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Beekeeping A lucrative rural enterprise |
India is a vast country where more than 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. The economy of its people largely depends upon agriculture for livelihood. After Independence, the Government of India launched a massive programme of rapid industrialization with the aim to integrate rural development. Therefore, special efforts were made to develop various agro-based rural industries like dairy, fish farming, poultry, sericulture and beekeeping. The task of development of the most important beekeeping industry was entrusted to the then newly constituted All India Khadi and Village Industries Board which was later reconstituted as “Khadi and Village Industries Commission” (KVIC) in 1956. It was only after the establishment of KVIC at the central level and Khadi and Village Industries Board at the state level that beekeeping industry could receive due attention for its development through scientific interventions. |
Bees at work |
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In India, till 1962 beekeeping was solely practiced with indigenous honeybee, Apis cerana, while exotic bee, Apis mellifera (A. mellifera) was successfully introduced in the country at Beekeeping Research Station, Nagrota-Bagwan in erstwhile Punjab, which later on became a part of Himachal Pradesh after its reorganization in 1965. With the successful establishment of A. mellifera, colonies of this species were supplied to the bee keepers and thus the species became popular due to their better performance and other attributes namely higher egg laying capacity of its queen, little swarming and absconding tendency, efficient pollinating agent and higher honey production capacity compared to A. cerana and that is why it is more suitable for commercial beekeeping. During early 1980’s, heavy mortality of A. cerana colonies due to `Thai sac brood disease’, further proved testing time for the spread and establishment of A. mellifera in other parts of the country. Apis cerana, although, faces many shortcomings but being native species and frugal in habit, it manages to survive at subsistence level. In addition, it |
can perform well in colder regions of the country and under poor honey flow conditions. Therefore, both the honeybee species play a complimentary role in the beekeeping rural enterprise. It has been estimated that over six million rural farmers, tribal and weaker sections of the society in India can have a sustainable source of income from beekeeping. Notwithstanding, nearly half of the beekeeping potential of the country exists in the remote hilly and tribal areas with no urban facilities. In fact, beekeeping is ideally suited to the rural areas because it utilizes only the available natural resources which otherwise go waste. Traditionally, beekeeping in different parts of the country is done by rearing Indian honeybee, A. cerana in wall niches, log hives, clay pots, pitchers, cylindrical hives, tree trunks and mud receptacles of various dimensions. The rural and tribal populations in remote areas have acquired a fairly good knowledge based on the habit and utility of this honeybee species. Traditional beekeeping involves low levels of management, provides beekeepers with a source of subsidiary but significant income. Honey bee expert, Eva Crane while emphasizing on the traditional beekeeping said,” in our attempt to alleviate poverty by using beekeeping as a life support system, we should concentrate much attention on aligning our proposal according to the background of the people, we are trying to help. In areas where the educational level is higher and transport is easier, beekeepers can learn to work at a higher technological level, and may obtain good income from beekeeping. But in poor and inaccessible areas, we must promote types of beekeeping and hives that conform to general way of life of the people. Thus, there must not be a western intrusion at an entirely different technological level”. |
However, there are certain disadvantages with traditional beekeeping systems and they are: |
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As an enterprise, beekeeping is both interesting and instructive. In developing countries like India, it can be used in rural development programmes designed to increase the income of individuals as well as of the group and thus has great potential in raising the economic and social status of rural communities. The peculiarity of this agro based rural industry is that it does not compete with any branch of animal husbandry. There is dire need to advertise it as a recreation and employment generating activity. As a village industry, it is of considerable importance as it can provide opportunity for employment and extra income to unemployed youth and the farmers, respectively. It can be started by anyone who is skilled or unskilled, man or woman, old or young, working or retired, children and even physically handicapped because of the light nature of the work. The landless cultivators in particular can add extra income to their principal source of income. It can be adopted at any level i.e. side line, important subsidiary, semi commercial or commercial enterprise depending upon the availability of local resources and other social and cultural factors. Women in particular contribute significantly to agriculture development in India. Therefore, for upliftment of the socio-economic