Mountains. Tikaram Timilsina of Korunga, Modi Rural Municipality-2, Parbat has been involved in commercial beekeeping for the past 25 years. Even though he is 73 years old, his enthusiasm is no less than that of a young man

From morning till evening, he spends his time tending to the bees. Timilsina is known as a beekeeper in the district. Earlier, Timilsina, who was once known as the largest producer of oranges in the district, left orange farming and got attracted to beekeeping.

Timilsina, who has built a big orange orchard in the village by planting more than 300 orange saplings, got attracted to beekeeping after the orange trees were dying. At first, he started beekeeping. When the demand for beehive and honey increased, he expanded his business.

Timilsina, who has been rearing bees of the AP Serena breed that is suitable in the hilly region, said that he has been able to earn a lot of money from this business. Timilsina said, “The honey produced here is sold from home. There is no need to walk around because of the quality honey. We are not able to meet the demand.

Timilsina’s farm has also become the source of hives and bees distributed by various municipalities on grants. Last year alone, he sold more than one hundred beehives in coordination with the Agriculture Knowledge Centre and the rural municipality.

Currently, he takes care of 35 hives in the garden. Although the number of hives is large, a huge landslide in Kerunga that reached the courtyard of the house last rainy season swept away some of the hires. Some of them were destroyed by birds. Last year alone, 40 out of 60 hives were eaten by Aringal, he said.

At present, around 200 kg of honey is produced in a year. Honey sells for Rs 1,500 per kg. Along with the villagers, employees of various municipal and district offices are consumers of honey. A few years ago, he earned up to Rs 15 lakh annually from beekeeping.

According to Timilsina, beekeeping has been difficult due to climate change, attack of enemy animals and insects, and barren land. He started commercial beekeeping in 2057 BS and is a model beekeeper in the district. Most of the honey produced by him is sold from home and has become a brand in Kathmandu, Chitwan, Butwal and other markets.

Traders from Kushma Bazaar, Baglung and other areas also come to their homes to get honey. According to him, the beehives are being sold for Rs 10,000 per kg and honey at Rs 1,500 per kilogramme.

Another farmer Umakanta Sharma said that farmers are attracted to beekeeping as they do not have to invest millions of rupees at once like other professions, but as the income is significant, there is no need to work continuously in vegetable farming, livestock and poultry farming.

According to him, commercial beekeepers like Deupur, Mallaj, Bhangara, Kurgha, Thanamaula, Pangrang, Bachha and Lungkhu of Parbat have been producing and selling more than a hundred beehives every year. Honey is also being produced in the same proportion.