Nearly 10,000 bee-keepers in the country have registered under an initiative of the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) to provide hive-to-tongue traceability of honey and its products, according to BNS Murthy, Horticulture Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare.

Delivering the keynote address at the national webinar on ‘Prospects and problems of beekeeping in India’, organised by the Kodagu-based College of Forestry on Thursday, he said this project uses blockchain technology. Indian Bank, which has expertise in this area, has been awarded this project.

Honey collected from these people will be put into the major domestic and export markets in the coming days, he said. With the quality honey, farmers can get good returns for honey they harvest.

Consumers, who are looking at quality honey as an immunity booster during this pandemic, will be guaranteed of quality honey with this initiative. The traceability initiative is beneficial for both the producer and consumer, he said.

The ₹500-crore NBHM was introduced last year as part of the ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ package of the Central government.

Murthy said that NBHM envisages ₹500 crore for 2020-21 to 2022-23 for the development of beekeeping in the country. Of this amount, many projects worth ₹150 crore have already been sanctioned, he said.

Six major regional laboratories have been envisaged to be developed through NBHM and each will get ₹15 crore funding, he said.

Branding & promotion

Stressing the need for exclusive branding of honey based on their locations, he said some high-altitude honey projects are being planned under this Mission. Considering the potential, some such projects have been awarded to Jammu Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Some high-altitude places in Karnataka can also look into such branding, he said.

Bee-keepers can also look at harvesting the honey from the flora that is in large number in an area, he said.

FPOs in honey sector

Highlighting the Government’s plan of setting up FPOs (farmer producer organisations) in the country, Murthy said 100 FPOs are being dedicated for honey sector itself. These FPOs will be getting about ₹16 lakh as grant from the Government, and matching grants for whatever shares they accumulate, he said.

These FPOs can also work on by-products of bee-keeping, including bee wax and bee venom, that have been neglected but have good potential.

Through such initiatives, the bee-keeper will get money from honey and other by-products, he added.

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