Beekeeping: Sustainable Livelihoods and Agriculture Production in Nepal

Nepal has tremendous opportunities on the beekeeping due to the richness in the honeybee’s species and the availability of plenty pasture diversity. There exist four native honeybee’s species Apis florea, Apis dorsata, and Apis laboriosa are open nesting and Apis cerena halfway domesticated types. The beekeeping practices and production of the honey have been increased during the 10 years. Along with this, the natural honey export was also increased in recent years. The beekeeping in Nepal contributes to the economics boost up of the rural and marginalized landless farmers. Besides the economic contribution from the bees’ products, beekeeping enhances the pollination services assuring the crop yields and helping to maintain the natural biodiversity from the Terai to the high Himalayans. Beekeeping gives the mutual benefits to both beekeeper and the crop farmers on the economic returns from the selling of the bee products and beehives and also increases the yields of the pollination-dependent crops by ensuring the efficient pollination services. These perspectives of beekeeping enhance the livelihoods of the farmers through the sustainable practices of beekeeping.