The role of bees in coffee crops: When coffee is devoid of bees. Discover why bees produce 40% of the world’s coffee. If you like coffee, you will appreciate bees.
You are undoubtedly aware that Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora) are the two most significant and popular coffee varieties.
Arabica is a coffee varietal native to the highlands between 1,200 and 1,500 meters in elevation. They are self-pollinating and do not need bees for pollination; instead, they are pollinated by the wind. However, when there are a lot of bees around, Arabica coffee output improves by 16 percent!
Unlike Arabica, Robusta is a lowland species that thrives in many settings. They do not self-reproduce but rely totally on cross-pollination. Robusta accounts for around 40% of global coffee output.
HOW IS CROSS-POLINING DEFINED?
Cross pollinators are unable to pollinate themselves with their own pistils and hence need pollen from other plants.
What is the best way to get pollen from other plants? By way of bees and other pollinators!
This is why bees are critical to coffee manufacturing, and you should be aware of it, particularly if you like coffee as well.
The majority of coffee is obtained from huge coffee plantations. And the same thing will happen with monocultures of fruit or cereal crops: during the flowering season, this area is a haven for bees (as long as no pesticides are used), but after the blooming season, the same area becomes a wasteland for bees. At the conclusion of the coffee blooming season, the whole plantation becomes a bee-depleted desert.
How can coffee farms help bees?
If you care about bees, there are several methods to help:
- Create year-round blooms in your coffee garden by layering flowers and fruit plants.
- Avoid using pesticides and chemicals, or use them sparingly and avoid spraying in the early.
- Reduce your reliance on intense farming and increase your reliance on vast farming.
- Maintain forest and wild areas on the coffee plantation to allow bees and plants to interact naturally.
Furthermore, according to the World Coffee Research Institute, coffee in the wild lacks genetic variety. The gene pool may be varied by cross-pollination. Thus, bees play a critical part in the production of coffee.