South Africa’s booming blueberry industry is the perfect opportunity for local honeybees to step up as their chief pollinators.

Blueberries are not indigenous to South Africa, and their natural pollinators could be brought in to assist. But Pollination biologist, Dr Keanu Martin says that this will cause more problems for local ecosystems. His studies have shown that while honeybees are smaller, they have assisted in the growth in South Africa’s blueberry industry.

South Africa has gone from producing over 1 000 tonnes of blueberries in 2014, to well over 20 000 tonnes last year.