22 Chait, Chitwan. An international conference of experts and farmers working in the field of bees will be held at the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Chitwan. More than 250 researchers and farmers engaged in commercial beekeeping will participate in the conference to be held from March 23rd to 25th.

42 working papers in four disciplines will be presented in the conference which is going to be jointly organized by the Faculty of Agriculture of University of Agriculture and Forestry Rampur, Department of Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and Nepal Beekeepers Federation.

Member secretary of the conference, vice professor of the university. Kedar Devkota informed that papers will be presented and discussed on beekeeping, api therapy, pollination and management of diseases and insects related to bees.

New research and technology exchange related to bees and pollination, identification of bee health, disease management and protection measures, quality of bee products, value addition and market expansion will also be discussed in the conference. In addition, cooperation and network expansion at the national and international level, the work to be done to provide a scientific basis for policy making and implementation will also be discussed by the Registrar of Agriculture and Forestry University, Prof. Dr. Pushkar Bahadur Pal informed.

He said that since bees contribute 70 percent to pollination, the importance of bees is not only for eating honey, he said that everything should be done to protect bees.

While protecting biodiversity, bees are also protected

According to the university, experts from various countries including Nepal, India, Thailand, China, Korea, America, Canada, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Estonia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka will come to the conference.

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Prof. Dr. Arjun Kumar Shrestha informed.

Deputy Director General of Agriculture Department Rajendra Koirala expressed his belief that the conference will be an important milestone to add value by diversifying bee products. He said that when biological diversity is protected, bees will also be protected.

After the conference, on 26th and 27th of Chait, there is a program for the guests to visit the beekeeping center, research farm and tourist areas of Chitwan.

The management challenge of pastureland

He said that the management of the pasture area has become a challenge in recent times as the bees go for grazing from one and a half to two kilometers.

Padam Amgai, the senior vice president of the Federation of Beekeeping Professionals, said that there are 35 to 40 thousand beekeepers in the country, and there are many farmers who keep bees in a small number. He also informed that there are 12 to 15 types of honey in Nepal.

Serena and Molifera species of bees are reared in Nepal. A large amount of mellifera beekeeping is done.

There are 130,000 honey bees of the mellifera species in Nepal. About 12 thousand farmers are involved in it.

The commercial production of Serna bees is low.

Honey exhibition and ‘Honey Bar’ will be held

Honey will be exhibited during the conference. 12 different types of honey produced in Nepal will be displayed in the exhibition.

There will be 8 stalls at the exhibition site, 3 of them will be selling bee products by foreign traders.

A honey bar will be conducted at the conference. Member Secretary Devkota informed that a ‘honey bar’ is going to be set up for foreigners and government officials to taste the honey found in Nepal. Honey from all areas produced in Nepal will be kept in fences.