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The Human Pollinators of Fruit Crops in Maoxian County, Sichuan, China
Author(s) :Uma Partap and Tang Ya
Source: Mountain Research and Development, 32(2):176-186. 2012.
Published By: International Mountain Society
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00108.1
URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00108.1
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The Human Pollinators of Fruit Crops in Maoxian
County, Sichuan, China
A Case Study of the Failure of Pollination Services and Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies
Uma Partap
1
* and Tang Ya
2
* Corresponding author: upartap@icimod.org
1
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), PO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
2
Department of Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Open access article: please credit the authors and the full source.
The third dimension of
mountain agricultural
productivity, pollination,
helps to maintain crop
productivity and thus
makes a great contribution
to agricultural economy. In
the absence of natural
pollinators for a variety of
reasons, farmers in
Maoxian County of southwestern China employ ‘‘human
pollinators’’ to pollinate apple and other fruit crops to secure
yields. In 2001, we conducted a study to gain an understanding
of the process and significance of hand pollination of apples,
which revealed that 100% of the apples in Maoxian were hand
pollinated. Because it was a unique approach developed by
these Chinese farmers the authors were curious to revisit the
site in 2011 to assess the sustainability of human pollination
and see whether farmers had invented better alternatives. The
findings suggest that, recently, Maoxian farmers have been
working toward phasing out apples and replacing them with
plums, walnuts, and loquats along with vegetables. These new
fruit and vegetable crops are economically and ecologically
more appropriate to them, because they do not require
pollination by humans and also fetch a better price. However,
hand pollination by human pollinators is still practiced with
apples to a lesser degree, which indicates that all these farmers
have yet to find satisfactory alternatives to this economically
unsustainable practice.
Keywords: Maoxian; apple; pollination; human pollinators;
China.
Peer-reviewed: March 2012 Accepted: April 2012
Introduction
The importance of pollinators and pollination in
agriculture has been recognized for centuries (Kevan
1991; Buchmann and Nabhan 1996; Kevan and Phillips
2001; Partap 2003; Eardley et al 2006). Results of studies
conducted in different parts of the world have shown that
pollinators make a huge economic contribution to
agriculture (Winston and Scott 1984; Matheson and
Schrader 1987; Pimentel et al 1997; Carreck and Williams
1998; Morse and Calderone 2001; Ruijter 2002). Globally,
the annual contribution of pollinators to agricultural
crops has been estimated at about J153 billion (US$206
billion; Gallai et al 2009). However, in the mountain areas
of South Asia, specifically the Hindu Kush–Himalayan
region, which comprises Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,
China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, the lack
of knowledge and understanding about the significance of
crop pollination in sustainable crop production of cross-
pollinated crops and the lack of institutional and farmers’
initiatives to promote managed crop pollination is still a
common feature. The authors of the present paper
reflected on this state of affairs in their review study,
Managed Crop Pollination: The Missing Dimension of Mountain
Agricultural Productivity (Partap and Partap 1997). To
further highlight the scale of the problem of declining
pollinators, failing pollination, falling crop yields, and,
consequently, strained farm economy, we did a field
survey-based study in 2001 on pollination failure that led
to problems in the apple-growing valleys in 5 countries:
India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan. The study
findings reported a growing decline of pollinators and
consequent declining crop yields in apple crops in the
apple valleys of China, India, and Pakistan.
During this survey, we found that, based on their
knowledge and understanding about the problem,
different approaches were adopted by farmers and
institutions in these countries to solve the problem of
pollination with apples. The apple farmers of Pakistan
were not aware of pollination as a factor that determines
productivity and, therefore, farmers who were facing
acute decline in production were cutting the apple trees.
Both apple farmers and institutions in Himachal Pradesh
in India were aware of the problem and applied the
ecologically appropriate solution of using honeybees as
pollinators. In the apple valley of Maoxian, the area of the
present study, the farmers also faced acute problems with
natural apple pollinators and were using a unique,
MountainResearch
Systems knowledge
Mountain Research and Development (MRD)
An international, peer-reviewed open access journal
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Mountain Research and Development Vol 32 No 2 May 2012: 176–186 http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00108.1 ß2012 by the authors176
labor-intensive, and unsustainable technique of hand
pollination by using ‘‘human pollinators,’’ which was a
massive scale effort during the 1990s. It was unimaginable
in all respects, whether it concerned farmers’ knowledge
about pollen source management or pollen harvesting
and processing. The skills and institutional arrangements
of the farming community in Maoxian had evolved to
support hand pollination on this massive scale. The costs
involved also seemed unsustainable compared with the
more appropriate solution of using honeybees and other
bees for pollination.
