Because of its popularity, bee colonies that are looked after by beekeepers can be found in and around farms in nearly every city in the country. Despite this, however, few people are aware of the hard work that goes into harvesting honey from hives of 35,000 to 50,000 bees.

Beekeeping is an old and extensive practice, and at the local level beekeepers typically stick to traditional methods of breeding bees and harvesting honey despite the risks. Some also adulterate honey to increase the quantity.

Honey is collected from honeycombs, which bees make in hives inside wooden boxes. Beekeepers first keep the queen bee in the box, which then lays eggs to increase the bee population. The other bees produce the honey.

In order to harvest honey, the honeycomb is removed from the hive and honey is extracted from honeycomb slides either by crushing or using a honey extracting machine.

In addition to producing honey, bees also produce beeswax and other by-products, which are then used in cosmetic and medicinal products. Honey is mostly produced in the spring.

“The bees travel one to three kilometres every day to get food from flowers, trees and other plants. Before establishing a colony in one place, bees [surveil] the area to determine the availability of food. If the food source is within a kilometre, the bees dance in a round shape, and if the food source is within 3km, the bees dance in a semi-round shape. It is a message to other bees in the colony,” Dr Asif Aziz, the head of the entomology department at Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University told Dawn.

He said the queen bee lays eggs in the hives, while the rest of the bees clean the hives, provide sustenance and guard her. The bees spend 21 days cleaning and guarding the queen, and 21 days fetching food.

The arid agriculture university has been conducting research in order to make beekeeping a more popular hobby and profession. To this end, it has conducted workshops with farmers to explain the necessity of beekeeping in farms.

Dr Aziz said beekeeping training began in the 80s, and was focused on Afghan refugees to help them generate income without government assistance. The Australian honeybee is used for beekeeping.

He added that there is need for coordination between the forest department and researchers to plant fauna and flora around honeybee farms.

“At present, trees that are good for honeybees are decreasing fast due to urbanisation in the city and agricultural lands. In spring plantation, importance should be given to plants useful to bees and other pollinators,” he said.

He also suggested increasing awareness among beekeepers about earning from other products produced by bees in order to end adulteration in honey.

The university’s vice chancellor Prof Dr Sarwat N. Mirza told Dawn the government must take steps to preserve flora that is rapidly decreasing due to the development of housing colonies and road infrastructure, particularly in semi-urban areas.

He said the government should also create bee inspector jobs to better supervise the beekeeping industry and to produce high quality honey, which could also help export honey and better the socioeconomic conditions of local communities.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018