Chuman Gharti Magar cannot remember the number of times he has been stung by bees. But he clearly remembers what his friends and family had said when he spent Rs4,000 on two frame hives from a furniture shop. Back then there were no buses to his village in Musikot, so he carried the two boxes on his back and walked all the way home. His fellow villagers were clearly curious, having never seen frame hives.&nbsp; “When they found out it was a modern hive, people called me crazy for spending money for bees that naturally live in logs,” remembers Magar. “But we have to move with the times otherwise we will be left behind.” Sixteen years down the line, the same people commend him for the respect and money he has earned. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/weaving-the-fabric-of-a-new-life">Weaving the fabric of a new life</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_250426f884c15d8e2efa2bce5867dc1d9e89d0d5cc0adfeeca72bee127ff5136.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023091905094_250426f884c15d8e2efa2bce5867dc1d9e89d0d5cc0adfeeca72bee127ff5136" data-rendition-name="original" width="1640" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> <figcaption>All photos: GOPEN RAI</figcaption> </figure>  Magar is now the proprietor of Malrani Mauripalan Kendra, where he keeps 150 hives of local Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) which produce 5-10 quintal of honey every season. He sells each kg of honey for Rs1,500 but says the price fluctuates. “I haven’t been able to fulfill the market demand. As honey is considered to have health benefits, the demand is quite high,” he says. Most of his clients are locals in Gulmi but his honey has made its way to Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal and even abroad. Much of his business is through word of mouth, and customers usually call him with orders.&nbsp; He also instructs other interested beekeepers, most of whom come to him for practical training. He also sells bees and beehives. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/staying-home-to-create-jobs">Staying home to create jobs</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_4c33b505ccce8034ab634fd124f62c4b2fd2e081fe034b02ddfc896d91c0c5a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023091905094_4c33b505ccce8034ab634fd124f62c4b2fd2e081fe034b02ddfc896d91c0c5a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1497" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  “Most of the beekeepers here sell bees and not honey, maybe because they don’t know how. But my priority is honey,” says Magar. “Just like we keep buffaloes for milk, the bees are for honey.” Magar had passed his SLC and had tried his hand at farming for four years. But the weather and soil conditions in the mountains were not suitable. “In the plains, if you farm for a month, you get to eat for eight. Here, if you farm for eight months maybe you get to eat for one,” says Magar. Magar grew up with a mostly absent father who was a lahure. He knew that he wanted to be with his children while also providing a better life for them. So he gave up the idea of becoming a soldier like his father and neighbours and explored opportunities closer to home.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/milking-every-opportunity">Milking every opportunity</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_76460693a287bebac3e2c0a8999a3e0a6267e6f057af1f274e574c219ff39326.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023091905094_76460693a287bebac3e2c0a8999a3e0a6267e6f057af1f274e574c219ff39326" data-rendition-name="original" width="1630" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  He first started with log hives but did not know how to handle bees, nor did he know what infrastructure was needed and where to get them.&nbsp; “I learned it all by playing with the bees,” he says. “Bees are technical creatures, they have their own system and habits. Once you figure that out, it is perhaps one of the easiest jobs to do.” Initially, it was even difficult for him to source frame hives. The local furniture shops did not make them and ferrying them from Butwal was too expensive.&nbsp; After three years of struggling to understand the bees, he not only understood the rules of the hives but also found someone who could make hives as per requirements. Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/money-grows-on-trees-here/" target="_blank">Money grows on trees here</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_0bac4a0b044912d58d2fe4b457ef4c43b8f760b508e33ca5fa1adb6ec2f908cf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023091905094_0bac4a0b044912d58d2fe4b457ef4c43b8f760b508e33ca5fa1adb6ec2f908cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1507" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  Beekeeping is both “art and science”, he says, and once mastered can yield benefits without much investment. “One of the more important things to learn is hive management because if one is not careful during the seasons when bees procreate, there may be nothing left of the old hive,” says Magar.&nbsp; Another thing to consider, he says, is making sure there is sufficient pollen for the bees to forage. To ensure that all his bees have an ample amount of pollen, he takes a decentralised approach. Magar does not keep all his hives in one place, spreading them in the neighbourhood. Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pigs-fly-and-fish-climb-trees">Pigs fly and fish climb trees</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_baafd322cf49e702495b11c6e8ba2616b768611b9adcf99c17efb6b6002da681.