We, therefore, were curious to revisit these apple
farmers of Maoxian in China after a decade, in 2011,
to determine the conditions that related to human
pollinators of apples and check whether Maoxian farmers
had developed any new innovations as alternatives to
hand pollination of apples and apple farming in the
valley, especially in the context of changes in local
socioeconomic conditions and climate. In particular, we
wanted to see if apples were still pollinated by ‘‘human
pollinators,’’ whether the practice of hand pollination of
apples was sustainable, and whether farmers adapted to
the pollinator crisis by using means other than ‘‘human
pollinators.’’
Material and methods
Study area
This study was conducted in the Maoxian County in the
northwestern Sichuan Province of China, between and
31u249–32u1793N; 102u569–104u109E (Figure 1). The
altitude varies from 860 to 5230 m, and the total land area
is 4075 km
2
. Total cultivated land in Maoxian is only
6437 ha, that is, approximately 1.6% of the land area, and
it is largely near villages or along river banks for reasons
of irrigation access. Agriculture continues to be the major
part of economy in the county, even while per capita
cultivated land has dropped to 0.06 ha. The present
agricultural system in Maoxian is characterized by diverse
fruit crops including apple, plum, cherry, loquat, pear,
walnut, peach, etc. and vegetables such as lettuce,
cabbage, tomato, celery, onion, etc. While plums are the
main fruit trees in most orchards at present, apples—the
main crop of the past decades—exist only in some
orchards (Table 1) and contribute only 30% of the total
farm income (Du 1998; Huang and Chen 2003). The
climate is warm temperate. Meteorological data collected
from the county town of Maoxian located at an altitude of
1590 m revealed that the average mean annual
FIGURE 1 Location of study area. (Map by Gauri S. Dangol, ICIMOD)
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TABLE 1 Farming in different villages of Maoxian County, Sichuan Province.
a)
Village
Feng Mao An Xiang Jing Zhou Le Du Ping Tou Shui Xi
Altitude of
the area (m)
1419 1695 1595–1795 1534 – 1578–1633
Number
HHs
b)
interviewed
per village
11 4 12 7 9 7
Arable land
per HH (ha)
0.26 – 0.15 0.13 0.13 0.34
Crops planted (% HHs)
Apples only 0 0 0 0 0 12.5
Apples and
plums
50 0 0 0 0 12.5
Apples,
plums, and
cherries
50 0 0 0 0 0
Apples,
vegetables,
and plums
0 100 0 0 0 50
Plums only 0 0 34 0 0 12.5
Plums and
vegetables
0 0 22 100 100 12.5
Plums and
cherries
0 0 11 0 0 0
Plums and
peaches
0 0 11 0 0 0
Plums,
grapes, and
vegetables
0 0 11 0 0 0
Vegetables
only
0 0 11 0 0 0
Average size of orchard (ha)
Apples 0.08 0.16 0 0 0 0.04
Plums 0.16 – 0.11 0.13 0.13 0.23
Cherries 0.013 – 0.04 – – –
Loquats ––––––
Peaches ––––––
Number of trees per HH
Apples 50 100 0 0 0 38
Plums 100 – 67 80 80 125
Cherries 8 –13 –––
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temperature is 11.2uC. July is the warmest month, with a
mean monthly temperature of 20.8uC, and January is the
coldest, with a mean monthly temperature of 0.4uC.
Precipitation varies from 335 to 601 mm, and the mean
annual precipitation is 490 mm, 77% of which falls from
May to September. Mean annual relative humidity is 72%,
ranging from 66% in January to 78% in September, with
little variance throughout the year.
