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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Conservation and Restoration Ecology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fevo.2025.1551190
"Beyond biodiversity: Does "Farming with Alternative Pollinators" also boost farmers' incomeprovide only biodiversity support in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields or also higher income to farmers? A case study in Morocco"
Provisionally accepted
Youssef Bencharki 1,2*
Denis Michez 2
Moulay Chrif Smaili 3
Oumayma Ihsane 1,2 Aden Aw-Hassan 4 Axel Ssymank 5
Pierre Rasmont 2 Stefanie Christmann 1- 1 International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Rabat, Morocco
- 2 University of Mons, Mons, Hainaut, Belgium
- 3 Regional Center of Agricultural Research of Kenitra, National Institute for Agricultural Research (Morocco), Kenitra, Morocco
- 4 Independent Consultant, 14968 138 St, Edmonton, AB T6V 1N9, Canada, Edmonton, Canada
- 5 Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
The importance of flower visitors for ecosystem resilience and crop production underscores the need to address the current decline of flower visitors worldwide. Farming Alternative Pollinators (FAP), economic and ecological benefits of fields hosting various marketable habitat enhancement plants, developed for flower visitors protection in low-and middle-income countries, showed multiple benefits for farmers of pollinator-dependent crops, but potential benefits of FAP for production of pollinator-independent crops have not yet been assessed. Therefore, we conducted in 2021 FAP trials with wheat (Triticum aestivum) as the main crop in two regions of Morocco where cereals are mainly grown in monocultures in field sizes ranging from 2 to 5 ha. We tested the effects of fields adding marketable habitat enhancement plants (MHEP; coriander and canola) versus control fields on pests, natural enemies, flower visitors, and net income. We found significantly lower abundance and diversity of pests in wheat fields using MHEP, but no effect on natural enemy presence or net income. The strips of MHEP attracted a high number of flower visitors in both regions (Settat and Sidi Slimane), they supported flower visitor communities by providing plant resources and alternative habitat in monocultural landscapes extremely degraded for flower visitors.
Keywords: Coriandrum sativum, marketable habitat enhancement plants, Pest Control, Flower visitors, Crop Production, Conservation biocontrol
Received: 24 Dec 2024; Accepted: 20 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bencharki, Michez, Smaili, Ihsane, Aw-Hassan, Ssymank, Rasmont and Christmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Youssef Bencharki, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Rabat, Morocco
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