Economic benefits of animal pollination to Punjab agriculture

Abstract

Indian Punjab is gradually becoming the promised land of diversified farming with beekeeping as an important component, as farmers are looking for ways to get out of the paddy-wheat cycle. With this consideration, the present study estimated that the contribution of animal pollinators toward state agriculture. The economic value due to pollination service (EVP) was Rs 1391.2 crores forming about a 2 per cent share in the EV of output from state agriculture. Among the entomophilous crops, the insect pollination was essential for 2; great for 3; modest for 4 and of little importance to another 4 crops. About 42 per cent of the non-animal pollination-dependent crops accounted for a major share in the EV i.e. 97.87 per cent of the total agriculture output of the state. The share of cereals was the highest in the EV i.e. 86.79 per cent followed by vegetables (5.50%), fruits (5.32%), cotton (1.69%), sugarcane (0.35%), oilseeds (0.32%) and gram (0.01%) while based on dependence rate, the EVP was the highest in fruits (49.78%) followed by vegetables (21.49%), cotton (19.85%) and oilseeds (8.88%) and there existed no EVP for cereals and sugarcane and gram. The crops having great dependence on pollination contributed the maximum (Rs 741.13 crore) i.e. about 53 per cent to the EVP and about 1 per cent to the EV in the state agriculture. There is a strong need to realize the potential of this segment and formulate crop and commodity-specific strategies for optimum utilization of animal pollination inputs followed by crop diversification to high-value commodities. Punjab agriculture faces challenges on the production front and increased production cost needs such as “micro concepts” with “macro-economic” impacts.