Economic assessment of entomophilous pollination in crops from Argentina: possible effects of the pollinator crisis in agriculture

Abstract

In Argentina, food production is the basis of economic and social development. Several crops depend on entomophilous pollination. However, wild and managed pollinators are threatened by conventional agricultural management practices. In this work, we evaluate the economic value attributed to entomophilous pollination (EEV) of the main crops between 2013 and 2018. Our study focused on analyses of crops with varying degrees of pollinator dependence in terms, their harvested area, yield and total economic value (EV). The EEV attributed to pollinators and the vulnerability of each crop category were estimated. The EEV attributed exclusively to entomophilous pollination, in the 27 crops analyzed, was US$ 4.437 million, representing a contribution of the pollinators of 21,83% of the EV and 13,8 million tons of agricultural products. The EEV in decreasing order is industrial crops, fruit trees, vegetables, nuts and citrus. In industrial crops, where managed pollinators are not used, the contribution of pollinators was high, reaching US$3.655 million. Fruit trees and vegetables are the most vulnerable to an eventual decrease or absence of pollinators with estimated vulnerability rates of 68 and 38% respectively. These results show the economic contribution of the pollinators to the country's agriculture, the high vulnerability of agroecosystems and the effects in quantitative terms of a potential reduction in food production due to a pollination deficit. Finally, this work may be useful to guide decision-making and establish public policies aimed at promoting diversification and sustainability of agricultural models to guarantee food security.