Bathinda, April 6 -- The ongoing inclement weather has dashed the hopes of apiarists in Punjab. According to stakeholders, the unseasonal rains have caused widespread damage to the wild flora, the key source of nectar for honeybees.

Progressive farmers engaged in apiculture say this is the second honey harvest cycle in the past four months in which beekeepers have suffered heavy losses.

Jatinder Sohi, president of the Progressive Beekeepers' Association, said that every year from March 20 to April 8, beekeepers take bee boxes to the lower Shivalik mountain ranges where bees collect nectar from rosewood (sheesham), eucalyptus, curry leaf plants, and a wide range of other wildflowers in Rupnagar, Pathankot and adjoining areas in Himachal ...