Insurers’ Conditions Discourage Beekeepers from Insuring Beehives

Kathmandu — Jag Bahadur Pun of Kalika Municipality-6 wants to insure his beehives, but the conditions imposed by insurance companies have left him unsure whether to do so.

Pun began exploring bee insurance after pesticide exposure destroyed 20 of his beehives in 2017. He has still been unable to insure his bees because the available policies do not cover all the risks beekeepers face.

“We want to insure our bees, but the coverage does not include all areas of risk. Only limited risks are covered, so beekeepers are unable to obtain insurance even when they want to,” Pun said.

He said farmers have been discouraged because no compensation is paid when bees are lost in vehicle accidents, road blockades or pesticide incidents. According to him, interest in bee insurance has declined because the policies do not provide adequate protection when beekeepers actually suffer losses.

Beekeeper Bishnu Prasad Bhusal said insurance companies generally refuse to insure farmers who have not taken agricultural loans from banks. He added that even farmers who have bought insurance have struggled to receive claim payments, with insurers denying claims by citing risks excluded from the policy.

“I insured my bees in 2023. At the time, 110 of my beehives were destroyed. However, the insurance company paid compensation for only six hives, and it took six months to receive even that payment,” Bhusal said.

Jhalak Nath Kandel, chief of the Agriculture Development Office in Chitwan, said the government provides a subsidy covering 80 percent of the cost of bee insurance for beekeepers. However, he said no farmer has so far approached the office to claim compensation.

Kandel said insurance can benefit farmers, but limited awareness and procedural difficulties have kept participation low. Farmers may also be reluctant to buy insurance because claiming compensation after a loss can be cumbersome.

According to Kandel, around 450 farmers in Chitwan currently keep approximately 19,500 hives of the Apis mellifera species.

Sudhir Shrestha, secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forest and Environment of Bagmati Province, said the provincial government is ready to facilitate bee insurance. He said the government would identify why farmers are showing little interest and work to resolve the problems.