How Odisha’s Tribal Honey Harvesters Are Redefining Sustainability from the Forest Floor Up

In the heart of Odisha’s verdant Eastern Ghats, centuries‑old forests teem with the hum of wild rock bees (Apis dorsata) and the ancestral knowledge of tribal communities who have nurtured both bees and biodiversity in tandem. From the cliff‑hanging hives of Simlipal to the teak groves of Nayagarh, wild honey harvested by the Hill Kharia, Mankidias and other forest‑dwelling tribes has long been a vital source of nutrition, medicine and income. In recent years, targeted government schemes such as the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) and the Van Dhan Yojana have woven this indigenous expertise into formal value chains, combining traditional low‑impact methods with modern processing, branding and market linkages. 

As a result, Odisha’s tribal honey sector is emerging as a flagship model of regenerative commerce—supporting forest conservation, bolstering tribal livelihoods and redefining sustainability in practice.

Weaving Tradition with Enterprise

For the Hill Kharia of Mayurbhanj, honey harvesting is inseparable from their spiritual and ecological ethos. “We climb at dawn, when the bees are sluggish,” explains Sita Kharia, a fifth‑generation harvester from Gugalpada village. “My grandmother taught me which flowering trees to leave untouched, so the forest stays healthy.” Such oral knowledge—including seasonal calendars, smoke‑ring techniques and hived‑site selection—ensures high‑quality yields without destroying colonies, safeguarding pollinator populations that underpin both wild and cultivated flora.

In 2019, the Daspalla Bee‑wax and Honey Cluster was launched under SFURTI, facilitated by Jeevan Rekha Parishad and the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development, Odisha. By organising over 200 tribal harvesters into self‑help group collectives, the project has introduced stainless‑steel centrifuges, quality‑testing laboratories and modern packaging lines, achieving a 35 percent rise in household incomes while strictly adhering to seasonal harvest limits. Alongside, TRIFED’s Van Dhan Yojana has established 660 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras across Odisha, structuring them into 22 clusters that support more than 6,300 tribal gatherers in processing honey alongside sal‑leaf crafts and minor forest produce. This integrated approach fosters both economic diversification and cultural preservation.

Complementing traditional and cluster efforts, the Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project has deployed demonstration apiaries in Dhenkanal, teaching hive‑management science—disease control, pollen analysis and optimal frame rotation—alongside ancestral wild‑hive techniques. As a result, pilot sites report yield increases of up to 25 percent per colony, all while sustaining natural bee habitats and fortifying pollination services for neighbouring farmlands.

People and Culture: Harvesting as Ritual

Beyond livelihoods, honey harvesting in Odisha remains deeply woven into tribal identity, seasonal festivals and communal rites. In Kharia settlements around Simlipal, the annual harvest coincides with the post‑monsoon bloom, when forest canopy flora such as sal, karanja and mahua are in flower. Young and old gather at dawn, armed with bamboo ladders, coir ropes and ritual offerings—rice beer and smokeless sandalwood paste—to pacify the bees and honour forest deities before extraction. Harvest celebrations often culminate in a communal feast where sweet rice, smoked fish and freshly tapped honey form the centrepiece, reinforcing social bonds and intergenerational knowledge transfer.

Sal trees hold sacred significance among these tribes, symbolising life‑sustaining abundance. “Sal trees are sacred to us; we never cut them,” notes Sita Kharia, recalling ancestral vows that ensure the forest’s continuity for future generations. Meanwhile, honey itself is revered not only as nourishment but also as medicine—used in postpartum care, cough remedies and ceremonial libations during festivals such as Sarhul and Magha Mela. This fusion of ecology, spirituality and communal ethos illustrates how tribal honey harvesting remains far more than an occupation—it is a living cultural heritage.

Sustainability, Empowerment and the Road Ahead

The economic and ecological dividends of Odisha’s tribal honey model extend well beyond the forest edge. Research indicates that intercropping mustard and sesame adjacent to forests with healthy wild‑bee populations can boost seed yields by up to 79 percent, while improving fruit set in mango orchards by over 10 percent. In villages linked to honey clusters, satellite imagery also reveals a 20 percent decline in shifting‑agriculture encroachments over five years, reflecting stronger community incentives to protect and regenerate forest landscapes.

To strengthen market differentiation, stakeholders are pursuing Geographical Indication (GI) status for Simlipal forest honey, emphasising its unique chemical profile—high‑mineral ash content, complex polyphenols and distinctive aromatic notes derived from sal and karanja nectars. Meanwhile, the Odisha Forest Development Corporation is readying a branding push, partnering with e‑commerce platforms and urban social enterprises to narrate the honey’s origin story—from smoke‑grey dawn harvests to eco‑friendly packaging.

Voicing the aspirations of these tribal entrepreneurs, Draupadi Majhi, a project manager and collective member for the Daspalla cluster, reflects: “By organising as an SPV, we’ve gained bargaining power. We set our own prices, invest in quality labs and ensure every jar tells the story of our forest.” Likewise, Rina Das, who leads a women’s self‑help group in Mayurbhanj’s Luguburu cluster, observes: “Processing honey alongside sal‑leaf plates has transformed our role. We’re not just gatherers, but business owners and forest custodians.”.

Yet challenges persist. The March 2021 fires in Simlipal scorched over 200 square kilometers of habitat, destroying nearly half of some wild‑bee colonies and threatening tribal incomes. In response, forest officials and tribal councils have implemented community‑led fire patrols, early‑warning watchtowers and invasive species control measures to bolster resilience. Looking forward, experts advocate expanding agroforestry corridors, integrating traditional calendars into climate‑smart resource planning, and formalising carbon credits for forest protection—measures that promise to multiply the social and environmental returns of tribal honey systems.

In redefining sustainability, Odisha’s tribal honey story shows that true resilience lies in honouring indigenous culture, aligning policy with practice and nurturing the symbiosis between people and place. As global markets awaken to the value of ethically sourced, biodiversity‑friendly products, Odisha’s forest honey stands poised to sweeten both tables and ecosystems, one dawn ascent at a time.