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Farming with Alternative Pollinators: Integrated Pollinator Habitat for Sustainable Agriculture

Boost yields. Protect biodiversity. Increase profits.

The Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) approach is a biodiversity-based farming practice that integrates conservation measures into agricultural production through the strategic inclusion of marketable habitat enhancement plants within cultivated fields instead of wildflowers. The innovation applies to a land-sharing design where farmers dedicate part of their production area to diverse flowering plants that provide ecological resources for wild pollinators and beneficial insects such as natural enemies. Technical implementation involves selecting locally appropriate plant species, synchronizing flowering periods to extend resource availability, establishing nesting and water-support structures, and training farmers on pollinator ecology and biodiversity-friendly crop management.

2

This technology is pre-validated.

8•7

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 7/9

Positive impacts: 12

Target Groups Positives Impacts
Women smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid regions
  • Increased income opportunities through the integration of Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants (MHEP) that can generate additional revenue.
  • Improved resilience to climate variability through diversified production systems.
  • Increased participation of women in sustainable agricultural practices and decision-making.
  • Enhanced access to knowledge on pollinators, biodiversity, and improved farm management.
Low-income smallholder farmers with limited literacy and access to technical knowledge
  • Increased farm profitability through improved yields and additional income from MHEP.
  • Reduced production risks through diversified farm outputs.
  • Improved understanding of beneficial insects and sustainable farming practices.
  • Reduced dependency on expensive external inputs.
Smallholder farmers highly dependent on external agricultural inputs, particularly pesticides
  • Reduced dependence on costly chemical inputs through improved natural pest control.
  • Lower pest abundance (average 64.8% reduction in FAP fields).
  • Improved farm profitability through reduced input costs and increased productivity.
  • Increased awareness of beneficial insects and integrated pest management.
More...
Unintended impacts: 8
Mitigations: 12
Barriers: 12
Mitigations: 12

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Biodiversity: Positive impact on biodiversity

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Water use: More water used

Problem

  • Biodiversity loss and declining ecosystem services caused by intensive agricultural practices that reduce habitats for pollinators and beneficial insects. 87% of wild flowering plants and 75% of major food crops depend on animal pollination.
  • The limited sustainability and scalability of subsidy-dependent conservation approaches, which are difficult to maintain in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Persistent food insecurity and pressure on natural ecosystems, by improving agricultural productivity without expanding cultivated land.
  • Low farmer awareness and limited adoption of pollinator-friendly practices, including the lack of nesting habitats and pollinator management knowledge, which FAP addresses through capacity building and low-cost ecological interventions.

Solution

  • Delivers multiple development outcomes through one integrated intervention: increased incomes, improved food production, biodiversity restoration, and reduced pesticide use.
  • Reduces rural poverty, increasing smallholder incomes by an average of 121%, with crop-specific gains exceeding 200%.
  • Strengthens food security by improving yields of pollinator-dependent crops, which represent 75% of the world's leading food crops.
  • Conserves biodiversity, extending flowering periods from 46–63 days to over 80–93 days, providing continuous resources for pollinators.
  • Restores ecosystem services, with FAP fields attracting 89% of flower visitors compared to only 11% in conventional monocultures.
  • Promotes climate-smart agriculture, reducing pesticide use through 64.8% lower pest abundance and enhancing ecosystem resilience.
  • Offers a financially sustainable model, requiring no long-term subsidy schemes because farmers adopt it for its direct economic benefits.
  • Provides a highly scalable intervention suitable for integration into agricultural development, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and landscape restoration programs across low- and middle-income countries.
 
 
 

Key points to design your program

By contributing directly to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) provides an integrated, evidence-based solution that delivers measurable economic, environmental, and social impacts, making it well suited for agricultural, climate, and biodiversity development programs. To successfully integrate FAP into development initiatives, development partners should consider the following key elements:

1. Strategic Policy and Institutional Alignment

  • Promote cross-sector collaboration between Ministries of Agriculture and Environment to support national pollinator protection strategies.
  • Support the Ministry of Education in developing and integrating pollinator-related curricula for students.
  • Partner with national agricultural extension services to facilitate farmer outreach, demonstration activities, and large-scale adoption.

2. Design Economic Incentives

  • Promote Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants (MHEP), such as coriander, sunflower, anise, basil, and legumes, instead of non-marketable wildflower strips, allowing farmers to generate income while supporting pollinators.
  • Highlight the role of MHEP in strengthening climate resilience, providing an additional source of income when the main crop is affected by climatic or pest-related shocks.

