Evidence of the contribution of birds and bees to coffee plantations presented at the International Coffee Festival

• The festival was held in Chiapas, Mexico, and CATIE was present at the event.

October 19, 2022. From October 13 to 15, the Mexican state of Chiapas, specifically the municipality of Ocozocoautla, hosted the second International Coffee Festival, an event that brought together producers, coffee growing experts, national and international buyers and other actors involved in the coffee value chain.

In this festival, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (SAGyP, its Spanish acronym) of Chiapas, CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) was present and showed the results of an investigation that evidenced the benefits provided by birds and bees as pollinating agents in coffee plantations.

One of the principal investigators of this study, Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, was the one who personally presented the results of the study, giving the presentation Conservation of Biodiversity in Coffee Plantations.

Martínez-Salinas explained how the presence of birds and bees within the coffee plantations is one of the strategies for the control of coffee pests

"In coffee plantations where birds and bees are present, the number of fruit set is higher in comparison with coffee plantations where these two taxonomic groups do not exist. This behavior is due to the pollination effect of birds and bees in the coffee plantation. Not only is the number of fruit set benefited, but also the weight of the fruit is more homogeneous when birds and bees are present in the coffee plantation; that is to say, the quality of the fruit is better", commented Martínez-Salinas.

Among those present, some producers commented that they have seen how the presence of birds helps to control pests in the coffee plantations, mentioning, as an example, that on previous occasions they had not harvested all the coffee fruits on the plant and thought that this would cause an increase in the presence of pests in the coffee plantation, but to their surprise this was not the case, which they attribute to the presence of the birds, which help to naturally combat the pests.

CATIE also had a stand at the festival where it shared with participants, information about its research on coffee, agro-forestry, sustainable livestock and other topics.