Kalpat, Pali, Chiuri, Dandagaon, Lahan, Khagenkot villages of Nalgad municipality are pocket areas of honey production, this year production is 391 tonnes.
Pahalsingh Rawal of Silal, Nalgad Municipality-4 of Jajarkot, who sold four quintals of honey last year, has produced 4 and a half quintals of honey this year. He has been living in a terrace after his house was destroyed by the earthquake, and he is increasing his income every year from honey production. In turn, he has raised around 100 beehives.
"Demand and price are increasing every year, there is not much trouble in beekeeping like other businesses," he said, "The income from honey has helped to forget the pain of the earthquake, even after cutting expenses, at least 3 lakh rupees are saved in the season." He has about 65 beehives at home and has made a business of 3 lakh 50 thousand rupees this year from the production of 3 and a half quintals of honey.
Kalpat, Pali, Chiuri, Dandagaon, Lahan, Khagenkot villages of Nalgad Municipality located in Jajarkot are considered pocket areas of honey production. Most of the farmers here have become independent from beekeeping. Ramprasad Gharti, a local farmer, said that traders come to the village to buy honey. The price of honey in Kalpat is 1 thousand to 1 thousand 500 rupees per kg. He said that after the demand for honey from Jajarkot increased to foreign countries, the farmers got excited about beekeeping.
British bee expert Rudy Repka and his wife Lydia Aniyala Repka have been transporting honey produced in Kalpat to Britain for four years. The Repka couple came to Kalpat and stayed for about a month and taught the farmers various methods and skills of beekeeping. Dharmaraj Rawal of Silal, Nalgad Municipality-4, said that with their inspiration, he has increased his beekeeping business and is now producing honey in 135 beehives. This year, 450 kg of honey was produced from his beekeeping farm.
Dharmaraj's brother Hari Bahadur is the owner of the Karnali Agro Station in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, which is also sending the honey produced in Jajarkot to America, Japan, and Britain. "We are packaging, branding and leveling Jajarkot honey and sending it out," said Hari Bahadur, "now it is difficult to meet the demand." Nahkuli Organic Herbal Agro Pvt Ltd has been sending 40 quintals of honey to Australia, America, Dubai and Korea since 2075, said the owner Hari Bahadur Budha. According to Amrit Adhikari, Agriculture Officer of Nalgad Municipality, there are 250 professional beekeeper farmers with more than 100 beehives in the municipality alone. 28 tons of honey has been produced this year in Nalgad alone.
Kalimati Rural Municipality of Salyan is also considered a pocket area for honey production. Ved Bahadur Oli of Jhigane in Kalimati has kept 51 beehives in his garden. This year he produced about 40 quintals of honey . Oli says that by selling honey at 1000 rupees per kg, the income is about 4 lakh rupees and by cutting expenses, 3 lakh rupees have been saved. In beekeeping, buying hives and extracting honey only costs the necessary equipment, but sometimes the help of agricultural technicians is needed. Chiuri flowers are considered to be the best food for bees. Ram Bahadur Olie, another farmer of Jhigane, said, "If there is no shortage of grazing areas for bees, you can get a lot of income from beekeeping," said, "The demand for honey is increasing abroad, the price is also high, so we are earning good income at home." He said that 150 farmers in the village are doing commercial beekeeping.
Honey is produced in an area of 30 thousand 546 hectares in Karnali. According to the data of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Karnali State Government, 391 tons of honey have been produced this year. Out of that, 35 tons of honey was produced in 1185 hectares of beekeeping in Jajarkot, 38 tons in Salyan with 77725 hectares of beekeeping and 21 metric tons of honey in Humla with 2640 hectares of beekeeping. Of that, almost half of the honey produced is going to India, Britain, Japan, America and other countries through various organizations, farms and cooperatives, said Dhan Bahadur Kathayat, spokesperson of the Ministry. He said that there has been an increase in honey production this year by 25 percent compared to last year.
Ministry has already spent 7 million rupees in the expansion and marketing of beekeeping in seven years. He said that about one and a half million rupees have been allocated for the promotion of beekeeping business this year. He said that there are challenges in honey production due to forest destruction, encroachment, climate change, lack of breeding area, and not blooming in time.