3. Integrate Key Technical Components

  • Support pollinator-friendly pest management by restricting broad-spectrum pesticides that harm beneficial insects.
  • Promote low-cost, locally available nesting and water infrastructure using materials such as hollow stems, wood logs, and dry mud.
  • Ensure appropriate flowering synchronization by establishing diverse MHEP assemblages that provide continuous forage before, during, and after the flowering of the main crop.

4. Strengthen Capacity Building and Farmer Engagement

  • Invest in farmer training and awareness campaigns on wild pollinators, their habitat requirements, and their contribution to crop productivity.
  • Adopt a participatory approach by involving farmers in selecting suitable crops and MHEP that match local agroecological conditions and market opportunities.
  • Promote long-term behavioural change, encouraging farmers to recognize and protect beneficial insects as productive assets.
  • Collaborate with ICARDA and other relevant stakeholders to provide technical support, capacity building, and implementation assistance.

5. Monitor Results and Support Scaling

  • Measure both ecological and economic outcomes, including pollinator abundance, pest reduction, crop productivity, and net income gains.

IP

Open source / open access

Farming with Alternative Pollinators: Integrated Pollinator Habitat for Sustainable Agriculture

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377298471_Farming_with_alternative_pollinators_provides_benefits_also_in_large-scale_fields

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology\’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology\’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Read more about scaling readiness ›

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Common use by projects NOT connected to technology provider

Maturity of the idea Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Positive impact 12

Target Groups Positives Impacts
Women smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid regions
  • Increased income opportunities through the integration of Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants (MHEP) that can generate additional revenue.
  • Improved resilience to climate variability through diversified production systems.
  • Increased participation of women in sustainable agricultural practices and decision-making.
  • Enhanced access to knowledge on pollinators, biodiversity, and improved farm management.
Low-income smallholder farmers with limited literacy and access to technical knowledge
  • Increased farm profitability through improved yields and additional income from MHEP.
  • Reduced production risks through diversified farm outputs.
  • Improved understanding of beneficial insects and sustainable farming practices.
  • Reduced dependency on expensive external inputs.
Smallholder farmers highly dependent on external agricultural inputs, particularly pesticides
  • Reduced dependence on costly chemical inputs through improved natural pest control.
  • Lower pest abundance (average 64.8% reduction in FAP fields).
  • Improved farm profitability through reduced input costs and increased productivity.
  • Increased awareness of beneficial insects and integrated pest management.

Unintended impact 8

Target Groups Unintended Impacts Mitigation measures
Women smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid regions
  • Additional labour requirements for establishing and managing MHEP and pollinator habitats may increase women’s workload.
  • Women may have limited control over land, production decisions, or income generated from additional crops.
  • Water scarcity in arid regions may create competition between MHEP and main crops.
  • Promote labour-efficient FAP designs adapted to women farmers’ capacities and available resources.
  • Ensure women’s participation in training, farmer groups, and decision-making processes.
  • Select MHEP adapted to local water availability and agroecological conditions.
  • Encourage household/community awareness to support women’s involvement and benefit-sharing.
Low-income smallholder farmers with limited literacy and access to technical knowledge
  • Complexity of FAP management (e.g., flowering synchronization, insect identification) may discourage adoption.
  • Misinterpretation of habitat plants as weeds may reduce acceptance.
  • Use practical, demonstration-based training approaches.
  • Develop visual and locally adapted training materials suitable for low-literacy farmers.
  • Establish farmer field demonstrations and peer-learning approaches.
  • Provide continuous technical support during early adoption stages.
Smallholder farmers highly dependent on external agricultural inputs, particularly pesticides
  • Initial reduction in pesticide use may create concerns about increased pest pressure.
  • Farmers may perceive restrictions on pesticide use as a production risk.
  • Transition period may require additional monitoring and technical support.
  • Provide training on integrated pest management and pest threshold monitoring.
  • Demonstrate economic benefits of reduced pesticide dependency.
  • Provide technical guidance during transition periods.
  • Promote evidence-based pesticide use rather than complete elimination where not justified.

Barriers 12

Target Groups Adoption Barriers Mitigation Measures
Women smallholder farmers in arid and semi-arid regions
  • Limited access to land, agricultural inputs, finance, and extension services.
  • Underrepresentation of women in agricultural programs and demonstrations.
  • Limited access to markets for MHEP products.
  • Limited recognition of women’s role in farm management.
  • Develop targeted outreach and training programs for women farmers.
  • Work with local organizations and extension services to reach women farmers.
  • Facilitate access to MHEP seeds and market linkages.
  • Include gender-responsive indicators in project monitoring.
Low-income smallholder farmers with limited literacy and access to technical knowledge
  • Limited knowledge of pollinators and ecosystem services.
  • Difficulty accessing technical advice and training.
  • Risk aversion due to limited financial capacity.
  • Limited access to quality MHEP seeds.
  • Strengthen extension service support and farmer coaching.
  • Promote participatory selection of MHEP according to farmer needs and local markets.
  • Establish demonstration plots showing economic benefits.
  • Facilitate access to seeds and locally available resources
Smallholder farmers highly dependent on external agricultural inputs, particularly pesticides
  • Strong dependence on chemical pest control practices.
  • Perception that all insects are harmful.
  • Lack of knowledge on natural enemies and pollination benefits.
  • Limited confidence in alternative pest management approaches.
  • Train farmers to identify beneficial insects and natural enemies.
  • Establish demonstration farms comparing FAP and conventional practices.
  • Engage plant protection specialists and extension agents.
  • Promote farmer observation and monitoring of field ecosystems.

