KALPETTA: Harvesting wild honey has been the main occupation of the Cholanayakan and Kattunayakan tribes of Wayanad for centuries. Now, though, the lives of the Scheduled Tribes people who collect sweet honey has turned bitter.
The recent drought and delayed summer rain have affected the entire agriculture sector in Wayanad, and the situation with wild honey harvesting is no different. Even as the honey harvesting season began in April, the number of beehives has come down drastically, according to the tribal people.
“We walk deep into the forest and spend more than a week there to collect honey,” says P Madhavan, chieftain of the Kattunayakan colony in Ponkuzhi near Sultan Bathery.
And the challenges? “From staying clear of wild animal attacks to climbing tall trees and collecting honey without being attacked by bees, we have to overcome a lot of challenges. We trust the forest, and everything is based on certain beliefs. It’s a belief that we will be saved from all sorts of dangers. We have been following this occupation passed on from generations,” he says. While admitting that nature is changing, Madhavan says the number of beehives has come down by over 50% from last year.
There are 70 families in the tribal hamlet of Ponkuzhi and almost all of them depend on forest honey. Wayanad forest honey is unprocessed honey that preserves all its natural qualities and is collected directly from the hives of Apis dorsata, the giant bees of the Western Ghats. Collecting forest honey from hives located on trees more than 80 feet high is a highly skilled work.
Their tools include a sickle, plastic cans, bee smoker made of dried coconut leaves, ropes, and bamboo poles to move from one tree to another. They start their honey hunt during dusk, when there is sufficient moonlight. No torches or other light sources are used. They get Rs 400 per kilogram if the honey is given to the Scheduled Tribe Development Society, with the honey harvesting season lasting from April to September.
“Unseasonal rain is posing a huge threat to honey production as it affects the flowering and frutescent stage of trees in the forest,” says Dineesh of the Cholanayakan colony in Parappanpara.
“Honey bees make hives every year on the same big trees. The right amount of rain, according to the seasons, is crucial for honey production. Last year we harvested around 500kg of honey by June but this year it has reduced to 300kg. We spent the past one week in the forest and got just 13kg on Sunday,” he says. Earlier, they used to get 20 to 30kg of wild honey after spending a week in the forest, Dineesh added.
Wayanad forest honey is being sold through the Scheduled Tribes’ cooperative societies functioning under the forest department as well as the Scheduled Tribes development department. There are five societies under the Scheduled Tribes department, with the Sultan Bathery Scheduled Tribe Cooperative Society at Kallur being a major wild honey procuring unit in the state. However, their total procurement of wild honey has come down to 50%, says Rajitha K A, secretary of the Kallur society which has procured up to 20,000kg of wild honey a year.
“Our society has been the leading unit in the state in terms of wild honey procurement. However, the overall honey production has come down during the pandemic period and now due to the unseasonal rain. At the same time, tons of forest produce like medicinal plants stored in the societies for the past two years are yet to be sold out. We demand government intervention to boost the sale of forest produce through these societies,” she says.