Apiculture: Case Study 2, Jaintia Hills
Apiculture: Case Study 2, Jaintia Hills
| Main Info | ML/JH/AGRI/002: Traditional Knowledge on Apiculture, Jaintia Hills |
| Name of the Technique | Traditional Knowledge on Apiculture, Jaintia Hills |
| Source Publisher | Primary Survey, Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya |
| Source Year | 2023 |
| History Of The Technique | This knowledge holder is a resident of Jaintia hills district. Apiculture is a practice that has been carried out in their family for years. |
| Manufacturing technique | For collection of colonies they would often scout for swarm of bees in the forested area since in every bee colony there are a number of drones, worker bees and most importantly a single queen (“syiem ngap”). |
| Method of Preparation | Feed: At times, sugar syrup is given as a food supplement but most of the time the bees search for their food by themselves from flower and trees in and around the forest. |
| Material Composition | The bees are collected with bare hands and are transferred immediately to a bamboo basket locally called “Khoh” covered with a cloth and brought back to his bee-box at home locally called “Ksing” that was kept ready for new colony. The boxes are kept in sheltered locations around the owner’s home which is covered with a wooden lid at the top. The bees would begin building their colony in their new home. |
| How to implement | Harvesting period: For harvesting of honey, a rag is burned and the smoke that comes out from the burned rag is blown into the beehive so as to disperse the bees. After that the honey comb is then taken out from the box using a short and a long stick made out of bamboo therefore by inserting a long bamboo stick inside the hive, the honey comb is cut by using a short stick and is collected in a bucket or a pot. The honey is separated from starch and larva by blowing. Harvesting is done twice a year during May -June (Um- nagp lyuir) and November- December (Um- Ngap tlang), yielding 2-3 kg of honey. |
| New R & D leads | Apiculture |
| Theme | Traditional Animal Husbandry |
| Sub Theme | Beekeeping |
| Source Publisher | Primary Survey, Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya |
| Source Year | 2023 |