Data collection
A farmers’ survey was conducted in April 2011 in the
same or adjoining villages, including Feng Mao, An Ziang,
Jing Zhou, Le Du, Ping Tou, and Shui Xi, where earlier
studies were carried out in 2001. These villages, located at
different altitudes in the valley, were selected to
determine whether farmers at different altitudes were
facing different degrees of pollination problems and
changes in local climate. The survey questionnaire had
questions about apple farming, pollinators and
pollination issues, hand pollination needs and
management approaches, shifts to other fruit crops,
sources of farm income, better choices, and household
economy. Information (quantitative as well as qualitative)
was gathered from households with different amounts of
land by interviewing any member of the family: husband,
wife, parents, etc. Older family members were specially
Village
Feng Mao An Xiang Jing Zhou Le Du Ping Tou Shui Xi
Average annual HH income (Yuans/mu/y)
Apples 4000 4000 0 0 0 4000
Plums 3000 0 3000 2000 2000 3500
Cherries 3000 0 3600 0 0 0
a)
15 mu 51 ha; Yuans 6.4 5US$1.
b)
HH 5household.
TABLE 1 Continued.
TABLE 2 Pollination of fruit crops by farmers in different villages.
a)
Village
Feng Mao An Xiang Jing Zhou Le Du Ping Tou Shui Xi
Number of
farmers
using human
pollinators
for apples
(%)
100 100 No apples No apples No apples 100
Number of
farmers
using human
pollinators
for cherries
(%)
– No cherries 100 No cherries No cherries No cherries
Number of
person days
needed for
pollination of
apples
5–6 5–6 NA
b)
NA NA 2–3
Cost of hiring
human
pollinators
(US$/
person/d)
12.5 7.8–9.4 NA NA NA 15.6–18.75
a)
Yuans 6.4 5US$1.
b)
NA 5not applicable.
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chosen for gathering folk observations about the scale and
pace of changes in agricultural systems and climate. A few
beekeepers in the valley were also interviewed to
understand access to beekeeping as a tool for managing
fruit pollination in the valley and whether farmers are
now using it. Secondary data on population, agriculture,
average land holdings, and meteorology were accessed
from literature and government sources.
Data analysis
Data were analyzed by using simple means and
percentages; no special statistical methods or tests were
used. Where surveys were conducted in different villages,
overall averages for each village were used without being
weighted for numbers of respondents.
Results and discussion
The status of human pollinators
Findings revealed that farmers continue to use human
pollinators for hand pollination of apples, although at a
reduced scale (Table 2). During the apple flowering
season of 2011, countless numbers of people were seen
working as human pollinators, pollinating apple
orchards in the valley in some areas (Figure 2). Although
those farmers with smaller orchards pollinated their
trees themselves, the larger orchard owners employed
laborers for this purpose. Hand pollination of apples in
Maoxianonalargescalehasbeenpromotedsincethe
late 1980s, and it was in its peak during the 1990s until
the early 2000s. The findings revealed that, due to
declining productivity and the falling price of apples as
well as increased production costs particularly owing to
the continuing need for hand pollination and rising
costs and scarcity of labor (human pollinators), there
has been a continuing decline in the contribution of
apples to the household economy of Maoxian farmers.
Apples are no longer the number one crop in the
valley.
Problems that relate to pollination of apples were
further compounded during this decade (2001–2011).
With apples, pollination has to be accomplished within
5 days of blossoming. However, due to the migration of
farm labor from the area, apple farmers are facing a
serious scarcity of human pollinators. To cope with this
FIGURE 2 Farmers pollinating apple flowers in Feng Mao village. (Photo by Uma Partap)
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scarcity, farmers were hiring labor from other areas,
which further escalated the cost of apple pollination.
Usually, apple owners themselves collect and process
flowers to build pollen stock, and the hired labor is
engaged only for hand pollination. A person can pollinate
5–10 trees a day, depending on the size of the trees.
Farmers pay the human pollinators US$12–19/person/d.
They still believe that hand pollination is the only
solution if they continue to grow apples.
