Rains dash hopes of honey beekeepers in Kashmir

Srinagar, July 21: This year’s inclement weather and rains have dashed the hopes of honey beekeepers in Kashmir as the wet season has severely affected honey production leaving them worried.
Many apiculturists who spoke to Rising Kashmir said the heavy rains in the flowering season that is April and May have badly affected the honey production this season and they have suffered losses.
Jahangir Ahmad, a resident of Chukar village in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district who has set an example after he shifted from conventional apple farming to honey farming said this year there is zero honey production in his bee-keeping farm.
Currently, he has 350 honey bee colonies at his orchard which produced 40 quintals of honey last year and this year he has not produced even one quintal due to the continuous rains in spring.
“This year we have zero honey production as the rains have badly affected the produce. We have spent a huge amount to rear the honey bees. This year we are at a loss,” he said.
Jahangir said earlier this year he set out with his bees to warmer places in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat in search of blossoms but that also did not work due to dry weather.
Abdul Hameed, another honey beekeeper from Tangmarg also said there has been zero production of honey this year which has left the beekeepers uncertain to continue their bee farming.
“Last year, I produced some 8 quintals of honey. But this year the heavy rains in April and May affect pollination and bees could not go out in peak flowering season. When the weather is unfavorable they do not move out of bee colonies,” he said.
Hameed has been associated with beekeeping over the past four years saying that this is for the first time in the past six years that they have suffered losses due to zero honey production.
“Earlier this year I had thought to bring the honey of other farmers but there is zero production this year. Many beekeepers have gotten discouraged and they want to shift to some other farming,” he said. He said the beekeepers have already spent huge sums on sugar feed for the bees.
Hameed said in the Tangmarg area alone, there are some 15,000 bee colonies but all beekeepers have not produced honey this year.
Apiculture Development Officer, Department of Agriculture Kashmir, Harmeet Singh said the department has surveyed the beekeepers saying that production has been affected this year. He also said however there is a provision in the Holistic Agriculture Development Program for the beekeepers.