By Anil Parajuli, Hetauda, Oct. 25: When people think of honey, they often associate it with a sweet taste and a natural food product. However, Sandeep Kumar Sapkota, 33, of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City-5 has gone beyond using honey solely as a food item.
He has started producing and selling a range of products made from honey, including soap, chocolate, tonic, pickles and pollen.
Sapkota has expanded his business by producing honey and a variety of products derived from it. He makes face-washing and bathing soaps using a mixture of honey, turmeric, titepati (mugwort) and neem. He also produces dark and milk chocolate blended with honey. By incorporating honey into different products, he has introduced new items to the market.
According to Sapkota, adding honey to chocolate can reduce its sugar content. He also produces honey tonic by mixing honey with alcohol, cinnamon, cloves, gooseberry, cardamom and other ingredients. He makes pickles using a mixture of gooseberry, garlic, ginger and honey. He also produces pollen by combining bee-collected pollen with honey.
After having his products laboratory-tested at the Food Technology and Quality Control Office in Hetauda, Sapkota obtained a licence in 2025. He has initiated the process of registering trademarks for his products at the Department of Industry in Kathmandu.
His plans to transform honey into a variety of products do not end there. He is preparing to produce wine and mead from honey and has already completed the necessary training.
However, he said that production costs would rise because manufacturers must register for excise duty and bear a higher tax burden. He called on the government to encourage young people seeking to establish businesses in Nepal by creating a more supportive environment for bringing honey-based beverages to market while maintaining quality standards.
Sapkota began commercial beekeeping in 2021. He currently has 135 hives of the Apis mellifera species. In search of suitable foraging grounds for his bees, he moves his hives to various locations in Makwanpur district, including Harnamadi, Hattilet, Makwanpurgadhi and Raksirang.
Sapkota produces around three tonnes of honey annually and harvests it up to five times a year. He said annual revenue from honey sales amounted to Rs. 1.5 million. He has invested more than Rs. 10 million in equipment and infrastructure required for beekeeping and manufacturing various honey-based products.
Sapkota's interest in agriculture dates back to long before he began beekeeping. In 2008, he received training in integrated pest management from the then District Agriculture Development Office. The training sparked his interest in pursuing opportunities in agriculture. While working in the sector, he also spent a year in Israel. After returning from Israel, where he had worked in agriculture, he began turning his ambition of establishing an enterprise in his hometown into reality.
Initially, he pursued livestock farming and beekeeping simultaneously and also sold milk for a time. He later prioritised beekeeping, expanding into honey production and manufacturing of products derived from it. During this process, he undertook various training courses in beekeeping, quality queen-bee production, training of trainers in beekeeping and food technology.
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