Money bee in honey farmers bonnets

RUKUM: “I won’’t go anywhere for employment and won’t accept any job offer either . I have been earning more than what I had thought through beekeeping.”

Ingenious farmer Ganesh Khadka of Pokhara in Rukum district tells this to all who visit his home to see his booming beekeeping business that he took up a year ago. Like Khadka, many farmers in Pokhara, Pipal, Bafikot, Rukumkot and Kadha VDCs have ventured into commercial beekeeping and are reaping good returns.

As beekeeping requires low investment, little effort and the maintenance cost is minimal, an increasing number of farmers are drawn towards this profession. Almost all houses in the village have modern and traditional apiaries with many of them full of honey most of the time. Beekeepers are making up to Rs 200,000 profit yearly.

“We sell honey at Rs 320 per kg,” said Bhim Khadka, another beekeeper. Farmers into beekeeping utilize the money generated from the sale of honey to pay school fees for their children and acquire basic family requirements.