Tested & adopted
Adopted
Tested
Testing ongoing
Egypt Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Burkina Faso Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Côte d’Ivoire Eritrea Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Cameroon Kenya Libya Liberia Madagascar Mali Malawi Morocco Mauritania Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Rwanda Zambia Senegal Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Somalia South Sudan Sudan South Africa Eswatini Tanzania Togo Tunisia Chad Uganda Western Sahara Central African Republic Lesotho
Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country Testing ongoing Tested Adopted
Algeria – –
Egypt – –
Jordan – –
Morocco –
Palestine – –
Türkiye – –
Uzbekistan – –

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ Subtropic - warm Subtropic - cool Tropic - warm Tropic - cool
Arid – – – –
Semiarid – –
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Sustainable Development Goal 1: no poverty
Goal 1: no poverty

FAP helps lift smallholders out of poverty by providing a method-inherent financial incentive, such as the average 121% increase in net income per surface area observed in field trials
Sustainable Development Goal 2: zero hunger
Goal 2: zero hunger

The approach enhances global food security by significantly increasing the yield quantity and quality of essential pollinator-dependent crops
Sustainable Development Goal 3: good health and well-being
Goal 3: good health and well-being

FAP promotes human well-being by reducing the agricultural dependency on harmful broad-spectrum pesticides through enhanced biological pest control
Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action
Goal 13: climate action

The strategy builds climate change resilience by using marketable habitat enhancement plants (MHEP) as a financial safety net and buffer against crop losses caused by extreme weather

Step-by-Step Implementation of Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP)

Step 1: Select Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants (MHEP)

  • Engage farmers and technical experts in a participatory selection process.
  • Identify the Marketable Habitat Enhancement Plants (MHEP) that:
    • Attract pollinators and beneficial insects.
    • Have market value and provide additional income opportunities.
    • Are adapted to local climate and farming conditions.
  • Examples include coriander, sunflower, basil, anise, and legumes.

Step 2: Design the Farm Layout

Adapt the FAP design according to farm size:

  • Smallholder fields (~300 m²):
    • Allocate 75% of the area to the main crop.
    • Dedicate 25% to MHEP habitat zones along field margins.
  • Large-scale fields (~1 ha):
    • Establish 1-meter-wide MHEP strips every 15.5 meters.
    • Maintain approximately 93% main crop and 7% MHEP.

Step 3: Plan MHEP Planting for Continuous Flowering

  • Select and sow a combination of MHEP species with different flowering periods.
  • Synchronize flowering to provide continuous food resources for pollinators:
    • One-third of MHEP species flower before or after the main crop.
    • Two-thirds flower at the same time as the main crop.
  • Extend pollinator food availability from 46–63 days in conventional monocultures to 80.5–93 days under FAP.

Step 4: Create Pollinator-Friendly Habitat Conditions

Enhance the farm environment by providing:

  • Nesting sites using low-cost local materials:
    • Hollow stems.
    • Wood logs.
    • Dry mud blocks with holes.
  • Water sources to support pollinator survival.
  • Bare soil patches for ground-nesting pollinators.

 

Last updated on Aug 7, 2026

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
 Youssef Bencharki
Technology from
PRMS
Commodities
Melon Vegetable crop
Sustainable Development Goals Details ›
Sustainable Development Goal 1: no poverty
Sustainable Development Goal 2: zero hunger
Sustainable Development Goal 3: good health and well-being
Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action
public.components.sdgs.motre
Category
Practices
Subcategory
Integrated pest management
Value chain step
Production
Tested/adopted in Details ›
Tested & adopted
Adopted
Tested
Testing ongoing
Where it can be used Details ›

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones.

Target groups
Farmers Advisory and Extension Services
QR code

Farming with Alternative Pollinators: Integrated Pollinator Habitat for Sustainable Agriculture

https://e-catalogs.taat-africa.org/org/technologies/farming-with-alternative-pollinators-integrated-pollinator-habitat-for-sustainable-agriculture

Last updated on 7 August 2026, printed on Aug 11, 2026

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