Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 1:21:26 GMT -5
Honey producers in Bhutan are struggling as many hives have been eliminated due to a combination of erratic weather, invasive ants and an unknown disease.
But why are bees dying en masse in Bhutan?
There is a Nepali saying: "Wise action is the fruit of life, wise speech is pollination." This was one of the many things about pollination that Sonam Dorji, from the central Bumthang district of Bhutan, heard from his grandparents. He inspired him to take up beekeeping, which he turned into a source of income in
Dorji is one of the beekeepers in Bumthang, a place that is usually full of excitement at this time of year, with the harvest season just around the corner. However, the outlook looks bleak this ye Caseno Email List ar, as bees continue to die and honey production has fallen in recent years.
Beekeepers in Jalikhar, a village in Bumthang, have noticed that bees leave the hive during the day and never return. Of the hives there are, do not have bees in them. The community has stacked the empty hives in a warehouse.
“Usually at this time we place the super honey over the hives to collect honey, but this year it doesn't make sense,” Dorji said. A large number of people in Bumthang and other districts depend solely on the sale of honey for their livelihood. Typically, each member of the beekeeper cooperative earns more than , BTN (about , USD) a year, but that is not going to happen this season.
Multiple factors
Changes in weather patterns are a key reason. According to Towchu Rabgay, an official with the Livestock Department, the irregular rains have been detrimental to the flowers from which bees collect nectar to make their honey.
Tul Bhadur Chhetri, president of the Bhutan Beekeepers Cooperative in Bumthang, said that of the cooperative's , hives, entire colonies have been destroyed in more than He said uneven flowering caused by irregular rains is not enough to explain this. . .
“We reported this mass death of bees to the dzongkhag (district) administration and the administration asked the Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNR) (the key research institution of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests) to study the causes,” Chhetri said.
While the center noted that “inadequate natural forage (pollen and nectar) during the fall season when colonies multiply after the first honey harvest” could be the reason, beekeepers have noticed that bees leave behind yellowish droppings, as if they had diarrhea.
The bees then leave the honeycomb and die outside the hive. Chhetri noted that this could mean that the bees have been exposed to a new disease.
A third threat has appeared in parts of southern Bhutan: a species of ant unknown to locals. The ants, farmers say, get into the hives and damage them.
Farmers in the Dophuchen gewog (a group of villages) started commercial beekeeping last year. Five farmers sold honey for the first time and earned good income.
Purni Maya is one of them. The -year-old has started raising a species of bee known as Apis trigona , whose honey is expected to fetch a staggering BTN , (around USD ) per kg. But now there are more ants than bees in more than half of his hives.
But why are bees dying en masse in Bhutan?
There is a Nepali saying: "Wise action is the fruit of life, wise speech is pollination." This was one of the many things about pollination that Sonam Dorji, from the central Bumthang district of Bhutan, heard from his grandparents. He inspired him to take up beekeeping, which he turned into a source of income in
Dorji is one of the beekeepers in Bumthang, a place that is usually full of excitement at this time of year, with the harvest season just around the corner. However, the outlook looks bleak this ye Caseno Email List ar, as bees continue to die and honey production has fallen in recent years.
Beekeepers in Jalikhar, a village in Bumthang, have noticed that bees leave the hive during the day and never return. Of the hives there are, do not have bees in them. The community has stacked the empty hives in a warehouse.
“Usually at this time we place the super honey over the hives to collect honey, but this year it doesn't make sense,” Dorji said. A large number of people in Bumthang and other districts depend solely on the sale of honey for their livelihood. Typically, each member of the beekeeper cooperative earns more than , BTN (about , USD) a year, but that is not going to happen this season.
Multiple factors
Changes in weather patterns are a key reason. According to Towchu Rabgay, an official with the Livestock Department, the irregular rains have been detrimental to the flowers from which bees collect nectar to make their honey.
Tul Bhadur Chhetri, president of the Bhutan Beekeepers Cooperative in Bumthang, said that of the cooperative's , hives, entire colonies have been destroyed in more than He said uneven flowering caused by irregular rains is not enough to explain this. . .
“We reported this mass death of bees to the dzongkhag (district) administration and the administration asked the Renewable Natural Resources Research Center (RNR) (the key research institution of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests) to study the causes,” Chhetri said.
While the center noted that “inadequate natural forage (pollen and nectar) during the fall season when colonies multiply after the first honey harvest” could be the reason, beekeepers have noticed that bees leave behind yellowish droppings, as if they had diarrhea.
The bees then leave the honeycomb and die outside the hive. Chhetri noted that this could mean that the bees have been exposed to a new disease.
A third threat has appeared in parts of southern Bhutan: a species of ant unknown to locals. The ants, farmers say, get into the hives and damage them.
Farmers in the Dophuchen gewog (a group of villages) started commercial beekeeping last year. Five farmers sold honey for the first time and earned good income.
Purni Maya is one of them. The -year-old has started raising a species of bee known as Apis trigona , whose honey is expected to fetch a staggering BTN , (around USD ) per kg. But now there are more ants than bees in more than half of his hives.