Beekeepers are excited as traders have started visiting the pasture areas to purchase honey from the bees. Beekeepers are currently struggling to extract honey.

After producing honey in previous years, one had to reach Lothar Bazaar to sell it. Now, traders have started coming to the pasture area of ​​the village and buying honey and taking it away.

More than 5,000 beehives have been kept in the Silinge area of ​​Raksirang Rural Municipality-6 of Makawanpur. Farmers from Hetauda, ​​Chitwan, Kathmandu and other areas have brought more than 1,500 beehives here to graze the Chiuri flowers. The Chepang community in the Silinge area has about 3,500 beehives. Targeting the Chiuri flowers, hives have been kept in the settlements around Silinge, Chapal, Dhusrang, Kharkhande and Silinge, so that the ground is covered in white. Local Singha Bahadur Chepang said that more than 5,000 beehives have been kept here.

Aite Singh Chepang, a beekeeper farmer from Silinge, has 150 hives. Last year, he sold honey worth over Rs 700,000. This year, he estimates that honey worth over Rs 1.2 million will be sold. ‘Now, honey is sold in the grazing area for cash as soon as it is harvested,’ he said. ‘The price is also good.’

Traders are buying from the grazing area itself for Rs 400 per kg. ‘Last year, honey was sold for Rs 300 per kg.’ Aite Singh said, ‘Now, traders from the grazing area come and take it away by force.’

He had extracted three batches of honey from a hive and sold it till Saturday. He said that he has earned Rs 325,000 by selling honey so far. He said that honey can be extracted five more times this season. A maximum of eight honey can be extracted from a hive. ‘A single honey harvest from a hive yields about one kilogram,’ said local honey trader Dinesh Chepang. ‘The climate is suitable for honey production, and the flowers on the chiuri tree are in full bloom.’ He said that the weather is good for bees to collect honey due to the sunshine.

The demand for chiuri honey produced by the Chepang community of Makwanpur is increasing daily. Consumers and traders have to wait at least a week to buy honey from the Janachetna Agricultural Cooperative Society in Lothar, which has been responsible for the market management of chiuri honey for a long time. Beekeepers from the Kankada area used to come to this cooperative to sell honey. Now, as traders go to the grazing areas, the cooperative does not have honey for sale like in previous years. ‘This year, 60 tons of honey is expected to be sold from here,’ said beekeeper Dipen Chepang, ‘There are more hives than last year, and the weather is also good.’ Last year, 45 tons of honey was sold. There are more than 100 beekeepers in this area. The demand has increased because of the good taste and quality of Chiuri honey.