Bee keeping, a sweet revolution in the making

Bee-keeping is an emerging sector of agriculture for earning a source of livelihood for rural, urban, and entrepreneurial communities with the least investment. It is an agriculture-allied practice that can accelerate the economy and employment of local and farming communities.

This was conveyed at a recent National Workshop on “Technological Interventions & Innovations in the Beekeeping Sector” where 500 progressive beekeepers/stakeholders, startups, entrepreneurs, officials of state governments, scientists from Central & State Agriculture Universities, honey processors, etc participated.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Additional Secretary Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi informed the participants that Beekeeping is an agricultural art that requires scientific as well as practical exercises for proper management and collection of honey and beehive products.

The workshop was organised by the Union ministry at Budni in Madhya Pradesh under the National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) in collaboration with Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute (CFMT&TI), Budni. More than 100 participants joined the workshop virtually from other parts of the country, an official release said.

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Likhi mentioned that the honey sector will grow by use of advanced tools. The NBHM has approved and set up 31 mini-testing labs and 4 regional labs for quality honey production in the nation to avoid adulteration in honey, which helps to increase exports of honey and allied products to boost the sector.

He highlighted the initiative taken by the NBHM for GI tagging of honey, which will help to boost rural areas by increasing revenue for the producers and employment in the region through beekeeping and honey production. The good quality of the products opens the national as well as international door for the honey producers.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks Anil Upadhyaya, Director, CFMT&TI, Budni, thanked the NBHM, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for this opportunity to conduct this National Level workshop and focused on the farmers, beekeepers, start-ups and FPOs of Madhya Pradesh region as this region is rich in agriculture with a large number of potential farmers and has a scope in development of beekeeping.

He stated that beekeeping is a low-investment, highly efficient enterprise model that is emerging as a springboard for technology application and socio-economic development. Through this approach, beekeeping is helpful in increasing the livelihood of farmers and other people.

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Several steps have been taken by the Government of India to increase the income of the farmers. In this context, the 'Sweet Revolution' initiative by the Government of India is an ambitious initiative aimed at promoting 'Beekeeping' to increase the production of quality honey and other allied products.

Dr. N. K. Patle, Additional Commissioner (Horticulture) and Executive Director, National Bee Board (NBB) gave a brief presentation on the role and achievements under NBHM in the country, the success stories of beneficiaries assisted under NBHM, opportunities for beekeepers, agri start-ups/ stakeholders under NBHM, etc.

Addressing the attendees of the workshop, he said that technical advancements in beekeeping is very important. He stated that the government has initiated steps to maximise the total potential of the beekeeping industry, especially by assisting farmers, beekeepers, honey startups and FPOs.

He added that the NBHM has approved 31 Mini Testing Labs and 4 Regional labs to ensure the quality of the honey produced in the country. NBHM has also developed the Madhukranti portal, which is a great initiative to provide nationwide beekeeping data through registration of beekeepers and other stakeholders.

He informed that NBHM is also providing assistance to agri-entrepreneurs/startups to encourage and start beekeeping/honey production. He said the promotion and formation of FPOs is the first step for converting Krishi into Atmanirbhar Krishi and for this he assured that the implementation of NBHM scheme will bring revolutionary changes by using technologies and innovations to strengthen the beekeeping sector.

He invited all beekeeping stakeholders to come forward to avail assistance under NBHM and start beekeeping and honey production within and outside the country.