Plan B: Pakistani beekeepers expand their flower-hunting efforts

Under a hazy, dry sky, a Pakistani beekeeper in Punjab meticulously loads crates filled with tens of thousands of bees into the back of a truck.

In an increasingly frantic search for blossoming plants, clean air, and temperate temperatures for honey production as the sector is threatened by pollution and climate change, they will collectively travel 500 kilometers (about 300 miles).

Standing in a field of orange trees whose blossoms appeared weeks late in February and lasted barely a few weeks, Malik Hussain Khan told AFP, “We move the boxes according to where the weather is good and the flowers bloom.”

In order to protect their charges from oppressive heat or extreme cold, the beekeepers usually relocate seasonally.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa experiences summers, while central Punjab experiences winters.

However, beekeepers have to travel farther and shift more frequently due to climate change-induced weather patterns and some of the worst pollutants in the world.

This winter, the authorities declared a national catastrophe due to dangerously high levels of pollution. According to research, air pollution can hinder bees’ ability to find flowers.

Meanwhile, farmers were warned of dryness as less rains failed to alleviate the suffocating air.

Because they were unable to fly during this winter’s pollution and fog, about half of my bees perished. Khan, who relocated his bees as much as every few weeks in January and February, stated, “There was hardly any rain.”

Varieties of honey decline

In the past, 27,000 beekeepers’ bees had a variety of foliage that was rich in nectar and supplied by consistent rainfall.

Their honey is given as gifts, drizzled over desserts, and utilized in regional flu treatments.

However, the government’s Honey Bee Research Institute (HBRI) in Islamabad reports that Pakistan’s honey output has decreased by 15% since 2022.

Muhammad Khalid, a researcher at the institute, stated that unpredictable rainfall and high temperatures during the winter blossoming season can prevent the flowers from blooming, while heavy rains and hailstorms can destroy them.

✅ According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), sustainable beekeeping practices can boost honey production.

“The bee population decreases when the flowers are gone because they are unable to find nectar, which leads to less honey being produced.” Globally, chemicals, land-use change, intensive farming methods, and shifting weather patterns pose a threat to bee populations.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, bee pollination is essential to one-third of global food production, therefore their extinction affects not only the honey trade but also food security in general.

As flowering seasons get shorter, the number of honey kinds produced by Pakistani bees has drastically decreased from 22 to just 11. Of the four honey bee species found in the nation, three are endangered.

The 52-year-old honey dealer Sherzaman Momaan talks tenderly about his winged charges, saying, “The places that used to be green for our bees to fly 30 years ago are no longer there.” “We moved around less back then than we do now.”

He feels that deforestation is the most long-term impact and hazard, even though the 2010 floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nearly destroyed his colonies.

Khan told AFP that they now go up to 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to Sindh in search of warmer temperatures and to avoid harsh weather conditions.

“Bees require a healthy environment, suitable food, and a good setting to survive, just like babies do.”

‘Fight and kill.’

There are risks associated with moving the bees.

Some bees may perish if the temperature is really high or if the distance is too great. My bees have experienced that previously,” Khan clarified.

Since they are unable to generate honey while traveling, they must also be fed artificial food during lengthy journeys.

In a nation where fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent years, beekeepers find it costly to move around so frequently.

Additionally, if beekeepers set up in places without landlord consent, they may be harassed by those looking for better weather.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gul Badshah observes in despair as bees come and go from dozens of boxes in a futile quest for blossoms on a desolate plot of land outside Chamkanni.

“If the weather does not suit them, they fight and kill each other,” he told AFP.

Bees that are cool

The issue of how severe temperatures impact the insects, if not their food source, is addressed by new technology designed to keep bees cool.

Former beekeeper Abdullah Chaudry was inspired by other honey-producing countries, such as Australia and Turkey, that were coping with rising temperatures to create new hives with better ventilation.

According to preliminary data, the boxes increase production by about 10%.

“Bees are uncomfortable in extreme heat, so they spend their time cooling themselves rather than producing honey,” he told AFP at the capital’s beekeeping research center.

“The bees have more room in these contemporary boxes because they are roomier and contain multiple compartments.” However, he admits that the enhanced hives are only one piece of the adaption puzzle.

“The battle is still going on,” Chaudry told AFP.