It was bumper harvest time in Kerala’s Vazhachal forest during the lockdown, as tribesmen brought home record quantities of wild honey.
Around 300 tribesmen, confined to their hamlets, harvested 1,800 kg of wild honey, which is double of what they collected last year. In 2018, they could collect only 670 kg.
Tedious process
The harvest season, from April to May, saw them traverse the deep forest in batches of six or seven people.
“It is on tall trees in the deep forest that bees usually form hives. We enter the forest in the morning hours to spot beehives and return home in the evening. The harvest, a tedious process, starts only the next evening,” said Kochugovindan of Vazhachal colony.
Armed with torches and plastic ropes, the groups approach trees by sunset when the worker bees return.
Steps are made on trees by driving bamboo spikes into the wood, to climb up. The expert members of the groups who get close to the beehive scare the worker bees away using torches and collect the honeycombs in containers. These are brought down using plastic ropes. Honey collectors are paid ₹450 a kg at the processing centre run by the Vana Samrakshana Samiti. After processing and packing, the Samiti sells the product at ₹650 a kg. The profit from the retail sale is given to the collectors as bonus during Onam, said S.V. Vinod, Divisional Forest Officer, Vazhachal.
Honeybees usually form hives on tall trees like Thanni and Ilavu, which grow to 30 metres. In their pursuit for honey, tribesmen go deep into the forest which is inaccessible to others, said Nithin Lal, Range Officer, Sholayar.
“When the harvest takes long, the groups stay in the forest till dawn. One needs to be cautious while venturing into the deep forest and staying there due to the risk of wild animal attacks,” said Mr. Kochugovindan. Men from nine tribal settlements went for honey harvesting as the lockdown denied them other employment.
The Samiti has made arrangements for home delivery of honey for residents’ associations and similar groups, said Mr. Vinod. Orders can be placed at 8547601861.