Farmers have very limited knowledge on pollination and pollinators; they often take pollinators for granted. Most farmers said “these insects are just there, they are part of creation and nature but they do not need to do something to protect them because these insects will always be there”. Farmers said they did not need to care about these small in-sects seen visiting coffee flowers, because they think these small insects are just there resting but they are not harmful neither beneficial to coffee flowers. Most farmers believed that the presence or absence of these insects on coffee flowers does not stop coffee to set fruit. Also farmers believe that coffee fruit set depends largely on shade, fertility and moisture levels and on control of pests and diseases. Farmers who sprayed herbicides to control weeds did not believe that herbicides had negative impact on bees. Previous studies highlighted the fact that small scale farmers growing coffee with a moderated plant density used on average 3 to 10 liters of herbicides ha/year .
This amount is a high compared to what is recommended and it is index to predict at which level pollinators are exposed to herbicides in central Uganda, particularly in regions where farmers are interested in using herbicides to control weeds instead of hand weeding . The reason for which some farmers preferred using herbicide that hand- hoe weeding were not known but probably this could be attributed to the type of extension services they receive . The major contingent of coffee flower pollinators be-longed to the Apoidea group. Other prominent floral visitors comprise species of Diptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Neither the dependent nor the famous floral visitors are well known by small-scale coffee growers. In fact, mobile vertical rack coffee is reliant to wild bees but farmers are not aware of the role played by these wild bees. Similarly, butterflies are observed flying within coffee trees but farmers believe they are doing nothing to coffee flowers. In fact respondents indicated that honeybee was a frequent visitor of coffee; they were also able to identify and recognize butterflies as vagrant species in the field; however, no farmer could identify how beneficial butterflies may be for coffee in central Uganda. In contrast, farmers know some butterfly species as pests of some crop species like Ipomoea batatus.
This finding suggest that efforts should be but in place by extension services to educate small-scale farmers to appreciate and know different pollinating agents of their important crops like coffee. Extension services should work hard to increase appreciation of the beneficial aspects of some on-farm based animals like butterflies to increase the involvement and commitment of farmers in the conservation of on-farm biodiversity for livelihood improvements in rural areas. Farmers were also not aware that stingless bees played significant role for coffee to produce higher and quality yields. The only bee species that was recognized by farmers was honeybee although majority of farmers perceived that honeybees were just there but their presence or absence could not influence coffee fruit set. Some farmers believed that honeybees collect nectar from coffee but they are not involved in coffee reproduction process. Field observations and surveys indicated that the overall basic knowledge by farmers of eusocial bees that occur in coffee fields was mainly related to their continued utilization for honey and other hive products. Cultural value plays a significant role in folk knowledge of Apoidea communities by farmers. For example, in Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Ghana, Kenya, etc farmers know different bee species in the Meliponini group .
They also know nesting sites of different meliponini bees. Some have developed advanced traditional methods for rearing these species for the production of honey. Hence, meliponi-culture as a lucrative activity for farmers need to be promoted worldwide based on indigenous knowledge of local communities not only for providing income from sale of hive products but also as a reliable source of pollination of crops such as coffee, particularly in over-cultivated regions where nesting sites have been degraded in disfavor of establishment of wild ground nesting bee communities that are important crop pollinators in the tropics. Knowledge of pollination is expected from most farmers of central Uganda. However, it seems that the knowledge does not depend on the level of education and more particularly on the age. Central Uganda is in-habited by people of “Baganda” ethnic group. In Uganda, the level of knowledge of pollination seems to be associated with the tribe and the agro-ecological zone.