Kenyan Experts: Pesticides Killing Bees, Forcing Farmers to Hand-Pollinate  

Kenyan farmers say they are being forced to hand-pollinate their crops due to a decline in bee populations from pesticides. Kenya’s insect experts say the chemicals, meant to kill desert locusts and other pests, are killing off bees and other pollinating insects.   Kenyan farmer Samuel Nderitu says he made a good living from his crops for nearly a decade until 2019, when he noticed neighboring farmers spraying for pests.      His crop yields started dropping, says Nderitu, and he’s convinced it’s because the pesticides killed off pollinating insects like bees.     He has since been forced to hand-pollinate the plants.      "It has been quite successful — not 100% though because that’s not natural," he said.  "The natural one is where the insects transfer the pollen from one plant to another; that's the most successful one. But now, because the pollinators are not there, we have to help in that process."  A 2019 desert locust invasion in east Africa forced Kenyan authorities and farmers into a massive spraying campaign to save their crops.     But Kenya’s International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology says the unchecked use of pesticides is ironically killing off the pollinators on which the crops depend.  ‘’The pesticides are affecting the health of the bees because the pesticides reduce immunity of bees," says Nelly Ngungu, a research scientist at the center. "Now, aggravating the effects of pesticides, and lack of forage because of climatic conditions, change in climate, all this they reduce the immunity of bees and can eventually lead to bee death and decline in population.’’    Kenya’s agricultural experts are researching pest control options that reduce chemical use.  Agricultural research professor Hamadi Boga says biological control — using predators that feed on pests — is one op