KOHAT: Honey produced by wild bee has started arriving in the market with the advent of winter.

The people collecting the local delicacy are having it free from the government owned forests, but sell it at exorbitant prices due to its high demand in the market.

Nawaz, who sells the honey in the chicken market, says people come to his shop in droves as they are sure to get original product from him. He says the beehives are collected by the children and young alike in the jungles. A bottle of honey is sold at Rs3,500.

The rates of the hives range between Rs500 to Rs6,000, depending on their size. He said he also sold beehives to people who did not want to get bottled honey so they could extract it at home. Nawaz says last year the price of a bottle was Rs3,200 but this year it would go up to Rs4,000.

Hashim Jan, who purchased a small hive for making medicine for his father suffering heart ailment, said the Rs1,200 worth hive would give him about 150 grams of honey.

Rehmat Elahi said his servant had brought a hive for Rs3,500 from the market, which gave him one and half bottle of honey. Shopkeeper Nawaz said he also told buyers how to get honey out of the hive.

The honey sold by children is cheaper than that at shops.

However, it has been observed that the people, instead of removing only the branch containing beehive, chopped down the entire tree, which they use for firewood after extracting the honey, without paying a penny to the forest department.

The forest guards also don’t stop the people from indulging in the practice, nor do they bother to charge the people for collecting the honey.

Honey trader Nawaz said during the height of the season fake honey was also sold to the people who could not distinguish between the real and fake one. The fake honey freezes after sometime while the original one doesn’t even if it is kept in freezer. Nobody in the forest department received calls to know their version on the matter.

Meanwhile, with the arrival of winter, the hunters of Siberian migratory birds have started hunting at wetlands and near lakes.

The arrival of 13 to 15 species of birds has started at the more than four wetlands in Kohat division where the hunters have established ambushes, district forest officer, Abdul Samad told Dawn. He said there were four registered wetlands in Kohat and 11 in Hangu and Karak.

The hunters were also waiting for the arrival of Siberian falcon, found in Karak only, for catching them and selling secretly abroad, he maintained.

Mr Samad said official fee for hunting licence had been fixed at Rs2,000 a rifle per day. He said the wildlife field officers were spread at all the wetlands to stop illegal hunting and ensure that maximum number of birds of rare species returned to their home country.

He said illegal hunters were fined on the spot and the game was also confiscated, adding raids were also being conducted in the birds’ market.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2017