Percepção de agricultores sobre a importância de polinizadores e do serviço de polinização

Abstract

Pollination is a fundamental ecosystem service for the maintenance of biodiversity in natural environments and productivity in agroecosystems. However, actions resulting from agricultural practices, such as deforestation for land use and the use of pesticides, have had negative effects on pollinator populations. The aim of this study was to understand family farmers’ perception of environmental problems and the importance of pollination, as well as their knowledge of pollinators. The sample consisted of 72 family farmers, 42 conventional and 30 organic, whose properties are located in the regions of COREDE Fronteira Noroeste and COREDE Missões, RS, Brazil. The data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and applied between September and November of 2017. The results were organized into tables of absolute and relative frequencies. The chi-squared test was used to verify the frequency difference between categories within each group of farmers and together. Most farmers mentioned "pesticide" (p-value<0.001, 90.3 %, n=65) as the main environmental problem. They also perceived a "decrease" (p-value=0.011, 50.0%, n=36) of the natural vegetation areas and observed an "increase" (p-value=0.023, 45.8%, n=33) of the growing areas. "Bees" were mentioned as pollinators by all of the farmers (p-value<0.001, 100.0%, n=72) and "flowers" were mentioned as the main food source for pollinators (p-value<0.001, 97.2%; n=70). Pollinators were considered important by all farmers, who attributed the importance mainly to the "reproduction" (p-value<0.001, 58.3%, n=42) of plants. The farmers considered the pollinators to be important for 40 (37.0%) crops they produce. Forage supply was the main reason (p-value<0.001, 65.3%, n=47) for most farmers to consider spontaneous plants to be important (p-value<0.001; 75.0%; n=54) for pollinators. A perception of a "decrease" (p-value<0.001, 84.7%, n=61) in bee populations was reported by most farmers, with the use of "pesticides" (p-value<0.001, 82.0%, n=59) mentioned as the main cause. The "reasonable use of pesticides" (p-value=0,001, 28.6%, n=12) and "pesticide use" (62.0%; n=26) were mentioned by conventional farmers as the main positive and negative practices, respectively. The majority (80.0%, n=24) of organic farmers were unaware if their practices were negative for pollinators, but they mentioned their "non-use of pesticides" as the main positive practice (p-value<0,001, 53.3%, n=16). The research subjects recognized the importance of pollinators for plant reproduction, but they had limited knowledge about the importance of the pollination for most crops (55.7%) that they grow. In addition, farmers knew about the negative effect of pesticides on bees, but they were unaware of the influence of other important factors such as the destruction of habitats. Few positive practices are adopted by farmers, and it is notable that more than 1/3 of the conventional farmers do not know if they adopt negative practices. It can be concluded that it is necessary to promote awareness of the importance of pollinators, which can result in actions for their conservation and for the maintenance of essential pollination services.