Among strawberries, coffee, passion fruit and agroforestry systems, an initiative to conserve biodiversity is gaining ground in Chapada Diamantina. From August 24 to 27, around 50 researchers, farmers, public officials and representatives of Brazilian and international institutions gathered in the region for the fourth Regional Exchange Workshop of the Protection of Pollinating Insects in Latin America and the Caribbean (Poli-LAC) project.

Funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German government and implemented by GIZ as part of German-Brazilian cooperation, Poli-LAC operates in Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Paraguay. In Chapada Diamantina, one of its pilot landscapes, the project works directly with farmers to turn scientific knowledge into concrete conservation practices.

During the workshop, participants visited four farms in Mucugê, Livramento de Nossa Senhora and Rio de Contas, as well as a meliponary and environmental education sites. The visits provided an opportunity to learn about solutions already being implemented and discuss how practices that benefit both pollinators and agricultural production can be scaled up.

From research to the farm

At Sítio Frutas Vermelhas, in Mucugê, farmer Uvilson Santos Oliveira showed how maintaining native flowers between strawberry, blueberry and blackberry crops helps provide food for insects throughout the year — including periods when commercial crops are not flowering.

Participants also used FIT Count, a citizen science app designed to record and monitor insects visiting flowers. The activity was coordinated by biologist Marina Wolowski of the Brazilian Plant-Pollinator Interaction Network (Rebipp), which is responsible for Poli-LAC activities in Chapada Diamantina.

The experience illustrates one of the project’s central approaches: generating data and knowledge about pollinators while bringing that knowledge closer to the people working in the field.

At Licuri Experience, also in Mucugê, participants visited an agroforestry system combining coffee, cocoa, açaí and other species on a one-hectare plot. Living fences, gardens, crop diversity, bio-inputs and six hives belonging to four native bee species are part of the strategy adopted on the farm.

At another farm, Fazenda Matos, participants learned about Igaraçu organic coffee, produced by Tadeane Matos without pesticides. The farm is part of the group of 30 farmers supported by Poli-LAC in the region. It has also undergone the Apoia-Melipona sustainability assessment, developed by Embrapa and applied by the project team.

Based on the assessment, Tadeane plans to expand living fences and field borders, establish an ecological corridor and raise stingless native bees. The goal is to create better conditions for pollinators while also supporting coffee production.

Less pesticide use, more diversity

Passion fruit was another focus of the workshop. The crop has been expanding in the region but faces a major challenge: fusarium wilt, a disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, which can lead farmers to increase pesticide use.

In the Jacaré community, in Livramento de Nossa Senhora, farmer Andrea de Carvalho Bonfim presented an alternative being developed on her farm. She is establishing a pollinator garden, plans to improve living fences and is moving toward an agroecological system with greater crop diversity.

Andrea also demonstrated a grafting technique involving Passiflora foetida and sour passion fruit, which, according to the farmer, increases the plant’s resistance to the fungus. The experience could help reduce the need for pesticides and, consequently, their impacts on pollinating insects.

In Rio de Contas, the project has also reached the Bananal Quilombola community, where three families have joined the initiative. One of them is the family of Adílio Domingos, who grows passion fruit, mangoes and ponkan mandarins. With technical assistance from Poli-LAC, he and his mother, Dona Maria, are assessing which pollinator-friendly practices can be introduced on their farm.

Conservation beyond the fields

Poli-LAC’s work extends beyond agricultural properties. At the Bee Origem Meliponary in Mucugê, Marcos Adriano Rocha presented six species of native stingless bees. The site supplies and rents hives for agricultural systems and also serves as an environmental education space.

Another example is the Pollinator Trail, located in the Sempre Viva Municipal Park. Created in 2011 through a partnership between the Mucugê municipal government and Biology professors from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), the trail received new signage in 2026 with support from Poli-LAC, strengthening its role as a space for raising awareness about the importance of pollinators.

Turning knowledge into public policy

The workshop also addressed a challenge that goes beyond individual farms: how to transform local experiences into public policies that can be scaled up.

Municipal, state and federal representatives, partner institutions and funders took part in a meeting on multilevel governance, discussing regulation, capacity building, awareness among society and the productive sector, and stronger conservation policies.

For Andreas Gettkant, Poli-LAC director at GIZ, exchange among countries and different stakeholders is essential to consolidating solutions that can continue beyond the project’s end.

“We hope to reach 2030 with rich experiences from each pilot landscape, such as Chapada Diamantina, and with contributions to the National Action Plans under the Biodiversity Strategy,” he said.

Poli-LAC’s approach is to connect different dimensions: science, agricultural production, monitoring, environmental education and public policy. The project operates through three main areas: knowledge management; strengthening governance, public policies and financing instruments; and monitoring and implementing Pollinator-Friendly Practices (PAIPs).

The urgency is clear. More than 75% of the world’s food crops depend, to some extent, on animal pollination, while habitat loss, inappropriate pesticide use and climate change are putting increasing pressure on pollinator populations.

In Chapada Diamantina, the project is already showing how these challenges can be addressed at the local level: by protecting pollinators not as an activity separate from agricultural production, but as part of a more diverse, resilient and sustainable approach to farming.

Poli-LAC is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), and co-financed by the European Union in Paraguay. The project is part of German-Brazilian cooperation and is overseen by GIZ.

In Brazil, the implementation of Pollinator-Friendly Practices and community mobilization and awareness-raising activities in Chapada Diamantina are led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), under the supervision of food safety, health and quality specialist Lucia Maia.