status of the society, women should be encouraged to move forward in social life of whole rural population. This would ensure the raising of income, living standards and social status of women in rural communities and beekeeping is one such underutilized resource. Beekeeping is especially suited for women because it does not involve heavy physical work, allows time flexibility, provides gainful employment near their houses and ultimately provides economic security. Even the illiterate women can practice beekeeping after acquiring training and skills. Production and employment are the two basic factors to bring upliftment and prosperity. Beekeeping is the most suitable component for upliftment and development and has ample scope in India to develop as a prime agri-horticulture and forest based rural industry. It can generate self-employment for over 15 million rural and tribal families, and can produce annual income of over Rs. 4.5 billion by producing 1,50,000 tons of honey. Employment generation through beekeeping is with the engagement of men, women, children (school drop outs) and other youth interested in the following activities: |
Pollination activities: The sustainable development of agriculture has necessitated the reorientation of present crop production technologies. For yield enhancement of agricultural crops instead of making substantial use of chemical fertilizers, irrigation facilities, heavy machinery etc., emphasis should be on full utilization of underutilized environmentally friendly resources such as cross-pollination by honeybees. The value of fruits, vegetables and seeds resulting directly from honeybee pollination and the value of crops grown from honeybee pollinated seeds is enormous. Inadequate pollination can result not only in reduced yields but also in delayed yields and high percentage of inferior quality fruits. Farmers should know that no cultural practice will cause fruit or seed to set if pollination is neglected. Pollination option, if left entirely to chance, can mean the difference between profit and loss to the growers, and low agricultural productivity to the nation. In case of highly cross-pollinated crops like almond, clovers, some varieties of apple, melons, etc., any amount of fertilizers or cultural practices may not give even a fraction of yield unless pollinated by honeybees or other insects. As reported in area and production of principal crops in India, yield of sunflower in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where bee pollination is not assured, is roughly 3 times lower than Punjab and Haryana where pollination is assured. This suggests that if we provide optimum bee pollination to entire sunflower crop (40,000 ha) in the country, we can increase the sunflower seed yield by 3 times. Therefore, beekeeping is an important |
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production input with minus expenditure for crop production because the honey yields are additional benefits. In India, cropped area is estimated to be 160 million hectares, out of which 55 million hectares is under crops requiring cross-pollination by bees and other insects. The number of average sized bee colonies needed for effective pollination ranges from 3 to 9 per hectare for Apis cerana and 2 to 5 for A. mellifera depending upon floral density, competing insects and peculiarities of floral biology of individual crops. Taking even the minimum value of 3 colonies of A. cerana and 2 colonies of A. mellifera per hectare, the total number of colonies needed for crop production in India will be 165 million of A. cerana and 110 million of A. mellifera. The number of colonies of the two species at present is very meager in comparison to the target. Thus there is a need to increase the number of bee colonies to meet the pollination requirement of crops. In orchard crops, particularly apple, and stone fruits (almond, peach, plum, apricot, cherry, etc.) providing colonies of honeybees for efficient pollination purpose on rental basis has become a important source of income to beekeepers in Himachal Pradesh and other hilly states as well. Colonies are rented out to orchardists @ Rs. 600 to 700 per colony (depending upon colony strength) per flowering season. |
Requirement of honey bee colonies for pollination of some important crops
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Bee keepers from Punjab even shift their colonies for rental pollination to apple growing areas of Himachal Pradesh in the second fortnight of March. This single large activity not only benefits the orchardists but also helps in building up of colonies. Colony strength in terms of brood and bees is strengthened. Engagement in the pollination activities will not only benefit the beekeepers in terms of income through renting out the colonies but will also ensure production of honey and generation of employment. It has been estimated that beekeeping has an income generation capacity of Rs. 586 lakh from 1.05 lakh colonies which will benefit the rural masses specially the farming class adding to their income to a greater extent. In addition, pollination by honeybees is important for balanced ecological relationships. Honeybee visitation between distant varieties or cultivars promotes hybridization and helps sparse and very rare species of high value crop plants to survive. Pollination is thus involved in a chain of complex events. The complex is so involved in nature’s web that a serious estimation