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2023091905094_baafd322cf49e702495b11c6e8ba2616b768611b9adcf99c17efb6b6002da681" data-rendition-name="original" width="1455" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  Professional beekeeping is an undertapped business idea, says Magar: “If every village had 50-100 hives, we could probably export honey,” he adds. One of the major challenges for beekeeping is weather extremes due to climate change. Last year, when it rained for seven days straight, half of Magar’s hive was wiped out.&nbsp; “There is either too much rain or not enough, which has affected the productivity of the bees,” he says. “The weather patterns these days are unpredictable, which makes it difficult.” Magar, however, is happy to be where he is today and credits it all to the bees: “If it wasn’t for the bees, I would probably be working under the hot Gulf sun.” &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/life-in-a-pickle/">Life in a pickle</a>, Sahina Shrestha <h2>Busy bee</h2> Why a declining bee population should concern us  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_3d26239faee533da09e6d9fef4241f6959347ebd7ca5cd0a3c65cdbd75d74e14.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="2023091905094_3d26239faee533da09e6d9fef4241f6959347ebd7ca5cd0a3c65cdbd75d74e14" data-rendition-name="original" width="1564" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  When we talk about bees, most of us in Nepal immediately think of honey. Indeed, it is an example of a thriving eco-business with some 16,500 beekeepers across the country producing over 4,000 tonnes of honey every year. The rest of the demand is met by imported produce, mostly from India. While domesticated honeybees are important pollinators, much more important for the ecosystem are the 20,000 or more species of wild bees. Wild bees mostly gather pollen from native plants to feed their young in hives, while domesticated honeybees tend to pollinate crops, flowers and invasive species. Together with other insects, the more important wild bees are in decline worldwide.&nbsp; Nepal’s hallucinogenic ‘mad honey’ is popular because of a series of documentaries made about their collection. An ancient but risky honey hunting culture has Nepal's indigenous people venture up cliffs on flimsy rope ladders twice a year in autumn and spring to extract the Himalayan giant honeybee (Apis laboriosa) honeycomb, a 3cm bee species that forages at up to 4,100m. Of the five honeybee species found in Nepal Apis laboriosa, Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, and Apis florea are indigenous to the Himalaya. Meanwhile, Apis mellifera is a European bee species introduced in Nepal for commercial purposes in 1990. Only Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are used for commercial honey production. Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/bee-population-in-decline,3613">What's the buzz</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023091905094_6745452799ee2e99b04d465433007bfe62bb1bb9da2fc8e274ff0386acf705fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="2023091905094_6745452799ee2e99b04d465433007bfe62bb1bb9da2fc8e274ff0386acf705fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1523" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Beekeeping Musikot NT"> </figure>  These bees graze on a variety of flowering plants determining their flavour including herbal rudilo, Indian butter tree, mustard, buckwheat, litchi and fixed flower honey among others. But more importantly, bees are responsible for one of every three bites of food we take. Bee pollination can increase food productivity by up to 30%, but wild bees and honeybees are disappearing all over the world due to the use of pesticides, spread of parasites by humans, as well as new diseases. Urbanisation and unplanned infrastructure have reduced grazing areas and caused farmers to switch to monoculture, leading to decreasing abundance and diversity of flowers. This has also affected bee populations. The climate crisis, with cloudbursts and unprecedented wildfires, are destroying habitats and beekeepers report a sharp decline in honey collection in Nepal.&nbsp; A beehive in itself has a well-organised and complex social life. There are worker bees that find pollen, drones whose main job is to mate with the queen, and the queen bee who lays up to 1,500 eggs a day and controls the worker bees. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/to-bee-or-not-to-bee">To bee or not to bee</a>, Nabin Baral

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Honey = Money

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232c29c7e80680e0c48aejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="3000"/><figcaption>All photos: BHADRA SHARMA</figcaption></figure>The cultures of Indigenous peoples across the world have traditionally depended on native plants and animals. It is when these culturally significant species start disappearing that the ways of life of those communities are also threatened — as is happening with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Chepang-living-edge,3136" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s semi-nomadic Chepang people</a>.The Chepang live along the Mahabharat sub-Himalayan belt, and their slash-and-burn lifestyle has always been inextricably linked to the versatile चिउरी Indian Butter Tree. But the accelerated destruction of the chiuri has imperilled Chepang traditions, culture and way of life.Known by its scientific name Diploknema butyracea, the Indian Butter Tree is the source of food, fuel, pesticide, fertiliser, cosmetic lotions, and is even given as dowry.Here in the rolling hills of Makwanpur district south of Kathmandu, Ramesh Praja remembers fondly the festive chiuri flowering season in winter, when the entire forest used to hum with bees to the blossoms.