If these findings hold up under scrutiny, they explain some things, but like so much else in scientific investigation, produce more questions. Average land holdings are very small, around 0.2 hectares. Farmers have little land to plant pollinizer varieties, which average only 5-7 percent of trees. Sources of pollen, therefore, are scarce. Because apples are the main cash crop, farmers are willing to pay to ensure each flower is properly pollinated.
Farmers believe hand pollination is the best method under adverse climatic conditions.
It is possible to do so in low temperatures and bad weather when honey bees don't fly. Although migratory beekeeping is common in the area, beekeepers are not willing to rent their bees because there is a high use of pesticides in apple growing. Hand pollination of apples is a community effort. Apple flowering begins in the lower elevations and so farmers from higher up are free to engage in pollination at lower altitudes and vice versa. Only three of five inflorescences in the apple flower are pollinated and hand pollination is carried out three times each season to ensure pollination of late flowers.