Why Maoxian farmers needed human pollinators for apples
Our study indicated that an insufficient proportion of
pollinizer trees in the orchards and the declining
populations of natural insect pollinators in the
surrounding localities have created a perpetual need for
human pollinators in the apple orchards of Maoxian
County. Visits to different villages and discussions with
farmers revealed that there is a shortage of pollinators
left in the area now to ensure adequate natural
pollination of apple trees. About 4 decades of pesticide
sprays by the farmers, 8 to 10 sprays of pesticides per
season (Table 3), have contributed to a serious decline in
pollinators (Partap and Partap 2002). That pesticide use
is a major factor contributing to pollinator decline has
been reported in several studies conducted in other parts
of the world (Johansen 1977; Allen-Wardell et al 1998;
Verma and Partap 1994; Partap and Partap 2002; Berezin
and Beiko 2002).
The valley is also experiencing shrinking pollinator
habitats due to a continuing increase in farmland area, at
the cost of forests and grasslands. Results of several
studies carried out in different parts of the world (Partap
and Partap 2002; Aizen and Feinsinger 1994; Cane 2001;
Berezin and Beiko 2002; Kremen et al 2002) revealed
habitat loss as another very important cause of decline in
pollinator populations. In Maoxian, loss of habitat that
resulted in a decline in natural pollinator populations is
driving the need for hand pollination. Our findings show
that, in some areas of Maoxian, where natural vegetation
is well preserved and pollinators are abundant,
pollination of apples occurs naturally, which eliminated
the need for hand pollination.
Furthermore, many commercial varieties of apples
planted in Maoxian are self-sterile and require cross-
pollination by pollen from a compatible variety (a
pollinizer). The need for planting adequate proportions
of compatible pollinizer trees in apple orchards among
the commercial varieties has been reported in earlier
studies (McGregor 1976; Free 1993). Liu and Zhang (2002)
also attributed poor pollination of fruit crops in Maoxian
to inappropriate placement of fruiting and pollinizer
varieties, in addition to a low proportion of pollinizers.
TABLE 3 Use of pesticides by farmers.
a)
Village
Feng Mao An Xiang Jing Zhou Le Du Ping Tou Shui Xi
Number of
farmers using
pesticides (%)
100 100 100 100 100 100
Number of
pesticide sprays
per year
888888
Types of
pesticides used
Insecticides,
fungicides,
bactericides
Insecticides,
fungicides,
bactericides
NA
b)
NA NA Insecticides,
fungicides,
bactericides
Time of pesticide
sprays
Before and
after
flowering,
not during
flowering
Before and
after
flowering;
not during
flowering
NA NA NA Before and
after
flowering;
not during
flowering
Farmers’ awareness level about the harmful effect of pesticides on pollinators (%)
Pesticides kill
pollinators
50 100 44 100 – 75
Pesticides do not
kill pollinators
50 – – – – –
Do not know – – 56 – 100 25
a)
All the farmers use pesticides on apples, cherries, plums, and vegetables.
b)
NA 5information not available.
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Scientists recommend planting 25–33% pollinizer trees
among the main variety for a satisfactory crop (Jindal and
Gautam 2004). However, in most fruit orchards in
Maoxian, pollinizer trees account for less than 10% of the
trees. However, because land holdings are small in
Maoxian, farmers do not want to plant pollinizer trees in
their orchards because they have a low market value. The
most obvious reason for this was the fact that the fruit
produced by many of these pollinizer varieties has a low
market value.
Analysis of our findings revealed that hand pollination
of apples was driven by both ecological and economic
considerations; ecological consideration, because
pollination is a limiting factor in crop productivity; and
economic, because apples were the main cash crop in the
area. As mentioned earlier, pollinators that used to
provide pollination services to crops in Maoxian are
declining; and pollination as a free service provided by
nature is no longer available free of charge. Therefore, it
is necessary to increase pollinator intensity in the fields
and orchards to ensure proper pollination: the ‘‘ecological
dimension of crop productivity.’’
The intensity of pollinators in the orchards can be
increased by using colonies of honeybees such as Apis
TABLE 4 Beekeeping and use of honeybees by farmers for pollination of apples and other crops.
a)
Village
Feng Mao An Xiang Jing Zhou Le Du Ping Tou Shui Xi
Number of
farmers
keeping
honeybees
(%)
50 50 11 0 0 12.5
Number of
colonies per
HH
b)
6 2 2 (however, 1
beekeeper had
nearly 100 Apis
cerana colonies,
whereas another
had about 20)
––3
Purpose of
beekeeping
Honey
production
Honey
production
Honey production
(also rented for
pollination a few
years earlier)
– – Honey
production
Number of
farmers
renting
honeybees
for
pollination
(%)
There is no practice of renting honeybees for pollination.
