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Farmers’ knowledge and attitudes toward pollination and bees in a maize-producing region of Zimbabwe: Implications for pollinator conservation

Authors

Tarakini,  Gugulethu
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Chemura

Chemura,  Abel
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Musundire,  Robert
External Organizations;

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24086oa.pdf
(Publisher version), 465KB

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Citation

Tarakini, G., Chemura, A., Musundire, R. (2020): Farmers’ knowledge and attitudes toward pollination and bees in a maize-producing region of Zimbabwe: Implications for pollinator conservation. - Tropical Conservation Science, 13, 194008292091853.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1940082920918534


Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_24086
Abstract
Pollination ecosystem service contributes tremendously to food security; however, little is known about the farmers’ awareness of the ecosystem service to ensure conservation of pollinators. This study determined farmers’ perceptions, knowledge, attitudes toward bees, and pollination in a maize-producing region of Zimbabwe using semistructured questionnaires (N = 828). Generalized linear model and logit regressions were used to determine factors influencing farmers’ ability to identify bees, knowledge of pollination, and fear toward bees, respectively. Identification of bees was positively related to education, years in farming, and negatively related to fear toward bees (p < .001). Fear toward bees was influenced by gender, knowledge of bee attack fatalities, and perception of the importance of bees (p < .001). The majority of respondents (67%) confirmed knowledge of pollination (χ2 = 96.043, p < .001), and the probability of knowing pollination was higher for those who depended on media compared with extension and school education as a source of farming information (p < .001). Our findings suggest that to improve bee conservation, farmers should be made more aware of the diverse bee fauna, specifically regarding their benefits as pollinators compared with the few dangers (resulting from stings) in order to reduce fear and increase willingness to conserve bees. Bee awareness programs need to be accessible to women, youth, and those with less formal education as they exhibited the least knowledge. Our findings also support evidence showing that extension officers should consider various media options for the effective dissemination of information to the different target audiences.