**3.1 History of beekeeping in Nepal**

Beekeeping is a cultural heritage in Nepalese community, practiced from an ancient time as honey hunting has been dated back to thousands of years [10]. It is reported that little honeybee (*Apis florea*), rock bee (*Apis dorsata)*, Asian bee (*Apis cerana),* and largest honeybee *(Apis laboriosa)* were native honeybees found in Nepal [11]. The exotic honeybee, European bee *(Apis mellifera)* was introduced in Nepal in 1994. Although, the scientific beekeeping in Nepal was initiated in 1989 with the introduction of moveable comb hive of native bee *Apis cerena*, however, commercialization of modern beekeeping geared up with the introduction of high yielding exotic honeybee *Apis mellifera* [12].

In 1980, Beekeeping Development Section (BDS) was formed for the development and extension of the apiculture under Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) with mandated to conduct research on various aspects of applied entomology including industrial entomology [7]. Until 1990, *A. cerena* was the only one managed honeybee and was flourished throughout the country. Then after, *A. mellifera* was imported in large scale replaced the native bee *A. cerena* from the Terai region upto the mid-hills*. A. cerena* now remains with the farmers from the

**87**

**Figure 1**.

*Beekeeping: Sustainable Livelihoods and Agriculture Production in Nepal*

hilly and mountain regions areas like Dhading, Humla, Jumla, Jajarkot, Kaski, Lamjung, Lalitpur, etc. *A. mellifera* has not arrived in these areas due to road and transportation inaccessibility, and also difficulties in the management practices such as keeping the colonies warm, feeding sugar, and migrating to low hill areas

Honeybees in Nepal are characterized through greatly variations based on the altitude and topography. More than 50,000 Nepalese households are involved in beekeeping, rearing 125,000 beehives and producing about 1100 t of honey per year [13], in which, 29.86% of honey produced from *A. cerana*, 39.19% from wild honeybees and 33.93% from *A. mellifera*. The honey produced from the *A. cerena* (rear in the traditional wooden loghives), *A. dorsata*, and *A. laboriosa* can be considered as organic, since the bees forages on the natural forests of remote areas in Nepal, where usage of pesticides and agrochemicals are considerably zero. There is rich tradition of beekeeping in different villages of Nepal, which is associated with genetic diversity of *A. cerana*, availability of bee forage plants, and a wealth of indigenous knowledge associated with wild honeybee harvesting. Although, Nepalese people have been rearing honeybees for many years, the scientific and commercial

approach to beekeeping has been in practice fairly a decade ago. Therefore, modern

In scenario of beekeeping industry, in Nepal, the honeybee industry includes 5700 registered beekeepers operating 55,000 hives. A hive is home to 25,000– 70,000 bees, depending on the species [14]. The number of beehives, including those from non-commercial keepers was 280,000 in the 2017/2018 fiscal year, twice as many as 10 years ago, 2009; those hives produced 5500 tonnes of honey, more

From the data [14], the number of the beehives is increasing from 140,000 in 2009 to 280,000 in 2018. Similarly, as the number of hives increases, the honey production was also increasing during the 10-years period, which is shown in

The number of the beehives increased slowly from the year 2009 to 2013. After 2013, the number of beehives increased in higher rate as compared to the before. Likewise, the amount of the honey production was declined sharply in the year 2011, then after it starts to increase. The increase in the honey production as com-

pared to the number of beehives was not satisfactory in the last 2–3 years.

produced in Nepal comes from wild flora, which is by definition organic.

In Nepal, honey is also classified according to bee species, harvesting season, and geographical location. The average annual honey productivity of *A. dorsata*,

Honey is one of the important nutritive food produce of the bee containing various kinds of sugar, protein, free amino acids, minerals, trace elements, enzymes, and vitamins with a fairly high caloric value [16]. The production of the other products like wax, pollen, and royal jelly is not in practice in Nepal. Nepal is the only country in the world, where honey is produced between the ranges of 70 and 4200 m above the sea level. Honey produces in the Nepal are of multi floral and unifloral origin with a high medicinal value. The honey produced are of chiuri (Indian butter tree), mustard, buckwheat, rudilo (*Pogostomone spp*), sunflower, and fruits. The *A. mellifera* honey is produced in the Terai region, while *A. cerana* is very common in the hilly and mountain regions of Nepal. About 70% of the honey

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90707*

commercial beekeeping is still in nascent stage.

than six times the yield from 10 years ago [15].

**3.3 Market scenario of honey**

in winter season [1].

**3.2 Statistics of beekeeping**

#### *Beekeeping: Sustainable Livelihoods and Agriculture Production in Nepal DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90707*

hilly and mountain regions areas like Dhading, Humla, Jumla, Jajarkot, Kaski, Lamjung, Lalitpur, etc. *A. mellifera* has not arrived in these areas due to road and transportation inaccessibility, and also difficulties in the management practices such as keeping the colonies warm, feeding sugar, and migrating to low hill areas in winter season [1].
