Back to news
25 May 2016 | Himalica

Farmers Learn Beekeeping in Pilot Villages in Bhutan and Nepal

1 min Read

70% Complete

More than one-third of households have two to ten colonies of bees in traditional fixed-comb log-comb, wall-comb, or pitcher hives in the Himalica pilot villages of Barshong geog of Bhutan, Rauta VDC of Udayapur in Nepal, and HICAP pilot villages in Kavre district of Nepal. Farmers catch bee swarms from the wild during the bees’ spring reproduction season.  There are plenty of bee forage resources near the villages for bees to survive and produce honey — citrus, guava, papaya, pear, peach, maize, buckwheat, mustard, cucurbits, Budleia asiatica, Jujube, Engelhardtia spicata (bandre), wild Osmanthus (Eurya accuminata), and Melastoma spp, etc. Farmers harvest honey three or more times per year with an 8-10 kg average per year of honey production per colony. Honey is harvested traditionally by squeezing the combs.

The potential to develop beekeeping and bee-based enterprises as a source of income diversification for farmers and youth in these villages is great. Linking beekeeping with citrus, cardamom, and vegetable farming is another business opportunity as these crops are planted by village farmers and offer pollen and nectar for honeybees and bees, who in turn, pollinate crops enhancing their production and quality. To date, there have been no efforts in beekeeping development in these villages. No farmers are keeping bees in modern movable frame hives in Barshong and Kavre, however, a few farmers in Rauta VDC in Udayapur tried modern hives but failed due to the lack of training. 

To harness this potential, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) conducted a week long ‘Farmers Training in Beekeeping: Improving Rural Livelihoods through Better Management of the Indigenous Honeybee Apis cerana in Bhutan and Nepal’ 10-16 May 2016 at ICIMOD Knowledge Park in Godavari. 

The objective was to support development of community-based beekeeping enterprises as a livelihood diversification option for rural communities in pilot sites in Nepal and Bhutan. Training included strengthening farmers’ bee management skills and knowledge using improved beehives and beekeeping equipment, and the harvesting, processing and value addition of honey and beeswax.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

Related content

Continue exploring this topic

24 May 2017 SANDEE
ICIMOD Board of Governors Approves Two Key Planning Documents at Recent Annual Meeting

The Strategy and Results Framework (SRF) reviews ICIMOD’s various initiatives and programmes and provides a holistic ...

20 Feb 2019 RMS
Kalchebesi, a Climate Resilient Village in the Making

Empowering Women to Improve Agricultural Practices Building socio-economic resilience is at the core of the RMS concept and gender is an ...

19 Dec 2016 News
ICIMOD partner receives award for Resilient Mountain Village

The Center for Environment and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED) received the Adaptation at Scale Prize, Protsahan ...

30 Sep 2019 Livelihoods
Himalayan large black cardamom: Geographical indication key to developing value chain in the Kangchenjunga Landscape

During the workshop, Kinlay Tshering, Director of the Department of Agriculture, Bhutan, emphasized the need to capitalize on the unmet ...

25 Dec 2015 News
ICIMOD Scientists Contribute to Managing Energy, Water and Food Security Challenges in Pakistan

The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) organized the 31st Annual General Meeting and Conference of the 

Regional workshop discusses application of future climate projections in South Asia

The regional workshop, organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Met Office, the UK’s national ...

28 Nov 2018 Atmosphere Initiative
Government of Nepal and ICIMOD Initiate Localization of Environmental Agenda and Issues at Provincial Level

The convention provided a national platform to deliberate on environmental issues (affecting air, water, and land), and is expected to ...