Photos by: Shaligram Tiwari

The second edition of the Honey Festival kicked off at Bhrikutimandap in the Capital city on Monday.

The four-day event, organized to promote honey and make people aware of its importance, was inaugurated by the Chief Information Commissioner, Krishna Hari Banskota.

Jointly organized by the Directorate of Industrial Entomology Development (DoIED) and Bee Keeper Farmers Group, the Festival has 20 stalls showcasing varieties of honey.

Commercial bee keeping has been practiced in Nepal since 2052 BS, shared honey entrepreneur Dharmaraj Shrestha, adding that the locally produced honey could not be exported abroad in lack of lab in the country.

Earlier, John Huck, a honey entrepreneur from Netherlands had pledged to import honey from Nepal to his country but he too had pressed for the quality control of the produce at the government level beforehand.

"The government has been promoting bee keeping (apiculture) in the country. Hence subsidy has been granted to the farmers for the purchase of the equipments and hives and training, among others," said Director at the DOIED, Harihar Adhikari.

According a statistics, around 1,600 metric tonnes of honey is produced annually in Nepal on average.

The apiculture sector holds tremendous prospects of exporting honey amounting to Rs 2 billion and could provide employment to as many as 10,000 people.

The record shows that around 10,000 people from 4,000 households across the country have directly or indirectly been engaged in the bee keeping.

Another study has shown that if a Nepali consumes 75 grams honey every day, the current produce does not suffice.

Government has declared 50 districts to be the pocket area for bee keeping across the country.

There are altogether 80 types of honeys in the world. Of them, Bhirmauri, Cerena, Mellifera and the like have been mostly used to produce honey in Nepal. RSS