Building a participatory research platform for sustainable farming in India

Barbara Smith, Soumik Chatterjee, Parthib Basu

http://www.vliruos.be/en/project-funding/programdetail/research-platforms_4382/

A Research Platform is a research network, focused on a well-defined theme with obvious and high impact at the country level. It requires the participation of experienced researchers from different universities and research institutes. It is led by a coordinating university.

Enhancing the Relationship between People and Pollinators in Eastern India

To create an interdisciplinary participatory research centre at Calcutta University as a flexible model that can be adapted and implemented in other regions

Participatory research

Participatory research focuses on a process of sequential reflection and action, carried out with and by local people rather than on them. Local knowledge and perspectives are not only acknowledged but form the basis for research and planning.

The key difference between participatory and conventional methodologies lies in the location of power in the research process.

Cornwall & Jewkes 1995, Social Science & Medicine

Enhancing the Relationship between People and Pollinators in Eastern India

Dr. Parthiba Basu, Director Dr Soumik Chatterjee, Post Doctoral manager

Research team at Calcutta University

Physical space for the centre

Rural communities in Tripura and Orissa

Field team in Orissa Prashant, Tripura

Applied science

BEE TAXONOMY AND IDENTIFICATION, building a curated collection, developing keys

Participatory research opportunities

Academic research opportunities

Priyadarshini Chakrabarti, PhD student, CPS

Pesticide induced impaired olfaction in honey bees

Training: ID skills, processing samples

Communities monitoring bee populations

Trials using flower strips along bunds to encourage beneficial insects

Focus on pollination…..

Knowledge gaps:

• Identity of pollinators

• Population abundance and distribution

• Impact of agriculture on pollinators

• Which are effective pollinators of key crops

• How dependent they are on wild plants

• Whether those wild plants are available in the landscape

Identity and distribution of pollinators

Long-term monitoring of pollinators at 15 sites (30 villages 5 km apart) in both Orissa and Tripura

Recording biodiversity, maintaining collections and carrying out academic research

Characters for differentiating genera & species:

Hairs on scutum & shape of tegula

Pseudapis sp. Lipotriches sp. 1 Lipotriches sp. 2

Distribution of Ctenoplectra chalybea

• Ctenoplectra species are all

specialists on flowers of

various Cucurbitaceae

• The specialised hairs on the

abdomen of the females are

used to collect floral oils

• All Ctenoplectra are ground-

nesters

Spine Gourd Flower Hand Pollination Arpan Parui & Aditi Dutta

Camptopoeum sp. (New Species from India)

Does agricultural practice affect pollinators?

Soumik Chatterjee

Long term monitoring:

• Pan traps, Transect walks, Focal observations.

• Total 15 pan trap stations were selected.

• 5 pan trap stations were selected randomly in each intensification node

1. the total transect length is 400 m will be laid.(Figure 2)

2. 5 m

5 m

200 meter

50 meter

Total species : 56

Lasioglossum : 26

Lasioglossum accounts for 46.43% of the total species

Total individual : 1526

Lasioglossum : 1422

Lasioglossum accounts for 93.18% of the total population

Tripura data

Soil Nester

Tree & Twig nester

Wood Nester

Amegilla

Andrena

Anthophora

Curvinomia

Halictus

Lasioglossum

Nomia

Braunsapis

Ceratina

Trigona

Xylocopa

Lithurgus

Best Model AIC P Variation

explained

Soil nester (500m) FL + NOP + PD + PIac 9.75 0.01 69%

Soil nester(100m) FL + NOP + PIac + PD 3.65 0.002 84%

Tree & Twig nester

(500m)

PIac 13.48 0.24 4%

Tree & Twig nester

(100m)

NDVI + NOP 56.67 0.22 12%

Wood nester

(500m)

NOP + PD 57.74 0.01 51%

Wood nester

(100m)

NOP + PD 57.74 0.01 51%

Prefer generally prefer less diversified homogeneous habitats and

pesticide has no effect on their population

Negatively effected by pesticide specially number of pesticide used

Chakrabarti, P., Rana, S., Smith, B., Sarkar, S. and Basu, P. (2014) Pesticide

induced oxidative stress in laboratory and field populations of native honey

bees along intensive agricultural landscapes in two Eastern Indian states.

Apidologie DOI: 10.1007/s13592-014-0308-z.

Apis dorsata Apis cerana

Priyadarshini Charkaborti

XOX SOD CAT

Field populations Laboratory populations

Change in expression of XOX reported first time in an

invertebrate system due to pesticide stress

Stress marker Coping

mechanism

Coping

mechanism

• Collected insects by sweeping and collecting pollens from their body

• identified them using microscopy

Which bees are candidate pollinators of vegetable crops

Ritam Bhattacharya

Pollen transported by

bees

Calculating pollination service indices

F = density of flowers per m2 H = handling + travel time for one flower.

B = density of bees per m2. L = life time of flowers in hours. Arnob Chatterjee

0

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02

0.025

0.03

0.035

0.04

LOW MID HIGH

Po

llin

atio

n s

erv

ice

ind

ex

Agricultural intensifcation gradient nodes

Orissa

Pollination Service Index for Brinjal

Which non-crop plants provide resources to pollinators ?

Study is conducted at Balasore district in Odisha in Eastern India. Study sites were chosen across broad landscape (area ~188.35 sq. km) on the basis of the availability of semi-natural habitats. A total of twenty study sites were selected randomly within available semi-natural habitats.

India

Odisha

Supratim Laha

B E E – P L A N T V I S I TAT I O N N E T WO R K

Non-nested and highly specialized & highly vulnerable network Highest species strength – Ceratina (Pithitis) spp. – 7.11 out of ~40 plant species

Collating and validating traditional / local knowledge for pollinator conservation: Building the evidence base

Top three most important pollinators

Intensive sites

Intermediate sites

Extensive sites

Has pollinator abundance changed? Intensive Intermediate Extensive

Apis cerana Declined (rarely seen)1

-40%3 -70%2

Xylocopa spp -75%2 -70%2

Apis florea -60%2

Amegilla spp -60% and -80%3 -90%2

Apis dorsata -80%3 +300%3

General bees (in Mustard) -50%2

Less pollinators generally Agreed

Change in pollinator abundance

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Pesticides

Diversity of pesticides

Climate change

Pollinators destruction(humans)

Loss of big treesLoss of nesting habitat

Selection felling

Forest fragmentation

Forest fire

Why have pollinators declined?

Possible interventions

0

1

2

Go organic

Reduce pesticide use

Use selective pest control

Use insect predators rather than pesticides

Introduce bee boxes

Plant non-crop plants

Conserve natural habitat

Plant more big trees

Some feedback from farmers

• The information that there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ insects is the most valuable information anyone could have. If there is more information like this I would like to know

• The soil is degraded, I would like some technology to help us

• We need improved seeds

• How can we control pests without pesticides?

Do we have the foundations for a participatory research platform?

Network of experimental sites with trained and engaged communities

Strong partnerships with policy makers

Training material ready to be rolled out

Coordinating University

Where does the power lie?

Acknowledgements

• Darwin Initiative, Indian Government

• The Dept. of Agriculture, Tripura

• The Dept. of Biotechnology in Tripura

• Calcutta University

• The farming communities of Tripura and Orissa

Thank you for listening