team has prepared the kit which is scientifically fit and farmer-friendly.
The kit contains seeds of 20 seasonal flowering plants that give food and nesting resources for pollinators. It has a bilingual handbook on eco-agriculture and a QR-coded card that provides farmers a chance to know about plant care tips and a pollinator database. Planting such flowers around crop fields will be helpful in pollination, increase production, and improve the crop quality.
The kit seems to be helpful for farmers cultivating pollinator-dependent crops like onion, cucumber, mango, pomegranate, and custard apple. Experts believe this effort is set to support biodiversity conservation as well as sustainable farming.
Source: nurserytoday
