Beekeeping has become one of the driving forces in boosting the economy of Nagaland, especially in rural areas.

Even though beekeeping is carried out in almost every village of the state, the kind of success that Chingmei village in Chingmei Tehsil of Tuensang district has achieved is unmatched with others.

It was in 2005 when, for the first time, the Department of Land Resources, Nagaland spotted a potential of rearing Apis cerana or the eastern honey bee in the village.

The then district project office A Pangjong when visited the village, he spotted some traditional bee boxes in the village and realised that a scientific and structured approach would yield gold for the village in terms of economy.

After a few consultations with the elders of the village, a training-cum-workshop on beekeeping was organised.

The villagers were also provided with around six scientific bee boxes for beekeeping and today beekeeping has become an integral part of the village agriculture.

The Department of Land Resources, and the Nagaland Bee and Honey Mission (NBHM) later provided around 200 scientific bee boxes, apart from conducting training on the role played by honey bees in agriculture.

Moreover, the villagers were also made aware of the technique and hygienic way of beekeeping.

Such has been the success of beekeeping in the village that today the villager produce six flavours of honey- cardamom flavour, cherry flavour, wild apple flavour, Kiwi flavour, Apple flavour and wildflower flavour.

There are around 550 families living in the village and each family has at least 5-6 bee colonies.

The success in Chingmei village has led several more village across Nagaland to adopt to beekeeping and strengthen in the economy.

Over 13,000 kilograms of honey was harvested by the villagers of Chingmei village in 2018.

The total harvest brought home a total revenue of R 32 lakhs.

However, the harvest dipped a bit in 2019 as villagers could harvest only 7,000 kilograms.

In 2020, the villagers aim to harvest over 10,000 kilograms of honey and the aim is to improve it in 2021.

Chingmei presently has around 3,000 bee colonies.

These colonies not only help the villagers economically, but these are also helping to maintain balance in the environment.