On 26/3/08, 36 people, 8 of them women, came from Lamakhet and surrounding villages up to 3 hours walk away to the association’s inaugural meeting.. The meeting was in very good humour and agreed to formally establish the group.
The result was an assumed membership of the 36 present with an executive committee of 11, consisting of a Chairman (Bhopal Gurung), Vice Chairman, Treasurer and a Secretary (Raj Kumar Bharal), plus 7 general members, including one woman. Later discussion stressed the need to include local Mothers Groups since increasingly the task of beekeeping falls on the womenfolk as the men emigrate to find work.
They agreed to hold general meetings on the first Saturday of every other Nepali month, starting in Jesth. So the next formal meeting will be on 17 May, according to the Western calendar. They saw these meetings as mainly having a training function and would be held at different people’s homes. Outside speakers could also be invited, maybe even a speaker from overseas in future!
I summarised some of the benefits of forming such an association: mutual support and encouragement, information sharing, introducing others to modern beekeeping, facilitating formal training courses and outside speakers, value on buying equipment and consumables in bulk and better marketing opportunities.
Honey sales were discussed and they said ‘no problem, demand exceeds supply’. I suggested that this meant that they were charging too little (Rs200/pint). It may be that, for local sales, there are social implications in pushing the price up and I suggested keeping back a small amount to pack and label appropriately and market at a higher price in the tourist area of Pokhara and they thought this was a good idea.
Training is clearly seen as a priority and they decided to hold the first basic course a few days after the elections on 10 April. This was rather short notice because after April they will be busy on the farms, but I have been able to engage Rabindra Adikheri from BegnesTal for a 7 day course in April. He has kept bees for 15 years and has written a book "Modern Beekeeping in Nepal" which will be useful for trainees.
