Young entrepreneur from Nerhema gets sweet taste of success with beekeeping

Honey bee products from Nerhema village. (Morung Photo)

 

Our Correspondent
Kohima | January 4

Kevizelie Pienyü is a successful beekeeper today in Nagaland.

Son of Zasilhou Pienyü from Nerhema village, he graduated from Kohima College in 2014.

He was one of the recipients of District Level Award for Best Beekeeper 2019 during 2nd Nagaland Honey Bee Day last year under the aegis of Nagaland Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) with support from North East Council (NEC).

Since High School, he developed keen interest in beekeeping and by the time he was in the 12th grade, this young man started his own apiary.

The number started to grow since then and by the time he graduated from college, he owned more than 15 bee colonies.

He undertook two trainings on scientific bee keeping conducted by NBHM at Kohima in 2009 and Nerhe Pheza in 2011.

The training provided him better skills and greater insight into beekeeping.

However, after graduation he took a break for four years and went on to study LLB and graduated in 2018.

On returning home, he converted from rearing bees as a hobby to becoming a full fulltime beekeeper.

Within a year, beginning of 2019, he had 75 bee colonies of which 35 were stingless (riiyo) and 40 numbers of apis cerena (Kevü).

He harvested 25 kgs of stingless honey and 160 kgs of cerena honey, generating an amount of Rs. 1, 62,000 in the first year.

Kevizelie stated that beekeeping generates a high income, where the demand exceeds production.

He also added that there is a high demand for stingless honey especially among the cancer patients.

In the upcoming years, Kevizelie hopes to expand his bee keeping into a vibrant agro based cottage industry.

He is also working towards opening his own Stingless Bee Multiplication Centre, to cater to the demand for bee colonies in the district.

Through this endeavour, he want to encourage the local youth to take  up beekeeping as a profession as there is a huge potential for beekeeping and honey trade in Nagaland and the North East.