Environmental Accounting Explainer Series “Pollination Services”
Environmental Accounting Explainer Series “Pollination Services”
Introduction
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) adopted the UN System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA) Framework in 2018, an agreed international framework for the compilation of the Environment Economic Accounts.
On 18th March 2026, during the capacity building Workshop on Monitoring Frameworks of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Compilation of Environment Accounts and Gender Statistics at Patna, Bihar, MoSPI released the publication on “Environmental accounting explainer series Pollination Services”. This is the first dedicated publication on pollination services, compiled with the objective of presenting comprehensive information at the national level, in accordance with the SEEA framework.
Relevance of Pollination Service
Pollination is a fundamental ecological process that supports agricultural production, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem stability. A large number of crops depend partially or fully on animal pollinators. Effective pollination improves crop yields, enhances fruit and seed formation, and improves the quality of agricultural produce. Despite its critical importance, conventional agricultural statistics and national accounts capture the value of crop production but do not explicitly measure the ecosystem services provided by pollinators. Pollination accounting addresses this gap by quantifying and valuing pollinators’ contributions to agricultural output, thereby making the economic significance of this essential ecosystem service visible. Hence, MoSPI has initiated compilation of Pollination service accounting, aligned with the SEEA framework, which provides a structured approach for understanding and quantifying the linkages between ecosystems, agricultural production, and economic development.
Publication Overview
The publication explains pollination biology, pollination processes, and their role in supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including food security, biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction, and climate resilience. Further, it highlights the diversity and distribution of pollinators in India, including more than 800 bee species, as well as butterflies, moths, beetles, birds, bats, and flies, reflecting the country’s strong ecological foundation for pollination-dependent agriculture. It adopts a productivity-based approach to estimate the monetary value of pollination services provided by pollinators in crop production, using crop-specific pollination dependence ratios to determine the share of crop value attributable to pollinators. By applying a transparent, nationally consistent methodology aligned with existing National Accounts practices, the publication translates ecological processes into a monetary indicator that can be used for environmental-economic accounting, policy analysis, and informed decision-making.
Key Highlights of the Publication
Figure 1: Contribution of each crop categories (decadal change)
Figure 2: Share of pollination-attributed value of output (PVO) within crop category (%)
Policy Implications
The economic valuation of Pollination Service reveals, its significant contribution in crop output. This provides a clear policy rationale for strengthening beekeeping and pollination-support programmes- the National Beekeeping &Honey Mission (NBHM) with a multi–mini-mission design, the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), and the KVIC Honey Mission- as these interventions generate direct livelihood benefits (honey and allied products) while also safeguarding crop productivity and quality through improved pollination. Given the scale of pollination-attributed value, even modest improvements in pollinator management and habitat conditions through beekeeping, horticulture, habitat restoration, and afforestation initiatives can yield high economic returns. Accordingly, integrating pollinator-friendly practices into agricultural schemes and sustaining habitat-supporting measures in forest and landscape programmes are essential for long-term production resilience and food security.
The publication is available at the Ministry’s website www.mospi.gov.in
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