Farmers have mostly been depending on sugar paste in the lean season that falls from June to February. [break]
“We have made available 10 tons of sugar to the bee-keepers at subsidized price against their demands of 50 tons for this year through Nepal Bee-keepers Federation,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC), told myrepublica.com on Wednesday.
Honey farmers face shortage of flowers during the lean season and use sugar solution and adopt mobile grazing for their bees.
Bee research center shifted to Chitwan
Meanwhile, Dahal informed that recent cabinet meeting has decided to shift Bee-keeping and Development Office (BDO) from Godawari in Lalitpur to Bhandara of Chitwan, keeping in view the adverse climate in the Valley for bee research and production. Chitwan is the key district among over a dozen major districts identified for bee-keeping.
Then Royal Park Bee-keeping Office (RPBO) in Gokarna -- the office that used to provide honey to then royal family -- was renamed as BDO and shifted to Godawari in 2006.
Established 24 years ago for conservation and development of Nepali indigenous bee, the RPBO was handed over to Department of Agriculture (DoA) for management before temporarily transferring to Godawari. The BDO has also been conducting research and conservation of Apis Cerena breed of local breeds and Apis Melifera bees imported from Italy a decade ago.
“The introduction of Apis Melifera in Nepal helped commercialize bee-keeping profession and also led to significant rise in bee production,” said Dahal.
According to MoAC, production of honey in Nepal increased to 1,000 tons during 2008/09, up from 865 ton recorded a year ago.
Productivity of honey by Melifera stands at around 40-60 kg per hive, more than 8 to 10 kg per hive by Cerena breed.
Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Makawanpur, Banke, Bardiya and Kanchanpur are the leading honey producers in the country.
Officials said more than 70 percent of honey produced in the country is currently being exported to Japan, South Korea and India, after some European countries stopped buying Nepali honey saying that it contains pesticide residue.
“We are in the process of acquiring global accreditation certificate for Accredited Testing Lab being set up at Department of Food Technology of Quality Control. Once we received the certificate, we can resume honey exports to Europe,” said Dahal.
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