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The Buzz….INET is keeping busy developing beekeeping for cash incomes in an under developed village in rural Nepal. Please will you help and sponsor a Queen Bee for €5 or £5? Better still, why not a whole hive for €10 or £10!

Beekeeping in Nepal

Rural Nepal, especially the mountainous regions, needs sustainable agricultural development to supplement subsistence farming. Beekeeping is an income generating option. Experts from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu assessed the feasibility of developing viable beekeeping enterprises as a source of income diversification to improve rural lives. Their findings revealed that the potential for this enterprise is conditional on the opportunity to properly develop beekeeping. Apis cerana bees, reared in traditional fixed comb log and wall hives, can produce from 5 to 50 kg of honey each.

Further development will help farmers earn cash income through the sale of honey and other bee products. Bee pollination of various crops, particularly cash crops like cardamom, leads to improvements in productivity, maintenance of biodiversity, and helps farmers adjust to the all important aspects of climate change. Beekeeping and cardamom are mutually beneficial. Cardamom provides food for bees and in turn bees provide the pollination services necessary for production of cardamom.

Our Project in Phuleli

INET has started a pilot beekeeping project with the Green Village Agriculture Group (GVAG) in Phuleli village, Solu Khumbu, Nepal. This is led by INET volunteer director, Dr Paul Egan (Visiting Professor at Agriculture and Forestry University [AFU], Nepal) and Kedar Devkota (Assistant Professor at AFU). Following local consultation, to assess prospects for agricultural development in the area, and based on technical feasibility and local interest, INET is supporting this project for indigenous beekeeping with the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) favoured as a more sustainable solution. 

The initial programme is to install hives with 20-30 local participants from GVAG and others then to implement a ‘value-added’ marketing scheme to the tourist market in December 2020. Regarding financial sustainability, it is proposed that 30% of profit margins are re-invested back into the scheme on a cooperative basis (e.g., for on-going purchase of jars, labels and tools). The hives can also be split in December 2020 for income generation, and to allow new participants to enter the scheme. Project management, technical assistance and expert input will be provided by Professor Devkota and  mentoring during this development stage will be covered by a senior research student from AFU.

INET is providing the seed funding and the expertise for this valuable rural project. Inevitably, more money will always be needed to expand its further development until such time as it is fully up and running, and self sufficient in a year or two. Please sponsor a queen bee and/or a beehive.

Donations can be made via www.idonate.ie

or send Euro cheque/cash to: c/o INET, 70 Woodlawn Park, Dublin D14TH28

or Sterling cheque/cash to: c/o INET, 8 Ballyskeagh Road, Lambeg, Lisburn, County Antrim BT27 5SY

Apis cerana

Rural beehives