Dhan Bahadur Khadka of Musetti, Bhimdatta Municipality-9, was traditionally keeping bees in four or five hives. After receiving training and a grant for hives and bees, he has now increased his hives to about 30.
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Many people from the village have migrated to India for employment. There is no easy employment opportunity in the village. Dhan Bahadur Khadka of Musetti, Bhimdatta Municipality-9, is enjoying beekeeping in the village. He is earning an income by living with his family.
Khadka said that he has been keeping bees traditionally for a decade. He started working professionally after taking training on beekeeping from the Agricultural Knowledge Center two years ago.
‘Nowadays, one and a half quintals of honey are produced annually, and the household expenses are met by selling that,’ he said, ‘There is no need to go looking for a market to sell honey, it is sold from home, and customers come to their homes.’ According to him, honey is being sold for Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,200 per kilogram.
Khadka was traditionally keeping bees in four or five hives. After receiving a subsidy for hives and bees along with training, he has now increased it to about 30 hives. He himself is involved in herding bees and taking care of them.
Musetti is an area at the foot of the Chure. There is a forest around it. That is why it is very easy to herd bees, Khadka says. Sometimes, he has to take them elsewhere for herding.
‘We received training in beekeeping, but that alone is not enough,’ said beekeeper Khadka, ‘If we received training in making hives, we could have made them ourselves, it would have been very beneficial for small farmers like us.’ He said that during the rainy season, ants and hornets also cause a lot of trouble during honey production. He said that he sets traps to protect honey from hornets and keeps the legs of the hive in water to protect it from ants.
He said that one can become self-employed by keeping bees even with a small investment. He said that he has also increased the hives by two to four thousand and has reached the current level. He says that since it requires a lot of investment to put many hives at once, it can be increased little by little. He said that the Agricultural Knowledge Center and NGOs have helped in hives and bees.
Khadka has also started fruit farming along with vegetable farming. He has planted plants including litchi and mango. He also produces berna along with vegetables according to the season. They are still selling vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and their wrappers.
