Bees for coffee

Although coffee does not need pollination to produce berries, visits by African honeybees can induce more and heavier (25%) berries. According to researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the coffee tree benefits from the exchange of genetic variation caused by the bees. This could explain the recent drops in yields in Africa and Asia, where the natural habitats for bees have shrunk and the intensive cultivation of coffee has been replacing multi-storey, mixed plantations. Source: Nature, June 2002Although coffee does not need pollination to produce berries, visits by African honeybees can induce more and heavier (25%) berries. According to researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the coffee tree benefits from the..