Suraksha Subedi, an officer at the Bee Development Center, Godavari, Lalitpur, said that bees are dying in this way not only in Khotang but also in other districts.
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Bees have died and been destroyed due to an unknown disease in two local levels of Khotang. In Aiselukharka and Rawabesi rural municipalities, the Serana breed of bees kept by farmers died and were destroyed due to an unknown disease.
The Serana breed of bees migrates from Lek-Besi to Udhauli-Ubhauli. Pramod Rajbhandari, head of the livestock department of Aiselukharka rural municipality, has said that the bees kept by farmers in Rakhawangdel, 2 Bakachol, 3 Aiselukharka and 6 Jyamire have been destroyed.
According to him, 111 beehives have died and been destroyed in the rural municipality. In the rural municipality-1, 40 beehives have been destroyed, 20 beehives in Bakachol, 3 Aiselukharka and 6 Jyamire have been destroyed. Similarly, Rajbhandari has said that bees have also died in Ward No. 4, Jaleshwari, 5, Maheshwori and 7, Makpa. Apart from this, Rajbhandari has said that bees have also died in other places and the details of which have not been received.
Initially, there were symptoms of being unable to move and fly. Then, farmers who died inside the hive and perished, said Ram Kumar Rai of Aiselukhark Rural Municipality-2, Bakachol. ‘Initially, it was said that they did not come out due to the cold, but after they stopped moving and appearing outside a lot, when they opened the hive and looked, they were dead and destroyed,’ said Rai, ‘This unknown disease has destroyed 7 hives of bees.’
Similarly, agricultural branch chief Sharan Hamal said that there was a problem with bees in the upper area of Rawabesi Rural Municipality. According to him, the disease has been seen in bees at an altitude of 13-1400 meters, including the upper area of Damku in Kubinde-1, and the upper area of Rubung in Kharpa-2. Hamal said that the disease can only be known through monitoring. ‘Information has come that bees have died in the upper area of Ravabesi rural municipality,’ Hamal said, ‘We will know the disease after going to the field and conducting research.’
When the farmer informed about the death of bees, Rajbhandari said that when he consulted the district-based Agricultural Knowledge Center and Bee Development Center, they said that the death may have been due to continuous water, poisonous flower juice, chemical pesticides, etc. Since Serana bees are not affected much by naturally blooming flowers, the farmers say that this time there may have been an epidemic in bees.
This disease has been seen not only in Khotang but also in other districts, said Suraksha Subedi, an officer at the Bee Development Center, Godavari, Lalitpur. ‘This disease has been seen in bees in the eastern hilly districts as well as in districts such as Sindhuli, Rasuwa, Kaski, Gorkha, Lamjung,’ said Subedi. This is due to a virus, but we will know which virus when our friends come to the fields in Gorkha.’
