22 Eyl 2025 Pazartesi
Survey and status of traditional bee-keeping of Apis cerana in comparison to the modern hiveadoption rearing in Himalayas of Kashmir Valley-first comprehensive study
Abstract : Traditional beekeeping in Kashmir is a very old practice. The local people used to get honey from traditional hives called “Lopun” in Kashmiri. This paper provides evidence besides focusing on the traditional methods adopted by the local beekeepers of different districts of Kashmir valley. It discusses the causes of loss of bees under traditional pattern and modern hive adopted methods for Apis cerana. The cluster data of traditional beekeepers were collected from 10 districts of Kashmir valley during 2020-2021. A comprehensive study was carried out from January to November in all ten districts of Kashmir valley on honey bee colonies managed under traditional and modern bee-keeping methods to investigate the major threats to bee health and causes of significant economic loss in honey bees. Questionnaire survey was prepared during the study in order to determine the practices followed by beekeepers and the constraints. Unfortunately, traditional beekeeping of Apis cerana is under serious threat due to the construction of pucca houses and the lack of scientific knowhow of the traditional beekeepers. The questionnaire revealed that 84.74% and 15.25% are engaged with traditional and modern pattern of Apis cerana while as, 3522 and 708 number of traditional and modern hive colonies were found present in all ten districts of Kashmir valley, respectively. Further, 1510 beekeepers are engaged with 4230 bee colonies of Apis cerana under traditional and modern rearing methods.