With his bee-boxes lying strewn beside a road, Mohammad Ans, 40, seems totally engrossed in examining the wooden boxes.

“It would still take a few more days to get ripened,” he asserts in a mere audible voice. The parents of Ans, like many other Afghans, were forced to leave their motherland when Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and got settled in Peshawar. In Afghanistan, the source of earning for Ans’ family was beekeeping. But after getting relocated to Pakistan, the family preferred to continue the hereditary profession. When Ans and his three brothers came of age, the need for buying more boxes was badly felt but his father did not have sufficient money to meet the exigency. “I started labouring as a daily wager and earned some money and bought 10 boxes and started my own business,” he recalls. Currently, he owns 400 bee-boxes but still lives from hand to mouth as the industry of beekeeping is fraught with a host of problems in Pakistan.

By producing 298,000 metric tons annually, China is the largest exporter of honey in the world while India stands at number six with 52,000 metric tons.

Despite the fact that Pakistan has great potential to get itself listed in the major honey producers in the world, the country still falls at number 20th in terms of production.  And interestingly the honey produced in Pakistan is of prime quality honey in the world which is the most sought after variety of sweet natural product.

What makes Pakistani honey so special? The answer is that Sidr Honey is considered the best and most expensive in the world and this type of honey is made of the nectar the honeybees extract from the flowers of berry tree (Ziziphus) and fortunately berry trees are grown in abundance in the Potohar region. In Chakwal district, these trees can be seen on the boundary line of every chunk of land. Unlike many other trees, berry blossoms from mid-September to mid-October and this is the period when honeybees do wonders in their hives by the nectar extracted from the flowers. Researchers have proved that honey made of the nectar of berry trees has higher medicinal value compared to honeys made of other flowers’ nectars.

When September approaches, the beekeepers from different areas of the country rush towards the Potohar region and establish their colonies at deserted places besides roads. “The fields of Chakwal have abundant of berry trees and the atmosphere of the area is also very ideal,” says Ans.

It takes honeybees at least one month to give final shape to their product. After harvesting honey, the beekeepers take it to Tarnab, the hub of honey trade in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from where it is sold to traders who export it to Arab countries.

The beekeepers not only face a lot of problems but they are also exploited in many ways. “The farmers feel reluctant to allow us in placing our bee-boxes on their deserted land and those who allow us exploit us by different means. They get honey from us and also ask us to help them in harvesting their crops. We could not refuse them,” Ans says.

Lack of awareness among the rural people about honeybees also poses a major obstacle in the business as a majority of farmers think that honeybees harm their crops. “The fact is that honeybees do not cause any harm to the crops rather the crops get healthier as honeybees pollinate the flowers,” adds Major (retired) Raza Khan, the president of Pakistan Beekeepers Association (PBA).  The beekeepers are also pressured and teased by the police while travelling. “The government is doing nothing for us rather we are exploited by the police,” he maintains. He is also worried about the cutting of trees. “The cutting of berry trees is going on without any check and if it is not stopped, the business of honey would be badly affected,” he says.

According to him, there are about 35,000 beekeeping farms in Pakistan but only 4,000 of them are registered with the PBA.

The beekeepers find themselves in great trouble whenever their bees are attacked by termites. And in such a situation, they cannot find anti-termite medicines at reasonable prices.

Currently, Pakistan produces 10,000 tons of honey annually but due to lack of proper rules and regulations the state and the beekeepers are not getting the full advantages of this product. According to a report, 20 per cent of honey is lost every year due to untrained beekeepers.

Talking to Dawn on phone from Islamabad, Dr Elizabeth Stephen, the director of Honeybee Research Institute, said Pakistan is producing best quality honey despite the fact that beekeeping industry is facing a number of problems. “Honey extracted from the tree of berry and from plant of Kalonji is the best but pathetically the trees of berry are being cut down in Chakwal district which is a very discouraging sign for the industry,” she said. “There is lack of institutions in Pakistan where the standardisation of honey could be done in a much better way and unfortunately the government is doing very little to improve the industry,” she said and added that the government even did nothing whenever a natural catastrophe hit the beekeepers. “The beekeeping colonies were washed away by the floods a couple of years ago and beekeepers faced heavy loss but the government did nothing to rehabilitate them,” she added. She said foreign NGOs helped in rehabilitation process.

“We are trying our best despite limited resources to improve the industry. We are training many beekeepers and also researching on the topic extensively,” she said.

Though the federal government is doing something for the beekeeping industry but at the provincial level coordinated steps are yet to be taken to improve this vital industry. The agriculture extension department of Punjab does not have a single office which could work on apiculture. The beekeeping industry needs modern technology to meet the current challenges but the rulers are keeping their eyes shut to this vital cottage industry. As there are no rules and regulations for honey trade, some of the beekeepers also use unfair means to boost their income. For example, they sell adulterated honey in the market without any check. By taking some steps to improve this industry, the problem of unemployment can also be reduced.