Nepal, a landlocked South Asian country in the Himalayas with a population of 29.6 million, has a long history of farming. However, many agricultural families face economic challenges because farm income is often not enough to comfortably provide for themselves and their families. Beekeeping could help address this issue by providing families with an additional source of income. By selling honey, farmers can earn extra money, while bees also benefit agriculture by pollinating plants.

Nepal has a poverty rate of more than 20%. Several factors contribute to these poverty levels, including limited trade opportunities due to the country’s mountainous landscape. Food insecurity is one of the challenges Nepalese citizens face. Traditional farming methods in Nepal may not always provide enough revenue or resources for families throughout the year. Income from honey production may help some households afford food and manage financial challenges better.

The Importance and History of Beekeeping

Farmers in Nepal have traditionally practiced beekeeping as part of their farming culture. Bees are important for agriculture as they help maintain biodiversity, increase crop yields and support food security. Beekeeping in Nepal benefits from the country’s climate, landscape, flowers and native bee species. Farmers face many challenges, including limited knowledge about how to sustain healthy beehives, pests and diseases that can affect their bees and competition from cheaper honey imports such as those from China.

How Modern Training Can Improve Beekeeping Practices

In traditional beekeeping practices, farmers would keep their bee colonies in log wall hives. However, this system is ineffective as beekeepers need to check on the bees to make sure they are all healthy and to collect honey. But with the old traditional hives, this was hard to do without injuring the honeycomb or killing a few bees in the process. This created a need for modern techniques and equipment to make beekeeping more efficient.

One program that is working to help modernize the practice is the Dzi Foundation. The nonprofit works with farming communities in Nepal to build lasting change and give farmers the tools needed to help their farms and communities prosper. The Foundation offers a five-day training program on modern beekeeping practices that participants can implement on their own farms. With more modern hive designs, beekeepers can keep better track of their bees without harming them, manage multiple hives and increase honey production. Most hives usually produce about 8 to 10 kilograms of honey per year, depending on the bee species, and the honey sells for 1,500 Nepali rupees (NPR) per kilogram. The foundation has helped about 61,000 people since its establishment in 1998 through its various programs, including beekeeping.

Programs Supporting Beekeeping Communities

Sharing Seeds, a nonprofit based in Pokhara, Gandaki Province, Nepal, is another organization doing its part. They organize the project “Empower Nepal’s Organic Coffee and Beekeeping.” Beekeeping projects can provide training and opportunities for rural families, women and young people. Many youths leave the country to find work elsewhere, as there are not many opportunities. However, the work they find abroad could be dangerous and low-paying. Every year, around 650,000 Nepali youths travel to foreign countries for work, but this initiative creates opportunities for them to stay in Nepal and provide for their families.

This initiative gives women, young people and small farmers the necessary skills to help them feel confident in their beekeeping and coffee farming abilities to bring back to their farms. Their goal in the next three years is to get 200 farmers involved in coffee farming and improve their beekeeping skills. They have already helped more than 100 farmers through their program in both coffee and beekeeping.

The Nepal Pollination Project (NPP), Upscaling Pollination to Enhance Biodiversity and Human Welfare in Nepal, is a four-year project in collaboration with the United Kingdom (U.K.) government’s Darwin Initiative. Its goal is to improve pollination, sustain biodiversity and protect human well-being. The project aims to strengthen local communities through improved pollination, biodiversity protection and farmer training. Part of the initiative includes a four-day training course to teach the basics of beekeeping. In the training sessions, farmers learn about bee behavior, hive management, swarm control and disease prevention. Since the program launched in 2025, organizers have already completed four training sessions. By the end of 2026, their mission is to train 175 farmers. The project has already served more than 110 farmers.

Beekeeping is an important part of Nepal’s farming communities and history. Through modern training and improved practices, farmers in Nepal can strengthen their beekeeping skills and create new economic opportunities for rural communities. Honey production may help some families manage financial challenges and improve their access to resources in rural communities.

– Sarina Nadelson

Sarina is based in New Haven, CT, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr