Across the hill landscapes of Northeast India, a once-familiar sound is fading the steady hum of bees moving through flowering fields. For farmers and beekeepers, this silence is not just an environmental concern, but a warning of deeper ecological disruption.
In places like Assam’s Karbi Anglong and parts of Nagaland, farmers recall a time when bees were constant companions in traditional jhum fields. These shifting cultivation systems once supported a rich mix of crops that flowered at different times of the year, ensuring a continuous food source for pollinators.
Today, that balance is breaking down.
Elder farmers describe how jhum fields once hosted 30 to 40 crop varieties growing together paddy, maize, millets, sesame, pulses, pumpkins, and more. This diversity created a natural rhythm of flowering seasons that kept bees active throughout the year.
But with the growing shift toward monoculture farming and commercial crops like rubber, oil palm, and tea, that ecological rhythm is disappearing. Unlike traditional systems, monocultures bloom briefly and then leave the land biologically inactive for long periods, cutting off food sources for pollinators.
Farmers say the change is visible not only in the fields but also in their homes and gardens, where bees have become increasingly rare.
Along with monoculture expansion, the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides is accelerating the decline of pollinators. Substances such as glyphosate, paraquat, and neonicotinoids are widely reported to harm bee populations directly or destroy the wild vegetation that supports them.
Farmers in Assam and surrounding regions have observed dead bees near sprayed fields, raising concerns about the long term impact of chemical intensive agriculture on biodiversity.
Traditional knowledge holders say this is a sharp departure from earlier practices, when farming was closely aligned with natural cycles and chemicals were rarely used during flowering seasons.
Loss of pollinators, loss of ecosystems
Experts and farmers alike emphasize that bees are not just honey producers they are essential to maintaining ecological balance. Many fruit trees, vegetables, and wild plants depend on pollination for reproduction.
In biodiverse regions like the Northeast, the disappearance of bees signals a broader breakdown of ecosystem health, affecting forests, wildlife, and agricultural productivity.
Species such as the Giant Honeybee, Indian Honey Bee, Stingless Bees, and various bumblebees once thrived in these interconnected landscapes, supported by forests, farms, and uncultivated vegetation.
Traditional jhum cultivation long criticized in the past, is now being re-evaluated by ecologists as a biodiversity supporting system. Its mixed cropping patterns, forest integration, and seasonal diversity naturally support pollinator populations.
However, shortening jhum cycles, land use change, and policy pressures are weakening these systems. As ecological knowledge passed through generations declines, so too does the understanding of how closely farming and biodiversity are linked.
Beekeepers in Nagaland note that traditional log hives and seasonal observation practices once helped communities coexist with pollinators in a balanced way.
Development programs promoting monoculture plantations and controlled environment farming are further reducing dependence on natural pollinators. While these systems may improve short term yields, they often disconnect agriculture from ecological processes.
Farmers warn that this shift is also cultural young generations are growing up with packaged honey and industrial farming systems, losing connection with wild bees and seasonal knowledge.
Efforts are now emerging to revive ecological farming practices through diversified crops, indigenous seed systems, and reduced chemical use. Some initiatives are also working with jhum farmers to integrate beekeeping into agroforestry landscapes.
Experts argue that restoring pollinators will require more than conservation it will require redesigning farming systems themselves.
Mixed cropping, longer jhum fallow cycles, protection of wild vegetation, and reduced pesticide use are seen as key steps toward restoring ecological balance.
As World Bee Day draws attention to global pollinator decline, Northeast India offers a sharper warning: the loss of bees is not an isolated problem, but a symptom of a larger ecological imbalance.
As one farmer put it simply, the disappearance of bees signals that ecosystems are losing their memory.
And if that memory is not restored the silence in the hills may only grow deeper.