Little is known about the influence of agroecological farming practices on biodiversity and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa. Research in other parts of the world suggests these practices may enhance the resiliency of ecosystem services to land-use change. Pollination services are especially sensitive to land-use change and decreases of pollinator abundance or diversity may threaten food production. In a country like Malawi that is largely agricultural and food insecure, a decrease in pollination services could have a devastating impact on farmer livelihoods and human well-being. Malawi has limited investment in pollinator biodiversity research and knowledge, largely due to a dominant policy focus on input-intensive agriculture. Malawi also has opportunities to close significant information gaps regarding pollinator biology, taxonomy, and diversity. Today, there are no tools and data to quantify the effects of land-use change on bee biodiversity and ecosystem services or understand how farming practices influence pollinators or ecological resiliency to changes in the landscape.

In 2018, the Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities project funded Farms4Biodiversity, a farmer-led agricultural research project in Malawi that aims to determine how agroecological practices can improve food security and buffer against the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services from land-use change. The major partners in the Farms4Biodiversity project will support LUANAR to design a pollinators database that can accelerate the partners’ understanding of the role of pollinators and pollination services in agroecological productivity.

This planning grant to the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) will take the first steps in overcoming barriers to pollinators knowledge sharing by establishing partnerships and consultancies to develop a plan for harnessing pollinator biodiversity informatics in Malawi.

1. Engage national partners and stakeholders to identify the gaps in bee pollinator biodiversity information that are a priority to address.
2. Gain taxonomic and informatics expertise through visits with international partners.
3. Develop a plan for implementation of a Malawian pollinator database and online platform that can support the Farms4Biodiversity project and pollinators science in Malawi.

1. Signed partnership agreements.
2. A list of pollinator biodiversity data requirements for Malawi.
3. A list of targets for data mobilization.
4. A technical plan for database development.
5. Web-based links that can connect to databases and identification applications.
6. A final proposal to JRS for a multi-year project for mobilizing and sharing bee pollinator data in Malawi.

This four-month planning phase will improve national partnerships and incorporate expertise in taxonomy and informatics, thereby laying the groundwork for successful implementation of an online database for Malawian bee pollinators. The focus on securing partnerships, particularly with end-users, and accessing experts in biodiversity databases, is essential to self-sustaining capacity development in Malawi. Once pollinator biodiversity data is mobilized, end-users from farmers to scientists will be able to bring bee pollinator biodiversity into the equation and better understand the effects of agroecological interventions in Malawi.

Dr Trust Kasambala Donga works as an entomologist at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). In collaboration with local and international partners, she has worked on projects evaluating the impact of agricultural practices on insect populations. She is principally interested identification and assessment of pest control interventions that reduce insect pests on crops without harming beneficial organisms such as pollinators. Dr Kasambala Donga holds a PhD in Plant Sciences from Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway.

Since JRS began funding work in pollinator biodiversity informatics, we’ve been seeking projects that can link pollinators data to agricultural practice. To date, most projects from pollinators scientists have lacked strong connections to agronomy and projects from agricultural organizations have had weak elements on taxonomy and information technology.  The initial proposal from Soils, Farms, and Healthy Communities (SFHC) presented a project idea deeply embedded in a rigorous effort to advance agro-ecological farming, the Farms4Biodiversity project.  JRS invited SFHC to seek a planning grant to strengthen the IT components and SFHC put forward their LUANAR partners to develop the plan for project implementation.  We are eager to see if this team can bridge that gap between biodiversity data and farming practices.