KASUR:Scarcityof flowers on which honey bees survive and the mortality of bees due to heavy rains in the last few months have damaged the business of honey in Changa Manga and other parts of the province.

Rana Ibrar Hussain, a contractor of honey hives in Changa Manga jungle, foresees remarkable reduction in the production of honey due to untimely rains and thunderstorms.

He said that due to the bad weather conditions a large number of bees had died while the flowers from where the bees get nectar also fell away. He said the farmers in other parts of Punjab were facing the same issues.

Changa Manga is man-made forest in Chunian tehsil of Kasur and is about 80 kilometres southwest of Lahore. Besides many other features, Changa Manga is also known for its pure natural honey. Many people in the area can be seen selling honey they claim to have collected from the forest.

Recently, over a million saplings had been planted in Changa Manga under Imran Khan’s billion trees project.

Mr Hussain said these saplings would take several years to grow and contribute to the production of honey. He, however, lauded the step of planting trees.

According to local farmers, due to abrupt climate changes this year, the flowers on the plants fell off, creating shortage of food for the bees.

They also said the production of bees was likely to be affected this year as a large number of bees died due to heavy rain and prolonged winter season in March and April.

Muhammad Javid of Changa Manga said that bees get their feed mainly from the trees including mulberry, taali and sheesham. He regretted that under the billion trees project most of the safaida trees had been planted that were not valuable for the bees.

According to contractor Hussain, he got the contract at almost double bid due to the competition with his business rivals. He further said this business may not be as sweet as honey due to bad weather conditions. He said his family was in the business of honey for many decades and always got the bid.

An official of the forest department on the condition of anonymity said that neither the department nor the private contractor had any data regarding the production of honey in the forest.

He said that any claim regarding the reduction or increase in the production of honey was based on perceptions. He, however, agreed that plantation of safaida trees and untimely rains would affect the honey production this year.

District Forest Officer Shahid Tabbasum said the production of honey had increased owing to large scale plantation.

He said there was hardly any rain after mid-February and alleged that the contractors showed losses to avoid taxes and get relaxation from the government.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2020