Value of Pollination Services in Farmlands Adjacent to Mau, Cherangany and Mt. Elgon Forests

Abstract

Pollination plays a vital role in crop yield and quality and by extension food security. Approximately 75% of global food crops depend on pollination services. Forests are the primary habitats of natural pollinators and communities farming near them benefit from this valuable supporting service. This study estimated the economic value of crop pollination dependency on natural forests within Mau, Cherangany and Mount Elgon Water Towers using the Pollination Value Array Tool developed by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). To determine the value of crop pollination on farmlands adjacent to the forests, a buffer zone of 5 km between the forest and the farms was developed using GIS. Using the developed maps, a list of pollination dependent crops grown within these zones was identified from the FAO tool. Crop production data were obtained from Ministry of Agriculture in all the Counties neighboring the three ecosystems. The crop data gathered include the quantity of crop harvested per season and the producer price in Ksh per metric ton. This data was entered into the Pollination value array tool which computes; the Total Economic Value of crop (TVC) and the Economic Value of Insect Pollinators (EVIP) using the Pollination Dependency Ratios (PDR) of the crops. The contributions of natural /insect pollinators to crop production in the Mau, Cherangany and Mt. Elgon were estimated at Ksh 314 million (12.7%), 67 million (9.7%) and 549 million (17.4%) respectively. The total economic value attributed to insect pollination in the three ecosystems amounted to Ksh 931million in 2015.