THE Government has launched a new strategy to support bees and other pollinators.

It includes a new Countryside Stewardship Scheme offering payments for measures farmers and landowners take to protect pollinators and farm wildlife. They include maintaining hedgerows and strips of wildlife-friendly ground on field edges to provide nectar and nesting sites, and for providing "forage" for insects in crops and additional planting.

Organisations such as Network Rail, the Highways Agency and National Trust - which manage more than 800,000 hectares of land in England - have signed up to the National Pollinator Strategy to plant more bee-friendly wild flowers and allow grass to grow longer.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “As much as one third of the food we eat is pollinated by bees –from apples and pears to strawberries and beans. We estimate the value of insects pollinating our crops and plants amounts to £430m.

“That’s why we are doing everything we can to help them thrive. Not everyone can become a beekeeper, but everyone from major landowners to window-box gardeners can play their part in boosting pollinators.”

Defra will put bee hives on its roof in London and supermarkets, including Waitrose and the Coop, have distributed bee-friendly flower seeds to customers. Motorway verges, railway embankments, roundabouts, sewage works and forests will be used as part of the strategy to protect the 1500 species of pollinators in England.

Defra recognises that pesticides can harm bees "if they are not used in accordance with the law and authorisation conditions", along with other problems such as habitat loss, extreme weather, climate change and invasive species.

Ms Truss also promised to look at the "best available science" on neonicotinoids.

Dorothy Fairburn, North regional director for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said: "Incentivising farmers and landowners to grow plants that provide pollen and nectar sources and nesting habitat for pollinators is the key to success. Help with funding for these costly measures will ensure ongoing active management and secure the best results.

“There are huge gaps in our knowledge of pollinator numbers so we are also pleased that such a strong emphasis has been put on addressing this and building up a clearer picture.”

Meurig Raymond, NFU president, said a real strength of the strategy was that it was evidence based.

He said: "We have no idea what the current status of our pollinators is in terms of actual numbers of insects, and whether this is declining, stable or increasing. That is why we believe it is critically important that the strategy puts in place a comprehensive national pollinator and pollination monitoring programme.

“No community is doing more to help bees than farming. In 2014, 450,000 hectares were managed under a variety of unpaid Campaign for the Farmed Environment environmental measures and, as part of this, farmers provided 8,000 hectares of flowers for pollinators including wildflower mix, pollen and nectar mix, and flower-rich temporary grass."