Pahalsingh Rawal of Nalgad Municipality-4 Silal of Jajarkot, who sold four quintals of honey last year, has produced 4 and a half quintals of honey this year. He is living in a terrace after his house was destroyed by the earthquake, and he is increasing his income from honey production every year. 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 in Jajarkot are considered pocket areas of honey production. Most of the farmers here have become independent from beekeeping. Local farmer Ram Prasad Gharti said that traders come to the village to buy honey. The price of honey in Kalpat is Rs 1,000 to 1,500 per kg. He said that after Jajarkot's honey demand increased abroad, 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 Nalgad Municipality-4 Silal said that he has increased his beekeeping business with their inspiration 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 honey from Jajarkot and sending it out," said Hari Bahadur, "now it is difficult to meet the demand." Nahkuli Organic Herbal Agro Pvt Ltd has been sending up to 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 tonnes 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. According to Oli, 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 costs only the necessary equipment, but sometimes the help of an agricultural technician is needed. Chiuri flowers are considered to be the best food for bees.

'If there is no shortage of grazing area for bees, you can get a lot of income from beekeeping,' said Ram Bahadur Olie, another farmer of Zhigane, '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 ​​30,546 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 were produced this year. Out of that, 35 tons of honey was produced in 1185 hectares of beekeeping in Jajarkot, 38 tons of beekeeping in Salyan in 7725 hectares and 21 metric tons of honey in Humla in 2640 hectares of beekeeping.

About half of the honey produced is going to India, Britain, Japan, America and other countries through various institutions, 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. The ministry has already spent 7 crore rupees in the expansion and marketing of beekeeping in seven years.

This year, about one and a half million rupees have been allocated for the promotion of beekeeping business, he said. He said that there are challenges in honey production due to forest destruction, encroachment, climate change, lack of breeding area, and not blooming on time.