Caring for Pollinators - Bundesamt für Naturschutz

Gikungu, Hagen, Kraemer An overview of pollinator studies in Kenya
the main forest. However, he did not find a general pattern in fruit set. The encountered
tendencies were attributed to edge effects and a high diversity of pollinators in the
agroecosystems.
In order to appreciate the role of pollinators in agricultural economics, some studies have
been conducted on selected crops in western Kenya. The net economic benefit gained by
farmers due to bee pollination (on eight different crops) in the Kakamega region was about
40% of their annual market value, amounting in total to 3.19 Million US$.
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Fig. 4: Cumulative number of bee species collected at seven study sites over 24 months, Kakamega
Forest, Kenya
Eastern Kenya:
In the Eastern part of Kenya a few community and individual plants studies including crops
such as water melon (Njoroge 2004, 2006) and Pigeon Pea have been conducted and some
are still ongoing. Because the Eastern province is mostly a dry area, most pollinator
conservation projects have been on apiculture and meliponiculture with the aim of alleviating
poverty and enhancing biodiversity in general. In addition, the traditional knowledge and
diversity of stingless bees have been conducted where a lower diversity of stingless bees
was observed as compared to Western Kenya (Gikungu & Njoroge 2007).
Coastal Areas:
Pollinator studies in coastal areas are still scarce but some work has been published on
studies on bee diversity, foraging behaviour (e.g. DIno 2004, Gikungu & Schwarz in press).
Further studies on pollinator diversity and nesting ecology are still ongoing especially in the
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