Bees in Peril: Honey Farmers Grapple with Shifting Climate Patterns

APP

Peshawar: At dawn in Mohib Banda, Nowshera, a 28-year-old beekeeper Malyar Khan woke up to a nightmare, more than half of his 500 bee boxes were already drenched in the floodwater from Kabul River.

Malyar, with his brother Hussain and friend Kamal, rushed into the rising water without losing time. They loaded the boxes onto a pickup truck and drove to a higher ground. This is not a rare incident but a seasonal emergency for the beekeepers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Why is Beekeeping important?

Beefarming has been more than a rural livelihood, it is a subtle but vital thread in the economic and ecological fabric of the country.

From pollinating to production, bees do more than buzz. They ensure biodiversity, food security, and income for thousands of families across the country.

But as the climate changes, the vanishing flora are not just threatening bees, it is endangering the entire ecosystem thriving because of them.

Climate Choke on Bees

These floods aren’t just natural events, they are climate change in action. Inconsistent monsoon rains and floods prove to be a big threat for the livelihood from one season to the next.

In 2022, Malyar reported 300 of his hives were destroyed in the flood. He took out loans and rebuilt to start over, only to face another cascade. The honey farmers across the region complain that these heavy rainfalls, hailstorms, and unseasonal heatwaves are destroying their flowering plants and disrupting the nectar flow.

Attaur Rehman, a man from Charsadda, spent days rebuilding 100 hives with steel nails after flash floods demolished his old farm this July. The honey farmers say it makes honey production a gamble and they can not afford to lose repeatedly.

This shrink in the landscape is not just regional, it’s national. Half of Pakistan’s native bee species, including Apis Dorsata, Florea, and Cerana, have been destroyed due to smog, pesticide usage, rising heat, and deforestation.

The country’s honey yield went from 15 types to 11 only. Overall honey production had fallen roughly 15 percent since 2022. A productive species, Apis Mellifera, was imported in 1977 and is capable of up to 25 kg production per hive. Even the species struggles with disease threats like American and European foulbrood.

An Economic Opportunity

The rural pulse of honey exports and livelihoods, however, add a brighter side to the story. Prized varieties like Ber, Bair, and Phulai honey are proudly harvested, and are earning international attention for their purity and taste.

Gulf countries, including China and North America, continue to import honey. Analysts suggest that the industry could bring in Rs. 43 Billion, and create 100,000 jobs if the annual production reaches 70,000 metric tons. Their predictions say that the farming communities struggling under drought and rising unemployment can have a sustainable income through this.

Provincial officials and forest departments are planting millions of nectar-rich trees, over 5.24 million Bair and Palosas have been planted across southern KP districts to attract bees and provide forage.

Nurseries and training centers have been established, 3,000 budding beekeepers, and 15,000 existing practitioners are receiving interest free loans.

This is a build up of the past plantation drives under the Billion Tree initiative. It planted 1.2 billion trees between 2014 and 2017. These trees were lifelines for bees and their ecosystems rather than just green symbols.