Farmers in Banke are worried as bees have started dying due to the cold and cold wave.
What you should know
Bees raised for honey production have started dying due to the cold. Bees raised by farmers in Banke have started dying due to the cold wave in the Terai.
Nepal Beekeepers Federation, Banke President and bee farmer Purmal Basnet said that about two percent of the bees in his hive have died. 'It is like a crisis for bees now. Birds attack them when they come out of the hive, and bees have died due to the cold wave and fog in the Terai,' he said.
Beekeeper Basnet said that in some cases, even the beehives become empty due to the cold wave, but clarified that there is no such problem in Banke. There are about 30 to 35 thousand bees in a hive.
Stating that if the bees cannot be fed, the farmers will have to bear huge losses in the beehive, he said that honey is being produced in Banke from advanced mellifera bees. This is an advanced breed of bee developed from Europe.
According to Chairman Basnet, bees face cold problems when they are moved to different places for grazing. This is why honey production is expected to decrease in Banke this year.
Noting that native bees, bumblebees, and pupae have also started dying due to cold, he said that a program should be introduced to protect their habitat. Informing that he has taken 50 hives of bees he has raised to Laxmana, northeast of Gulariya, Bardiya, for grazing, he said that preparations are being made to move them elsewhere as the mustard flowers have run out there too.
Noting that he took the bees to Taratal, Bardiya for grazing in October, beekeeper Basnet said that preparations are being made to take them to Basgadhi Municipality, Bardiya for grazing in a few days.
Krishna Archay, a resident of Kohalpur Municipality-5, said that beekeepers are worried after bees started dying due to cold. 'A hive has 10 frames, out of which two to three frames are empty,' he said. Noting that the cold has directly affected beekeepers, he expressed concern that honey production will also decline as bees are unable to move outside. 'Queen bees cannot lay eggs and bees cannot come out due to cold,' he said, 'They die because they cannot eat.'
Archay has raised about 70 hives of bees. Here, 12 beekeepers have been raising bees in the district and producing honey. Federation President Basnet says that the district, which produced about 250,000 quintals of honey last year, will now produce even less.
Kalpana Nepali, head of the agricultural development branch of Kohalpur Municipality, informed that although the federal government provided subsidies to beekeepers last year, there is no program this year. Only a limited number of farmers in Kohalpur, Baijnath, Rapti Sonari, and Khajura areas of the district have taken up beekeeping.
Beekeeper Basnet said that he received a subsidy of Rs. 500,000 from Kohalpur Municipality last year and that the amount was shared equally by five farmers. Most beekeepers from the district go to Dang, Bardiya, and Surkhet to tend their bees.
