Himalayan Bees and Pollination Portal

Bees and Pollination

Honeybees are one of the most efficient providers of crucial pollination services essential to enhancing agricultural yield and ensuring human food security. Through their pollination services, bees create a mutually beneficial relationship between the poor beekeepers who provide bees for pollination and get paid, and the rich orchard owners who pay for the pollination service and receive higher yield and quality of fruits and seeds. Furthermore, bees also provide by-products rich in nutrition and health benefits such as honey, beeswax, pollen, which, when marketed well, can further increase household income. As the diversity and abundance of naturally occurring pollinator declines, the role of domesticated honeybees is becoming increasingly important...

Aim and objective

The bees and pollination component aims to enhance the resilience of mountain people to manage the effects of socioeconomic and climate change. The objective is to improve income and food security of the mountain women and men by promoting bees for pollination services and value chains of bee products through individual and institutional capacity building, knowledge partnership, and regional cooperation.

Stories / Updates

Farmers Learn Modern Beekeeping

03 May 2016

Beekeeping with Apis cerana is a common practice among the pilot households in Taplejung district of Nepal. Over one-third of the households are engaged in this enterprise. Each household has 2–20 colonies of bees in traditional fixed comb log and wall hives. They produce 5–50 kg of honey each. The area has flora necessary for honeybees to survive and produce honey. Leucosceptrum canum (bhusure or gurmis), Eurya accuminata (wild osmanthus), Englehardtia spicata (bandre), and Prunus cerasoides (wild cherry) are the main sources of honey.

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