Women keep Uttarakhand's native bees thriving

In the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, traditional homes have rectangular cavities built into walls where the native Indian honey bee, Apis cerana indica, builds colonies. The opening faces the outside, and a small door at the back is sealed with clay and cow dung until honey is harvested. Women of the household perform the daily care, sealing the back panel, feeding the bees in winter, and opening the cavity when the weather is warm. This practice has made bee keeping part of routine housework for generations.

Modern construction without wall hives has reduced the number of hive sites. A study of 10 villages in Chamoli district found that before 1980, 61% of houses had wall hives, but that fell to 26% between 2001 and 2010, and the average hives per house dropped from 11.2 to 0.9. Modern cemented homes contained zero colonies. The decline of traditional houses thus threatens the availability of safe nesting spaces for the bees.

Threats to the native bee

Threats to the native bee include climate change, habitat fragmentation, pesticide exposure and the introduction of other bee species for honey production. In the wild, A. cerana seeks dark cavities to escape predators and extreme weather, so the loss of natural shelters and the loss of wall hives make survival harder. Heavy rains, storms and high winds can also kill bees that cannot leave the hive, further reducing populations.

Women’s caretaking extends beyond routine work to cultural rituals. They seal the back panel with red mud and cow dung, attract new swarms by leaving a honey trail, and during winter feed the bees amaranth or hemp seed powder. Men may harvest the comb, but women usually extract the honey, heat it to ease viscosity, and squeeze it through cloth. Ritual purity rules sometimes restrict women’s access to hives during menstruation.

Women’s daily care and customs

Because of climate impacts, honey yields have dropped from about 3 kilograms per hive to 1 or 2 kilograms, and the honey tastes more bitter. The decline in honey also signals reduced pollination for other plants, affecting the wider ecosystem. The continued presence of wall hives in traditional homes remains a crucial refuge for the Indian honey bee, and women’s care keeps this relationship alive.