Back to news
24 Dec 2015 | Livelihoods

Bee farmers in KSL-India Learn Modern Methods of Beekeeping Management

2 mins Read

70% Complete

 

Rural communities in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL)-India have a rich tradition of beekeeping with the indigenous honeybee, Apis cerana. Over a quarter of households in these villages manage bee colonies traditionally in fixed-comb log or wall hives. However, to harvest honey from these types of hives the combs must be squeezed, resulting in low yield and poor quality honey. Squeezing the combs also kills the brood and adult bees, leading to a decline in colony strength. The small quantities of honey harvested by individual beekeepers using these traditional techniques is never enough to enter the mainstream market and is instead sold locally within the villages and in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

The Innovative Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation component of ICIMOD’s Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) is working with the Central Himalayan Environmental Association (CHEA) – a local organization – to increase the income of these communities, including poor and vulnerable and women, by introducing and promoting improved methods of beekeeping to increase production and enhance the quality of honey.

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator at webmaster@icimod.org to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

As part this initiative, ICIMOD and CHEA conducted two 7-day village-based trainings to build the capacity of local beekeepers in modern beekeeping. The first training was conducted in Kanthagaon from 18 to 24 November 2015 for 22 participants (18 men and 4 women) from three pilot villages (Gogana, Khitoli and Selguwani). The second training was conducted in Nisni from 26 November to 2 December 2015 for 16 participants (all men) from Nisni and nearby villages. In addition to the bee farmers, some field staff from CHEA also attended.

The trainings were conducted by Aniruddha Nath Shukla and Uma Partap from ICIMOD and Hemant Kumar Bora of CHEA. The training was designed to be interactive and the sharing of experiences was encouraged. A variety of training methods were used, including lectures, videos, group discussions, and the sharing of experiences. The farmers learned the skills involved in modern bee management. The topics covered included the use of movable-frame beehives and other bee equipment; colony inspection, cleaning, and feeding; seasonal bee management; uniting and dividing colonies; the management and control of swarming, absconding, robbing and laying workers; the management and control of bee diseases, pests and predators; bee flora; harvesting, processing, value addition and the quality management of honey and beeswax; and the importance of bees in providing pollination services to crops and natural vegetation. Participants were also introduced to advanced topics such as the value chain concept, the branding and marketing of honey and other bee products, and mass queen rearing.

The training helped the participants to gain valuable skills and participants said that the training has motivated them to use modern equipment and methods of bee management. They appreciated the content, curriculum and structure of the training and thanked ICIMOD and CHEA for organizing it. Some also asked ICIMOD to organize a more advanced training of trainers in Kathmandu in near future.

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 Contents

Continue exploring this topic

6 Jul 2015 News
Convergence in the understanding of water challenges crucial, say experts

The special session on ‘Water and Mountains’ convened by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and theHimalayan Adaptation, ...

3 Mar 2017 Himalica
Micro-planning Workshop Organized for Gups and Gewog Administrative Officers in Tsirang, Bhutan

The Support to Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalaya (Himalica) programme, in partnership with the 

7 Jul 2017 News
ICIMOD DG Stresses South South Learning in National Science Foundation of China meeting

Molden addressed the importance of South-South learning to common regional mountain issues such as climate change and adaptation, mountain hazards ...

16 Aug 2017 News
Private Sector Engagement for Climate Action in Pakistan

A joint event titled “Working Together for Sustainable Mountain Development: Private Sector Engagement for Climate Action in Pakistan” was organized ...

19 Jun 2018 Cryosphere
Geodetic training for Cryosphere Monitoring Programme in Bhutan

According to Tshering Tashi, Senior Hydromet Officer at Bhutan’s National Center of Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM), Bhutan has very little ...

8 Jul 2016 News
HIMAP Author Writeshop Held

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Monitoring and Assessment Program’s (HIMAP) Coordinating Lead Authors' Writeshop was organised by the International Centre for ...

29 Jun 2022 News
Koshi resource book focusing on ecosystems, water management, and governance launched

We recently launched a resource book – The Koshi River Basin: Insights into biophysical, socioeconomic, and governance ...

8 Jul 2021 News
MoU signed by Climate Analytics and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

On 7 July 2021 the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Climate Analytics have signed a Memorandum of ...