Unseasonal showers, seen by experts as an early sign of climatic change, has resulted in sharp fall in honey production in the forest ranges of the Western Ghats, a major source of natural as well as cultured honey in the country. Heavy summer showers caused largescale fall of blooming flowers in the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary (WWLS) and adjacent areas last season depriving bee colonies of the nectar leading to collapse of bee colonies.
While honey collected from hives atop trees in the deep forest forms a major chunk of annual income for tribals, apiculture is a source of supplementary income for medium, small and marginal farmers here, whose hopes have been dashed by climate change.
The honey from Wayanad, especially that collected from forest, enjoys high demand from medicine and food industry on account of their high quality.
Total procurement of wild honey by the Sulthan Bathery Scheduled Tribe Co-operative society , a leading honey procuring agency, recorded a huge decline of 88.06 per cent this year. "The society could procure only 2,346 litres of wild honey during the harvesting season this year against 19,569 litre last year," M. George, secretary of the co-operative society told PTI. This was for the first time that such a huge fall in honey procurement was recorded since the co-operative was formed 30 years ago, he said.
According to V Kesavan, president of the Kerala State Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Cooperative Federation, the apex body of the tribal co-operatives, the availability all the 32 tribal societies in Kerala recorded a sharp fall in wild honey collection this year. The decline in honey production has made the lives of the tribal people miserable as collection of honey is their main source of livelihood for them in the monsoon season, Tribal welfare workers said.
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http://www.deccanherald.com/content/101798/climate-change-dents-honey-yield.html
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