Bees that fertilise plants face extinction, warn scientists
What you need to know:
A professor warns that without bees plants won’t be fertilised, many tree species will vanish, food scarcity will be widespread and animals will become extinct.
Moshi. A large number of bees that fertilise plants face extinction because of various activities being carried out by humans, experts warn.
College of African Wildlife Management head Jafari Kideghesho told a meeting of Tanzanian bee experts at Mweka that insects were threatened.
He spoke about the need for the government to protect bees.
That could be done by educating members of the public on the importance of keeping bees.
According to him, when such bees are extinct Tanzania would face hunger as insects fertilise food and cash crops.
"Bees have many advantages. If they don’t exist plants won’t be fertilised. That means crops won’t be produced. This might lead to a number of calamities such as the extinction of many tree species and even animals that depend on those trees," warned Prof Kideghesho
Bee expert Hendry Njovu explained that environmental destruction including the use of industrial chemical agriculture by human beings, would largely contribute to the extinction of the bees.
Dr Njovu said 90 per cent of food and cash produced depended of bee fertilisation. "So, the world will be destroyed if we don’t make keep bees.”
Dr Njovu gave an example of China where bees had become extinct because of various activities that led to environmental destruction. Currently, plant fertilisation being carried out by human beings, but it is extremely costly.
A lecturer with the college, Dr Oliver Nyakuga, concurred that without bees plants would not be fertilised and famines might be common, leading to deprivation.