of value is impossible. The role of honeybees as pollinators increases further as habitats of natural pollinators are being destroyed with the mechanization of agriculture where pesticides are used indiscriminately and in abundance, and more land is put to intensive cultivation. Beekeeping is, therefore, an eco-friendly and income generating activity. Honey collection and processing Honey has become a part of diet of a large segment of the population not only in India but also in the world. Apart from the nutritional value it has medicinal properties as well. The Rock Bee is the largest producer of honey among Indian Bees. One comb yields 3 to 15 kg of honey. But the beehives are formed at places which are difficult to approach. Crude methods of collecting honey adopted by tribal honey hunters using fire and squeezing of combs by hands leads to destruction of the whole colony of bees and recovery of honey is only 30 pc. Loss of bee population hampers cross pollination. The traditional honey hunters face considerable hazards in their vocation due to the accessibility of honeycombs and the ferocity of these wild bees. New techniques have to be propagated for collecting honey which is safer and ensure more profits than the existing ones. Honey hunting is being thought of as an additional source of income for the villagers. |
Production of honey and other products Honey: Production of honey is the prime objective of any person engaged in beekeeping. A beekeeper generally gets 10-15 kg honey per colony from A. mellifera and 8-10 kg from Apis cerana but with migratory beekeeping, beekeepers in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar are obtaining 50-70 kg honey per colony of A. mellifera. The maximum honey yield from a single colony of A. mellifera from Himachal Pradesh has been reported to be 110 kg. Honey has domestic, medicinal and industrial uses. There is a vast difference in price of raw honey and processed honey. Raw honey costs about Rs. 90 to Rs 100 per kg and processed honey @ Rs. 250 to Rs 300 per kg or more without any consideration of quality and packing. Raw white honey from `Shain’ (Plectranthus rugosus) is valued at @ Rs 300 to Rs. 350 per kg in some parts of Himachal Pradesh. Pollen: It is another product which can be easily collected by putting a pollen trap at hive entrance. During a good pollen flow season, it is possible to harvest 0.5 to 1.0 kg of pollen per day from one hive of A. mellifera and sold @ Rs. 100/kg. Maximum use of pollen is for feeding bees as pollen supplement during the dearth period. Farmers /children can also collect pollen from maize crop during its flowering which after sun drying can be kept in air tight containers and later sold to beekeepers at the time of pollen dearth period. Pollen is suitable for medical and prophylactic purposes. It is effective for treating hyper tension when mixed with honey (1:1). It can be used for complaints of nervous and endocrine systems. It is also used in various cosmetic preparations. Royal jelly: It is produced by nurse bees to feed the queen bee throughout her larval and adult life, and also young worker and drone larvae. Royal jelly can be produced by dequeening a colony and harvesting the jelly from newly constructed queen cells. On an average, it requires 1000, 3-day old cells to produce 500gm of royal jelly and sold @ Rs 4000/kg. Royal jelly has a reputation as a panacea, aphrodisiac and rejuvenator. It is used to make medicines and nutritional supplements. |
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Bee venom: It can be commercially obtained by stimulating large number of bees by electric shock (8-12 volts) to sting through a sheet of nylon parchment taffeta above two sheets of thin polyethylene (0.025 mm thick), stretched over the collection board. Another method is to pass electric current through the sheet of gel or silicone and bees standing on this react by stinging in to it where it is deposited. About 50 mg venom can be obtained per colony and sold @ Rs 1000/g. It has been used to cure polyarthritis, infectious-polyarthritis, spondylosis deformans, neuralgia, rheumatism, certain eye diseases like iritis and irridocyclitis, skin diseases (tuberculosis of skin), inflammation of sciatic, facial and other nerves, hypertension etc. It is also known to lower down the cholesterol level. Propolis: It has anti-microbial properties and is effective in healing wounds as a medicine for removing corns and good anesthetic in dental medicine. It is used as veterinary ointments for treating cuts, abscesses and wounds of animals. About 300g of propolis can be obtained from one colony per year and sold @ Rs 500/kg. Fabrication and manufacturing activities: With the development of beekeeping, a number of subsidiary industries will also develop which include fabrication of hives, nucleus hives and other bee equipments like honey extractors, comb foundation mills, bee veils, smokers, queen excluder sheets, hive tools, iron stands, swarm catching nets, uncapping knives, queen cages and gates, uncapping trays, hand gloves, ant proof bowls (ant wells), pollen traps and other allied tools. All these equipments and tools can be manufactured by rural artisans thus creating additional employment for them in carpentry, black smithy and tailoring, etc. It also includes the manufacture of honey processing plants and containers for packing honey and other hive products.
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