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/bee-population-in-decline,3613" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Honey from hives</a> of chiuri bees are especially delicious, and is said to have medicinal properties. Once they had the taste of chiuri honey, Praja remembers townspeople hiking up to Chepang villages to buy more.By evening, it would be the bats that would fly in to sip the nectar, and pollinate the chiuri flowers. The Chepang also hunted the bats, and it is a tradition in winter for relatives to gather around in the village and feast on tasty barbecued bats, inviting honoured guests.The trees fruit in spring, and it is another important food item in the Chepang diet. The seeds are ground and turned into butter that used to be taken down to the market in Chitwan, where <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/First-Chepang-nurse,3143" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Chepang</a> bartered it for salt and clothing.The hull from seeds are also used as organic pesticides and fertilisers on crops. Powered chiuri husk was also useful to sprinkle on water to drug fish and make them easier to catch.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232c69c7e80680e0c48afjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="4000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232ca9c7e80680e0c48b0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The chiuri butter had antiseptic properties, and the Chepang rubbed it like a lotion on their chafed hands.“We grew up with chiuri and in the company of bats,” Praja recalls. “The trees are now disappearing, and the bats too are gone.”Ramesh Praja has given up his people’s traditional forest life, and now runs a small shop by a new dirt road that has snaked up to the village. His family now cooks in oil bought at the market, and not anymore in chiuri butter.There are many factors that are depleting the trees: the climate crisis has dried up perennial springs and lowered the water table, chiuri saplings do not take root in the forest as they used to, road construction and expansion of settlements have led to landslides that destroyed the trees that were left. The Chepang themselves have felt that summers are unbearably hot even up in the mountains, and winters are milder. In <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/meanwhile-a-measles-outbreak-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Chepang settlement</a> of Silinge in Makwanpur, villagers say they now have never-before-seen mosquitos.“Our village is almost as hot as Chitwan now,” says Ramesh Praja.There has been an effort to re-introduce beekeeping, and some Chepang families are in the honey business. But in the absence of the chiuri trees, the bees do not have the special chiuri flowers that gave the honey from here its special taste.“If we could revive the chiuri forest, the honey would be like gold here,” says Motiram Chepang of Silinge.With the trees mostly gone, the Chepang of this area pack their hives into pickups and take them down to Chitwan or Hetauda to graze on flowers there. Besides the transport cost, they also have to pay a hefty rent per hive to let their bees out.Ramesh Praja himself lost about 80 bee hives during the pandemic lockdown when he could not protect his hives that he had taken down to Chitwan from floods. He says, “I lost about Rs800,000. If there had been chiuri trees at home I would not have lost all those hives.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232cd9c7e80680e0c48b1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="4000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There was ample potential for the Chepang to promote <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/homestay-brings-locals-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">homestay tourism</a>, but with the trees gone the culture is not as vibrant and there is nothing to attract visitors.Former ward chair of Raksirang of Makwanpur Singha Lal Chepang says his entire focus now is on protecting the chiuri that are left and to revive the former forests. He recalls that back in the Panchayat-era 50 years ago, the tree was registered as belonging to the Chepang, and people here even had certificates to prove their ownership.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s community forestry</a> laws also protect the Chepang’s right to the trees, but the chiuri is still disappearing from the forests of Makwanpur, Gorkha, Chitwan and Dhading, where about 50,000 Chepang people live.The changing lifestyle of the Chepang has also damaged the chiuri stands. As villagers take to livestock rearing, their goats now graze in the forest and eat up the undergrowth so there are no new trees to replace the old ones when they die.“There used to be a time when each household could harvest up to 1,800kg of chiuri fruit and sell the butter in bulk,” remembers Sancharaj Praja. “Now the trees are gone, there is no more demand for the butter, and people have stopped even picking the fruits anymore.”Some development organisations have tried to help revive the chiuri plant, tens of thousands of seedlings were planted to try to conserve Chepang culture, but the attempts have failed so far mainly because the goats have eaten them up.The trees are not even given as dowry anymore. Says Motiram Chepang: “First off, there are no saplings to give away. But then the children also do not understand the value of their people’s attachment to this tree anymore.”

Chepang and their Chiuri

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