A series of "bee roads" will be planted across the country to provide corridors of wildflowers for insects, in a scheme unveiled by the Co-operative today.

The areas of land seeded with species such as lesser knapweed, field scabious, birdsfoot trefoil and red clover aim to provide a food-rich habitat for pollinators such as wild bees, honeybees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths.

The scheme to restore some of the 97% of wildflower meadows lost in recent decades forms part of the group's Plan Bee campaign to help bees, which are key pollinators of our food and which have seen numbers decline in recent years.

The first bee roads will be created in Yorkshire by the Co-operative and invertebrate charity Buglife.

Farmers and other landowners will sow wildflowers in two long rows which will eventually stretch north to south and east to west across Yorkshire, restoring a total of five hectares (12 acres) of land in a £60,000 pilot project.

The Co-operative hopes the initiative will be emulated in other counties.

Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative, said: "The UK has lost an alarming 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s and this has had a major impact on pollinator numbers.

"The number of honeybees in the UK has halved in the last 25 years, and three-quarters of butterfly species and two-thirds of moths have seen population declines since the 1970s.

"Given that honeybees alone pollinate a third of the food we eat, a further decline in their numbers could have a devastating impact on our diets in the long run.

"By setting up these 'bee roads', we hope to make life easier for all pollinators and reverse their alarming decline."

Loss of wildflower meadows and the nectar-rich flowers which provide food for pollinating insects are thought to be one of the major reasons for declines in bees, along with the impacts of pesticides and diseases.

The Co-operative's Plan Bee is taking action in four areas: increasing the number of hives on the group's farmland; continuing its temporary ban on certain pesticides; funding new scientific research; and encouraging customers and members to grow bee-friendly plants, distributing seeds and training new beekeepers.