Abstract

Author:
P. Chhetri, S. Amgai

Doi: 10.26480/mahj.01.2024.43.45

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Beekeeping has been practiced in Nepal since time immemorial. It is one of the key enterprises with the potential to generate income and employment in the terai, high, and mountain districts of Nepal. Bees, especially Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 are migrated from one place to another, from one district to another for forage in Nepal. Despite this fact, while carrying out these practices of bee migration for forage beekeepers suffer from many difficulties in the forage area where migrated bees are kept. The study analyzes the perception of non-beekeepers towards bee and bee forage (Rapeseed crop) in Chitwan district using a simple random sampling of 30 respondents from Khairahani Municipality Ward No. 7. The survey was conducted in the last week of November 2023. Data obtained from a semi-structured questionnaire were subjected to descriptive analysis. 46.67 percent of non-beekeepers in that locality know about the benefits of bees to the rapeseed crop. But 53.33 percent of non-beekeepers have a common understanding that bees are kept normally for honey production rather than pollination services. Most non-beekeepers perceived that beekeeping was the business of beekeepers for honey production rather than other services. Some of the respondents were also of the opinion that bees sucked the nectar of crops and decreased their yield in the study area. For non-beekeepers, developing awareness about the importance of bees in the ecosystem is essential through mass media (FM, Radio, Facebook, Television, Seminar etc.). This paper indicates that there should be strong and helpful coordination among non-beekeepers, beekeepers, and related organizations for the sustainable development of the bee sector in Chitwan district.