Have you ever heard of a stingless bee? Yes, there is. Not only are they stingless, their honey is believed to have medicinal values. Many households in Dubidangra in Bhur Geog rear these bees. The stingless bees come in two colours- black and yellow.
They are not only stingless and harmless, they are also cute and fascinating to watch.
Dil Bahadur Mongar, a prominent beekeeper in the village, said that the honey from the bees had helped his children suffering from illnesses like Pneumonia, cough and wounds inside stomach.
The yellowish bees build a special entrance which looks like a tube unlike the black one. That distinguishes them at a glance. People say the hives are light and easy to manage but they take longer time to produce honey comparing to common honeybees.
“The people who have some knowledge about the honey having medicinal demand us to get for them,” said another beekeeper, Saw Bahadur Tamang, adding that most of the villagers in his village rear it their own domestic purposes.
Our correspondent, Kinzang Loday, says the honey tastes sweet and sour with a slight taste of a lemon.
The Regional RNR Sub-Centre in Bhur is planning to improve the ways of beekeeping, harvesting and processing without damaging.
“The way farmers extract honey from the hive is complicated, not standard and unhygienic. Therefore, we try to improvise the methods by introducing boxes to keep these bees,” said Gem Thinley, a beekeeping specialist.
The RNR Sub-Centre is also targeting to let them know about the use of syringe to extract honey that prevents from the destruction of bee’s propolis. “If the initiative is successful then we will try to distribute knowledge to other similar zones in Sarpang,” he added.
The Centre is planning to study this species in detail.
