Bee Smart: Improving yields for cashew growers in Ghana with smart pollination management

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Honeybees are vital pollinators, both to the agricultural industry and the wider environment. African honeybees are essential for cash crop, such as cashew, production to provide income to smallholder farmers in Africa. The BEE SMART project will test an innovative new commercial model to improve yields and environmental management for smallholder male and female farmers in Ghana. Specifically, the project will pilot low-cost managed pollination services for smallholder cashew farmers to improve yields, thus increasing profits as well as raising awareness of the value of ecosystem services and promoting environmental protection. The proposed strategy is novel for many African countries where pollination services have not yet become a commercial offering, as they have in many other parts of the world, and pollination management has not been integrated into the value chain for smallholders. As such, successful implementation of the project creates a new market in Ghana, benefits smallholder farmers and strengthens collaboration and capacity-building between UK and Ghana.