IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v14y2024i4p636-d1379625.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intercropping Industrial Hemp and Cowpea Enhances the Yield of Squash—A Pollinator-Dependent Crop

Author

Listed:
  • Beatrice N. Dingha

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

  • Gilbert N. Mukoko

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

  • Ikponmwosa N. Egbon

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

  • Louis E. Jackai

    (Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

Abstract

Cultural crop-production practices are not only engineered to minimize pest incidence but also improve resource use efficiency and increase the diversity of habitat for beneficial insects that provide pollination services. With the increasing cultivation of industrial hemp and the benefits associated with the cultivation of multiple crops, its integration into a polyculture cropping system remains to be evaluated. We intercropped two pollinator-attractive crops, hemp and cowpea, with squash, a pollinator-dependent crop, to evaluate the impact of pollinator abundance and diversity on crop yield. Intercropping significantly increased the overall abundance of pollinators with 79.1% recorded from the intercropping systems compared to 21.9% in the monocropping systems. Sweat bees and bumble bees were the most abundant bees, and Squash+Cowpea was the most diverse cropping system. Intercropping significantly increased the yield of squash with higher squash yield (155%) in Hemp+Squash and (161%) in Squash+Cowpea than in squash monocrop. Also, intercropping resulted in higher hemp yield (64%) in Hemp+Cowpea and (165%) in Hemp+Squash compared to hemp monocrop. This study demonstrated that agricultural systems such as intercropping that are designed to attract pollinators are much more productive by not only improving crop yield but also growers’ returns on investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatrice N. Dingha & Gilbert N. Mukoko & Ikponmwosa N. Egbon & Louis E. Jackai, 2024. "Intercropping Industrial Hemp and Cowpea Enhances the Yield of Squash—A Pollinator-Dependent Crop," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:636-:d:1379625
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/636/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/4/636/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bauer, Dana Marie & Sue Wing, Ian, 2016. "The macroeconomic cost of catastrophic pollinator declines," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Gallai, Nicola & Salles, Jean-Michel & Settele, Josef & Vaissière, Bernard E., 2009. "Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 810-821, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lippert, Christian & Feuerbacher, Arndt & Narjes, Manuel, 2021. "Revisiting the economic valuation of agricultural losses due to large-scale changes in pollinator populations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Uwingabire, Zafarani & Gallai, Nicola, 2024. "Impacts of degraded pollination ecosystem services on global food security and nutrition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    3. Céline Moreaux & Jette Bredahl Jacobsen & Jürgen Meyerhoff & Bo Dalsgaard & Carsten Rahbek & Niels Strange, 2023. "Distance and Regional Effects on the Value of Wild Bee Conservation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(1), pages 37-63, January.
    4. Bartolomeo Toffano & M. Bruna Zolin, 2021. "Ecosystem services value: a literature review," Working Papers 2021:07, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    5. Rafaella Guimarães Porto & Rita Fernandes Almeida & Oswaldo Cruz-Neto & Marcelo Tabarelli & Blandina Felipe Viana & Carlos A. Peres & Ariadna Valentina Lopes, 2020. "Pollination ecosystem services: A comprehensive review of economic values, research funding and policy actions," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(6), pages 1425-1442, December.
    6. Balzan, Mario V & Caruana, Julio & Zammit, Annrica, 2018. "Assessing the capacity and flow of ecosystem services in multifunctional landscapes: Evidence of a rural-urban gradient in a Mediterranean small island state," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 711-725.
    7. Smith, Helen F. & Sullivan, Caroline A., 2014. "Ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes—Farmers' perceptions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 72-80.
    8. Kathrin Stenchly & Marc Victor Hansen & Katharina Stein & Andreas Buerkert & Wilhelm Loewenstein, 2018. "Income Vulnerability of West African Farming Households to Losses in Pollination Services: A Case Study from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    9. Grazia Zulian & Joachim Maes & Maria Luisa Paracchini, 2013. "Linking Land Cover Data and Crop Yields for Mapping and Assessment of Pollination Services in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-21, September.
    10. Paul L. G. Vlek & Asia Khamzina & Hossein Azadi & Anik Bhaduri & Luna Bharati & Ademola Braimoh & Christopher Martius & Terry Sunderland & Fatemeh Taheri, 2017. "Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Morgane Barbet-Massin & Jean-Michel Salles & Franck Courchamp, 2020. "The economic cost of control of the invasive yellow-legged Asian hornet," Post-Print hal-02548072, HAL.
    12. Luciano Pilati & Vasco Boatto, 2014. "Jointness in Sites: The Case of Migratory Beekeeping," DEM Discussion Papers 2014/10, Department of Economics and Management.
    13. Nicholas W Calderone, 2012. "Insect Pollinated Crops, Insect Pollinators and US Agriculture: Trend Analysis of Aggregate Data for the Period 1992–2009," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-27, May.
    14. Soy-Massoni, Emma & Langemeyer, Johannes & Varga, Diego & Sáez, Marc & Pintó, Josep, 2016. "The importance of ecosystem services in coastal agricultural landscapes: Case study from the Costa Brava, Catalonia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 43-52.
    15. John Tzilivakis & D. Warner & A. Green & K. Lewis, 2015. "Adapting to climate change: assessing the vulnerability of ecosystem services in Europe in the context of rural development," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 547-572, April.
    16. Miettinen, Antti & Korpela, Eeva-Liisa & Hyytiäinen, Kari & Kuussaari, Mikko, 2014. "Cost-effectiveness of agri-environmental measures when aiming at promoting ecosystem service availability, species diversity or species of conservation concern," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182686, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. repec:idb:brikps:64718 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Basualdo, Marina & Cavigliasso, Pablo & de Avila, Rubem Samuel & Aldea-Sánchez, Patricia & Correa-Benítez, Adriana & Harms, Jaime Martínez & Ramos, Ana Karen & Rojas-Bravo, Valeska & Salvarrey, Sheena, 2022. "Current status and economic value of insect-pollinated dependent crops in Latin America," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    19. Ioannis Arzoumanidis & Andrea Raggi & Luigia Petti, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Honey: Considering the Pollination Service," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, March.
    20. Molla Sitotaw, Tegegne & Willemen, Louise & Tsegaye Meshesha, Derege & Nelson, Andrew, 2024. "Empirical assessments of small-scale ecosystem service flows in rural mosaic landscapes in the Ethiopian highlands," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    21. Lafuite, A.-S. & Loreau, M., 2017. "Time-delayed biodiversity feedbacks and the sustainability of social-ecological systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 351(C), pages 96-108.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:4:p:636-:d:1379625. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.