Number of
beekeepers
renting bees
for
pollination
Only 2 or 3 beekeepers in the whole valley sometimes rent bees to farmers for pollination; renting colonies is not a
regular practice.
Cost of
renting bee
colonies
(Yuans/
colony/
season)
Rented 40 colonies for the pollination of cherry in 2010 at the rate of Yuans 300 (US$46.88) per day for 12 days,
ie Yuans 90 (US$14.06)/colony/season.
If not, why
they do not
rent the bees
to farmers
Even though farmers offer good money, beekeepers are not interested in renting their bees for pollination because
farmers use lots of pesticides that kill the bees, and they do not pay for any loss of bees.
a)
Yuans 6.4 5US$1.
b)
HH 5household.
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cerana and Apis mellifera because they are known to be most
effective as providers of pollination for agricultural crops
(McGregor 1976; Deodikar and Suryanarayana 1977;
Dulta and Verma 1987; Free 1993; Gupta et al 1993;
Partap and Verma 1994; Singh et al 2000). The local
government of Maoxian County tried but failed to
promote beekeeping for pollination. It was not a pleasant
experience for the beekeepers, either. They lost many
colonies due to heavy pesticide use by farmers and were
not compensated for the loss. This acted as a discouraging
factor in facilitating the use of ecologically and
economically sustainable methods of apple pollination.
Consequently, hand pollination remained the only option
that farmers knew (Table 4). Moreover, because apples
had an important role in the economy of the area, it was
important to make efforts to ensure the yield and quality
of this crop. With no other option available for ensuring
pollination, hand pollination was promoted to secure
yield and fruit quality.
Why Maoxian farmers are adopting alternatives to
apple farming
Large-scale community-based hand pollination of apples
and other fruit crops is unique to China. However,
farmers and institutions have begun to believe that it is
not a sustainable option, as revealed by the findings of
this study. The increasing costs of hand pollination
compared with the low income from apples have forced
Maoxian farmers to look for alternative farming options.
Migration of local people (human pollinators of apples) to
cities in search of better jobs has led to increased labor
scarcity and has multiplied the cost by a factor of
approximately 10. Although, in 2000, human pollinators
were available for US$2/person/d, presently, the cost of
FIGURE 3 (A) Change in mean annual precipitation in Songpan from 1950 to 2010; (B) change in mean annual temperature in Songpan from 1950 to 2010.
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hiring them varies from US$12–19/person/d, which has
led to a substantial increase in the cost of producing
apples. This, coupled with the falling market prices for
Maoxian apples, has been the key factor that compelled
farmers to look for other crops.
Our study revealed that climate change–induced
changes in local weather have resulted in frequent
rains, low temperatures and cloudy weather, as
observed in Maoxian County during the apple
flowering season, which delays flowering and also
affects pollination by natural pollinators where they
are present (Partap and Partap 2002; Tang et al 2003).
Most of the responding farmers reported fluctuations
in local weather. The striking feature of the local
weather changes was that temperature changed within
a short time, from very hot to very cold or vice versa.
Snowfall has been decreasing, but freezing rains have
increased; the time of snowfall has also changed.
Another change was an increase in precipitation during
the month of April, which caused continuing low
temperatures in spring. The reports from a weather
station also indicate an increase in mean annual
precipitation and mean annual temperature
(Figure 3A, B). Research conducted elsewhere by Fitter
and Fitter (2002) and Miller et al (2007) showed that
weather is the key factor that influences pollination of
crops. Abnormal weather, such as cold temperatures,
rain, and hailstorms, during the blooming period can
negatively affect pollination. Temperature is reported
to have a large impact on pollination interactions and
is known to affect flowering in crops and plants (Arft et
al 1999; Inouye et al 2003). Air temperature of 17–18uC
is considered optimal for apple flower blooming.
