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The value of bees to the coffee harvest

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  • David W. Roubik

    (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948)

Abstract

The self-pollinating African shrub Coffea arabica, a pillar of tropical agriculture, was considered to gain nothing from insect pollinators1,2. But I show here that naturalized, non-native honeybees can augment pollination and boost crop yields by over 50%. These findings, together with world coffee-harvest statistics and results from field studies of organically shade-grown coffee, indicate that coffee plants would benefit from being grown in habitats that are suitable for sustaining valuable pollinators.

Suggested Citation

  • David W. Roubik, 2002. "The value of bees to the coffee harvest," Nature, Nature, vol. 417(6890), pages 708-708, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:417:y:2002:i:6890:d:10.1038_417708a
    DOI: 10.1038/417708a
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    Cited by:

    1. Gallai, Nicola & Salles, Jean-Michel & Settele, Josef & Vaissière, Bernard E., 2009. "Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 810-821, January.
    2. Jesús Hernando Gómez & Pablo Benavides & Juan Diego Maldonado & Juliana Jaramillo & Flor Edith Acevedo & Zulma Nancy Gil, 2023. "Flower-Visiting Insects Ensure Coffee Yield and Quality," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Yen Pham & Kathryn Reardon-Smith & Shahbaz Mushtaq & Geoff Cockfield, 2019. "The impact of climate change and variability on coffee production: a systematic review," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 609-630, October.
    4. Bauer, Dana Marie & Sue Wing, Ian, 2016. "The macroeconomic cost of catastrophic pollinator declines," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 1-13.
    5. Kitti, Mitri & Heikkila, Jaakko & Huhtala, Anni, 2006. "Fair policies for the coffee trade - protecting people or biodiversity?," Discussion Papers 11858, MTT Agrifood Research Finland.

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