Beekeepers harvest honey in Hetauda

By Anil Parajuli, Hetauda, Jan 5: The beekeeper Narayan Ghimire of Jureli Tulasipur, Bakaiya Rural Municipality-4, of East Makawanpur district, has his hands full because of selling honey excessively. 

Ghimire usually grazes bees in areas such as Aldamar, Hatiya Chisapani, Harnamadi, Khadkule in Hetauda, Dumrekuna, Makranchuli in Makwanpurgadhi, and scraping off the wax cap from honeycomb frames in the grazing field and selling from there. 

Ghimire, who has been cultivating commercial vegetables and flowers according to the season and keeping bees, is excited about getting a good market for produce.

The Ghimire couple, who have been engaged in commercial beekeeping for the past three years, have decided to take their bees foraging in various parts of the district during the mustard season. 

Farmers said that it is a struggle to scrape off the wax cap from honeycomb during the winter season because of the weather changes during winter season.

It is suitable to take out honey on a clean, clear, and sunny day. In winter, because of cold weather, bees get hasty, making the process of bee harvest difficult. 

He said he is going to harvest honey before relocating the bee grazing. 

 Ghimire, who currently has 16 beehives, has been making money by preparing and selling honey.

"Earlier, there were 31 beehives, 10 of which were sold; now there are 21 left. The number of bees has decreased due to insects, ants, and birds during the rainy season," he said.

He is working to double the current beehives after March and expand the business as the demand for honeycomb and honey has surged. 

Stating that there is no problem with the market for selling honey, he said that he produced and sold 260 kg of honey last year.

He said that the goal is to produce four quintals of honey this year. He said that after deducting expenses, he will earn an annual income of about three lakh rupees.