Honey, meet the busy bees

Honeybees visit 40 lakh flowers to produce 1 kg of honey and to produce one drop of honey, a single bee has to make 500 trips.
A swarm of bees removed from the box
A swarm of bees removed from the box

JOIDA, UTTARA KANNADA: Here is the latest buzz. Dandeli residents will soon come to know of their new neighbours: Over 20 lakh bees. Actually, some have already made their home in the Honey Park which will be thrown open to the public in a couple of months.

Many interesting facts of these tiny pollinators will now be made available for visitors to Dandeli. For instance, honeybees visit 40 lakh flowers to produce 1 kg of honey. And to produce one drop of honey, a single bee has to make 500 trips.

Tanuja Metri, an employee at
Honey Park, shows her bee
handling skills | D Hemanth

This unique honey park is taking shape in Joida taluk, about 20 km from Dandeli town. A hive of activity is going on there now. For, in the next two months, the park will be opened for visitors who will have a guided tour where they can have a first- hand experience on how the honey is made, processed and sold. The park has a demo area, processing unit and a unit to sell honey. Soaps, body wax and wax candles made of pure honey will also be available.

Narasimha Bhat, owner of Kadumane Homestay, who has 20-year hands-on experience in beekeeping, has conceptualised the park design. At present, the park, spread over 1.5 acres, has 65 honey boxes and the total number of boxes will reach 150 in the next few months.

The idea of a park was mooted as availability of pure honey has become a rarity and several big brands are not giving pure form of honey to their customers, say bee experts. A major brand selling honey has less than 13% honey in the 1 kg syrup. This is because there is heavy demand for honey in market but the production is less. Several honey societies in Karnataka and other states import honey from Assam and other North Eastern states and selling as local honey. 

“For a beekeeper, it takes `500-600 to produce 1 kg of honey. If that is the case, how can any company sell honey for `400 per kg? This is why no brand mentions that the syrup is pure honey, instead they use the word, original. The Honey Park will serve visitors as a place where one can get pure form of honey and awareness about the bees which may be tiny in size but play an important role in terms of pollination,” says Narasimha Bhat. 

Joida taluk, which sits in the middle of  the Western Ghat patch of Uttara Kannada district, has 93% of its geographical area as forest cover and has abundance flowering trees for bees to produce honey. The park has honey boxes and each box will have an average bee population of 15,000. The bee boxes have been purchased from growers and each costs between `4,000 and `5,000. A honey box can produce 10-12 kg of honey in a year. The production peaks during March, April and May when flowering is witnessed in Joida and surroundings. 

Narasimha Bhat (centre), founder of Honey Park, along with his team of beekeepers at Joida in Dakshina Kannada district | D Hemanth
Narasimha Bhat (centre), founder of Honey Park, along with his team of beekeepers at Joida in Dakshina Kannada district | D Hemanth

“Globally the population of honeybees is declining. Several factors, including degradation of habitat, dwindling numbers of large flowering trees, mobile and other signals are contributing to the decline of bees. Everyone wants honey but no one is bothered about what is happening to these small insects. The park will show the visitors the importance of honeybees and their role in nature. We will be building a library collecting literature about honeybees in India and abroad. We will also be establishing a honey bank collecting different types of honey produced globally. We are already having talks with beekeepers in South Africa. The honey in the bank will not be for sale, but for exhibition and study purpose,” Narasimha Bhat adds. 

Apis cerana indica, the most common honeybee found in India, is the major source of honey production at this park. Presently four different types of honey are available in the park ranging between Rs 800 and Rs 4,000 per kg. Honey produced by a type of honeybee known as ‘Misari’ is the costliest as these tiny bees can produce only 100 gm of honey in a year. This particular honey has several medicinal properties and is in great demand already.

The park has provided employment to local residents and five women from Joida. Tanuja Metri, one of the beekeepers who has completed engineering in fire safety, has undergone basic first aid training. Caution is exercised when the honeybees are removed from the box to show to visitors.
“It’s been five months since I have been working with honeybees. Have also had a few bites while working, but now I am used to it and know how to handle the bees without getting bitten. I am enjoying the work while giving demo to visitors as well as working on the products being made out of honey,” she says.

In last two months, several naturalists, government officials and guests from homestays have visited the honey park which is yet to be completed. Vidya G, one of the visitors to the park, says, “I had never seen honeybees from such close distance. There is so much to know about these insects.”

“We are planning to provide free tours to students and those who come here for educational purposes. We have taken trainees who are interested in beekeeping. Once the park is open,`100 will be charged for the visitors who can go on a guided tour of the park for one-and-a-half hours, which also includes honey testing,” Bhat says.

Threats to Honey Bee Population
A noted quote often attributed to Albert Einstein reads, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live”

  • Ground level mobile and internet signals are said to be causing decline in bee population
  • Usage of pesticides in floriculture and horticulture crops is the main reason for deaths of honey bees
  • Dwindling of large flowering trees and change in habitat are other reasons

Honey Park At A Glance

  1. 150 honey boxes totally will be set up at the Kadumane Honey Park 
  2. Locally known as ‘Jenu Pettige’, each box contains 15-20,000 honey bees on average 
  3. Each honey box yields 12-15 kg of honey annually
  4. Honey boxes need to be cleaned regularly and honey/wax needs to be collected
  5. 1.5 acres area of the park. With 150 honey boxes, the park will have close to 30 lakh honey bees

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