Authors: Senapathi, Deepa; Willcox, Bryony;Dhandapani, Selvakumar;Prasad, Girija;Rajaraman, Ranjith;Pakkirisamy, Manikandan ;Garratt, Michael;Potts, Simon;Raj, Rengalakshmi ;

Agro-ecological approaches to enhance beneficial insects is increasingly being adopted in agriculture systems to support both biodiversity conservation and sustainable production. Interventions to enhance pollinator communities or natural enemies of crop pests are well studied, and form an integral part of agri-environmental schemes, particularly across Europe and North America. However, implementing such interventions in small holder farming systems without policy support, poses specific challenges, particularly when there is a dearth of collated local evidence or knowledge, further compounded by a lack of financial incentives for implementation.
Here we present case studies from two projects in Tamil Nadu, India, funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund. 1. Finding the right floral interventions to enhance pollinator communities in Moringa fields – a crop of economic importance and an emerging "superfood" and 2. Enhancing beneficial insects and natural enemy populations in the border of rice paddy fields for improved pest control. Both case studies are founded on effective knowledge exchange and interactions with local small holders communities, to co-develop context specific solutions that can enhance their livelihoods. Our projects provide a conservation evidence narrative of how established research approaches can be modified and successfully translated into an ODA context.