In Jharkhand, it’s all about honey, honey

And he is not an exception. There are many others like Navdeep, a neighbour in Namkom, Shabir Mahato of Khakra village and Mangraj Toppo of Ghagra village who have taken up bee-keeping as a profession.

All of them make a living by domesticating bees of the Italian breed Mellifera. ‘‘Our indigenous breeds produce little honey in comparison to the Italian breed,’’ says Ramesh.

But unlike their counterparts in Bihar who make honey during the winter-spring period, bee keepers of Jharkhand whose 27 per cent of land is covered with forests of Karanj and Sarguja (Niger) are engaged in the honey-making business throughout the year.

Again, unlike the Bihar bee keepers whose product is mainly litchi-based, Jharkhand bee keepers’ honey is sourced through Karanj and Sarguja which are considered rich from the medicinal point of view. Which is why perhaps Mausami Mudhi, a resident of Bihar piles his boxes onto a truck and brings the colonies to this state during summer and winter seasons as well. He leaves these colonies along the forest in Gumla and returns after two months to collect boxes full of honey combs.

‘‘Mudhi’s is part of a mobile honey making enterprise undertaken by many bee keepers of Bihar today. In the absence of forests back home they bring colonies to forest rich Jharkhand,’’ Honey bee scientist of Bihar’s Agriculture University Dr Ramcharitra Singh says.

Of late, even Malti and Ramesh, who took to bee keeping in 1992, have procured a truck and started mobile honey making enterprise. ‘‘We learnt the trick from Bihar bee keepers, we decided to give it a try. This season we have made 700 kg of honey from mobile colonies,’’ says Malti.

If Dr Singh is to be believed, last year Bihar and Jharkhand produced 40,000 and 15,000 tonnes of honey respectively. Sale of honey hasn’t been a problem. Apart from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Dabur and Ram Krishna Mission also purchase it.