Bengaluru: Iconic Lalbagh now hosts Insect Cafe
Taking into account the ecological importance of insects and their role in the food chain, the horticulture department plans to build more than 50 such cafes
Bengaluru may be famous for being a pub city but it also boasts many chic cafes and hole-in-the-corner ones.
But now, the city will have a unique concept – cafes for insects. Initiated by the horticulture department at Lalbagh Botanical Garden, this 'Keetagala Cafe' or 'Insect Cafe' has been started with the purpose of preserving biodiversity of insects – which play a critical role in the food chain.
This new and innovative theme for insect conservation is supported by the 'Social Responsibility Fund (CSR) of an organisation called Vibhin India Foundation. The horticulture department has prepared a separate tree house for insects near the bandstand in Lalbagh. Rampant urbanisation and indiscriminate use of chemicals in commercial agricultural practices have left insects without their own protected and safe habitats to support, reproduce and thrive. However, their extinction can spell doom and cause havoc in the food chain.
Unique design
Designed in the shape of a small house with wooden frames, Insect Café has many sections; in each section, small and medium pieces of wood, dry grass, and various types of plants are stacked together.
“This new structure is a complementary site for all kinds of insects and bugs to settle and they can happily reproduce in this space, grow and increase,” M Jagadish, joint director for horticulture and parks tells The Federal.
Arrangements have been made on trees for dry wood boring insects and for insects that burrow into the soil and hide there. Carpenter bees, bumble bees, etc., are particularly important among the insect species.
“Insects that build nests are few and are more like the solitary bees, whose population run into thousands. They live alone by digging holes in dry wood,” says Jagadish. “Birds survive by eating small insects in the environment. The insects and birds are required to improve biodiversity of the area," says Jagadish. A total of 10 insect cafes, each small-sized cafe costing around ₹20,000 to build, will be constructed in Lalbagh. This will be done next month. Lalbagh, which has around 240 acres of green land, currently houses more than 3,000 plant species from home and abroad. In addition, there are around 300 species of insects in the Lalbagh, which is at the center of boundless biomass (renewable energy source).
More such cafes planned
The department of horticulture has plans to build more than 50 insect cafes promoting this new concept in all the new botanical gardens across the state, including Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Nandi Hill Station and Krishna Rajendra Hill Station.
"This cafe will not only secure the biodiversity of our surroundings but will become the place for academicians and students to study insects and other related topics. This is the first-of-its- kind venture in India to my knowledge," he says.