Therefore, weather has also been a significant
contributing factor in farmers’ decision-making about the
use of human pollinators. In clear weather, one-time hand
pollination is sufficient, and hired laborers work for just 1
or 2 days but under cold and cloudy weather conditions.
When the blooming period lengthens, repetitive
pollination is necessary, which requires more days for
human pollinators, which adds to the cost of managed
pollination. The present findings reveal that fluctuation
in local weather wherever human pollination is still
practiced, has led to the hiring of more human pollinators
so as to accomplish the pollination task in fewer days.
Changes in weather have thus become another key factor
FIGURE 4 Mixed fruit farming in study area. An orchard with apples, cherries, plums, loquats, and vegetables in Feng Mao village. (Photo by Uma Parta p)
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that contributes to the necessity of maintaining hand
pollination of apples, with the accompanying increase in
input costs.
Farmers’ innovations in adaptive strategies
In answer to the question of how farmers are adapting to
the pollination crisis in the face of the increasing costs for
human pollinators and climate change, our findings
revealed that a major shift in the cropping pattern is
occurring in the area. Apples, the major cash crop of the
area in 2001, are now being phased out. Farmers are
replacing them with other fruit crops, such as plum,
loquat, and walnut. Many farmers have already replaced
apples; others are in the process of doing so. As a result,
mixed plantation orchards have become a common sight
in the area (Figure 4). Apples have been completely
phased out from Jing Zhou, Le Du, and Ping Tou, 3 of the
6 villages where this study was undertaken (Table 2).
Discussions with farmers revealed that the increasing
costs of production, including for human pollinators,
were one of the reasons that led farmers to replace apples
by alternative self-pollinated fruit crops.
This shift in fruit crop farming includes both
ecological and economic considerations. In the present
decade, the farm gate price of apples has dropped
substantially, to between just US$0.16/kg and 0.19/kg, but
production costs have continued to rise. However, other
fruits fetched better prices, for example, plums, US$1.9–
2.5/kg; cherries, US$4.7–6.3/kg; and loquat, US$1.6–2.3/kg.
Moreover, the cost of production of these crops is much
lower compared with apples, and they produce good
yields without being essentially cross-pollinated.
Therefore, investment in human pollinators is not
required, and farmers do not have to worry about finding
pollinators. To increase their farm income, farmers also
adopted intercropping of vegetables, such as lettuce,
cabbage, Chinese cabbage, tomato, celery, and onion,
along with other fruit trees, which shows that, in this
mountain valley of Maoxian, both ecological and
economic factors combined to encourage farmers to
innovate by finding new ways of cropping and suitable
crops to sustain their livelihood.
Conclusion
For apple farmers in Maoxian, pollination continues to be
a limiting factor in productivity, and managing it through
human pollinators has been upsetting the cost–benefit
ratio of apple farming. By 2011, apple farming and the use
of human pollinators had been considerably reduced in
the valley and is now limited only to those villages or areas
where farmers either have not been able to find suitable
alternative options or those nearer the forest areas that
still benefit from some degree of natural pollinators.
Changes in fruit farming from apples, a crop that
essentially requires cross-pollination, to fruit crops and
vegetable crops that are not necessarily cross-pollinated,
are part of the farmers’ adaptation strategy.
The clear message of this study is that pollination is a
key factor in apple productivity and pollinators are
essential in providing this service. Therefore, other areas
dependent on the apple economy need to ensure that
pollination is well understood as a key limiting factor in
productivity and that steps are taken to manage it in
sustainable ways that maintain populations of pollinators
and their habitats rather than adopting unsustainable
techniques such as human pollinators.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are extremely grateful to Dr Michael Kollmair, programme manager,
Sustainable Livelihood and Poverty Reduction Programme of ICIMOD for
his constant support and encouragement to carry out this study. We are
highly thankful to Dr Tej Partap, vice chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir Univer sity
of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, for critically reading
the manuscript and providing suggestions that helped in improving it.
Inputs provided by my colleague Mr Min B. Gurung in planning this study
is gratefully acknowledged. We very much appreciate assistance in field
survey from Chen Xian, Li Chunyan, Xie Zhenghua, and Chen Mingsheng.
Financial support provided by the Government of Austria’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs through the Austrian Development Agency is thankfully
acknowledged.
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