Information from ICIMOD - The value of Apis cerana beekeeping for mountain farmers in Nepal

Min Gurung, Faroog Ahmad, Surendra Raj Joshi and Chet Raj Bhatta

More news from the Austrian Government funded beekeeping project at ICIMOD in Kathmandu; Nepal. The ICIMOD bee project recently looked at the socio-economic value of the Himalayan honeybee Apis cerana for mountain farmers. We used data from a case study carried out in the Alital Village Development Committee area of Dadeldhura District, in far western Nepal. We also used information obtained during conversations with rural beekeepers and staff from partner organisations.

Beekeeping with Apis cerana is a community activity with a rich tradition within existing farming systems. Just over half the households surveyed in the case study were beekeeping, and of these, two-thirds had been keeping bees for ten years or more. Two indigenous honeybee species are present in and around Alital: Apis cerana and Apis dorsata. We also observed nests of Trigona sp: 'putka' or stingless bees.

Apis cerana bees are kept mostly in log hives, although frame hives have been recently introduced. Households have an average of four colonies each, with a range of 1-29 colonies. Two-thirds of the colonies are kept by the most experienced farmers, with an average yield of 6.5 kg of honey per colony per year. The yield varies according to type of farmer, ethnic group, and whether the household is in the project area or not. 60% of households belong to the predominant caste groups Brahmin and Chhetri; together they own 84% of the colonies, and these colonies have higher yields than those of other ethnic groups. Wards in the project area produced 85% of last year's honey: 1,000 kg. The average honey production per household was AO kg in the project wards and 10 kg in the non-project wards.

Overall, Brahmin and Chhetri farmers with medium-sized land holdings (1-2.0 ha) were the most successful at exploiting Apis cerana beekeeping. These farmers made NRs 6,000 on average per year from honey. Farmers with larger landholdings earned NRs 3,100 annually, and those with small (0.2-1 ha} and marginal land holdings (less than 0.2 ha} NRs 1,800 and NRs 700 respectively.

The average annual expenditure on beekeeping also varied by ethnic group, from NRs 260 invested by Chhetri households, to NRs 180 and NRs 90 by lower caste and Brahmin groups, respectively. The Brahmin spent less on beekeeping than their neighbours from lower caste households during the survey year. This is because a few of the lower caste beekeepers purchased frame hives during the year.

Income from Apis cerana beekeeping provided nearly 75% of the total annual average income from on-farm sources for farmers with medium-sized landholdings. The overall average income from Apis cerana beekeeping was NRs 3,200 (US$43): more than one-third of the total annual cash income from farm activities of beekeeper farmers. The remainder of their income came from sales of livestock, maize and bananas (see figure*). Beekeeper farmers also earned NRs 15,000 (US$200) per year from non-farm sources - almost twice the on-farm income of NRs 8,400. Non-beekeeper households had a much smaller cash income from on-farm activities, depended even more heavily on non-farm income, and had a lower total annual average income (NRs 20,500 compared with NRs 23,300). The amount varied among ethnic groups, farmer category, and between project and non project wards. Non-farm income included earnings from tailoring, construction work, and carpentry work within the community, particularly for members of the occupational castes, and outmigration, particularly for non-beekeepers.

The case study from Alital suggests that an integrated approach can be particularly successful in cash terms on medium-sized farms. In other areas, the same approach could be used in similar environments, with local partner organisations like Mauri Palan Samuha in Alital taking the lead in building capacity in communities similar to their own.

*Where reference to images or figures is made, please see original journal article

NOTICE

In 2004 ICIMOD, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, based in Kathmandu, Nepal will begin a new regional Project concerning indigenous bees and livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.

Organisations based in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, and mountain regions of Thailand and Vietnam, are invited to submit Concept Notes for work they would like to undertake within the field of indigenous bee studies, beekeeping and livelihoods.

The format for Concept notes, and eligibility criteria, will be on ICIMOD's website from December 2003. Applications will be considered only if they use this format, and are submitted by e-mail. Closing date for applications: 15 February 2004.

ICIMOD www.icimod.org