Browsing by Subject "hyönteispölytys"

Worldwide, pollination affects in food security, livelihood of agricultural entrepreneurs and beekeepers, and biodiversity. Pollination services are underrepresented in field of research in Finland. The aim of the thesis is to describe, analyze and interpret the state of the pollination services in the Finnish agricultural areas concentrating in honeybee pollination. The research questions concern how many beekeepers offer pollination services and for which insect-pollinated plants, in which areas the pollination services are supplied and are the beekeepers and agricultural entrepreneurs connected. Also, the aim is to form an answer that how the pollination services could be developed in Finland. The thesis is a part of Finnish Environment Institute’s and Finnish Beekeepers’ Association’s PÖLYHYÖTY -project. It is located in the third work package “Supply of honeybee pollination in the Finnish agricultural areas and the economic value of insect pollination”. The research was implemented via questionnaire. Based on the data collected via the questionnaire, nine interviews were conducted in order to deepen the understanding about the market, especially supply, of pollination services. The questionnaire was directed via email to all the members of Finnish Beekeepers Association’s members, approximately 2750 receivers, of which 447 replied. The data from the questionnaire was analyzed by means of statistical indicators, crosstabs, non-parametric tests, linear regression analysis and K-means cluster analysis. The interviews were transcribed, analyzed using qualitative methods and parts of them are being presented along the text. Supply for pollination services is small-scale despite the rapid growth in the number of beekeepers. Assumingly, supply and demand for pollination services is likely to increase in the following years. The demand increases due to the increased acreage of insect-pollinated plants. Thus, supply of pollination services is evidently elastic and obeys the growth of the market. According to this research, approximately a half of beekeepers in Finland supply pollination services, but with a small number of colonies. There are a large number of part-time beekeepers who supply the pollination services without receiving monetary compensation for it, usually against for a permanent bee colony site and an oral contract. Geographically the beekeepers and their colonies are located in the same areas as the plants needing pollination. Clover, broad bean, rapeseed, strawberry, apple, garden raspberry and currants are the cultivated plants of which have been pollinated by honeybee colonies most frequently. A small number of young, full-time beekeepers can be identified from the data; they are interested in combining honey production and pollination services as part of their business. The supply and demand for pollination services requires more research in order to be able to apply the research to the farm level and their individual needs. However, pollination service market has a positive outlook in the future having a significant role in sustainable food production as a developing market.