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| BEEKEEPING- A Commercial Startup | | World Bee Day: May 20 | |  PRERNA CHIB
Most of the people are afraid of Honeybees, and why not? These tiny stingers make us cry when they sting but did you know these little four- winged creatures are a blessing of nature and produce the best of sweet things called Honey. The World Bee Day is celebrated every year on May 20, to raise awareness about the significance of honey bees.
Do You Know Beekeeping is one of the most profitable business in today s era. Well, as being an Apiculturist, I will be sharing an important piece of information about commercial Bee-Keeping in India, which will surely help a beginner to start his apiary. Honey bee farming can be done as a stand alone commercial honey bee farm or can be integrated with crops to increase the crop yield and get additional income from Honey.
In terms of Marketing of Honey, in India, honey market was of Rs. 17.3 Billion. Currently India is one of the leading honey market globally which has made a serious rivalry as far as advancement and cost.
The demand for honey is enlarging by developing customers preference for natural and health alternative of artificial sweetener. India is one of the significant exporter of Honey.
Punjab is the major state in Bee-Keeping in nation with around 35,000 Beekeepers delivering around 15,000 tonnes of honey. Maharashtra is in top position because most of manufacturing facilities are situated here.
Firstly, a Beekeeper should start his venture early in the season, where means he should begin Honey bee farming at the correct time when honey bees will get full nectar from the flowers. But, if you began it too early then you will get no honey. So the beginning of the honey in right season is very important. The right season for the Honey is Warm weather, because they are fond of Warm weather, and this is the reason why Spring season is considered to be the right season to start with apiculture as the flowering also starts in this period.
Now let me tell you about Bee- keeping equipments! A Beekeeper will require Bee-Keeping equipment for startup of his Apiary. Buy good honeybees, and start with nucleus colony. In beginning you are supposed to start with least number of colonies for example 2 or 3. After gaining some experience, you can go with commercial practice.
The beekeeper should inspect once in 5-6 days, and need to take special care. In beginning, do not make complex, make it very simple and very manageable. In the end, dont expect high yield, since you have started up with least number of colonies, this was just for an experience and after gaining that experience you can go with required number of colonies per beehive box. In second time do the same procedure and this time you can expect high yield.
Now, you will get the detailed knowledge about the beekeeping equipments, procedure, precautions and I will also let you know about the schemes which is been enforced by the government.
Before starting with equipments and procedures let me give you a brief knowledge about the Bee family.
One colony normally includes one thousands of worker bees, one single queen, one hundreds of drone.The worker bees are female bees, but they do not breed. They are responsible for taking care of queen bee, her eggs, collecting nectar, keeping the hive clean etc.
The queen bee is the only sexually developed female and her primary function is to lay drones and workers for the colony. The drone bee are the male bees in the colonies. Their main function is to fertilize the virgin queen by mating.
Now, let me tell you from where you can get the bees for your apiary, to arrange a package of honey bees one has to contact a local Bee-Keeper or nearby Bee-Keeping associations.
Species of Honey Bees found in India:
There are around 20,000 different species of bees in world but only 7 of them are honeybee. And out of the only 5 have commercial importance. They include
Apis dorsata
Apis cerana indica
Apis florea
Apis mellifera
Tetragonula iridipennis
Equipments Required for Bee-Keeping:
Hives: The hives is the man- made structure used by Beekeeper for keeping honeybee. It is made up of wood. The normal size for wood is 7/8 long 16/4wide and 9 5/8 height. Try to use the medium size of supers. So that the hive dont get heavy.
Frames: Frames are of rectangle shape that hang within a hive like filling system. The honeybees will construct their comb within these frames.
Protective Clothing: Clothes which are worn during Bee-Keeping field work include Bee-veil, Bee gloves, Shoes etc. Moreover, equipments like Smoker, Hive tool, Queen catcher, Feeder, Bee brush etc, are also used.
National Bee Board (NBB)
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India formed the National Bee Board on 19th July, 2000. The main aim of NBB is the complete development of beekeeping by promoting Scientific Bee-Keeping in India to increase the productivity of crops through pollination and increase the honey production to increase the income of beekeepers or honey farmer.
Five freedoms of Honey bees:
To be successful Beekeeper, should follow some strict guidelines. According to NBB, every Beekeeper should take care of five freedom of Honeybees:-
Freedom from hunger and thirst.
Freedom for discomfort
Freedom from pain, injury, disease.
Freedom to express normal behaviour.
Now, Loans and subsidy for the Bee-Keeper in India:-
The government is providing the 35% subsidy to the Apiculture business in India. The reserved candidates will have to invest 5% from their own pockets. The government may offer Rs. 10 lakh for the starting up of the commercial business, under the Prime Minister Employment Scheme. IDBI Bank is offering loan for commercial Bee-Keeping in India. They named it as â ˜Bee-Keeping Madhu Makshika. Bee farmers can also get the loan and subsidy from KVIB, KVIC. The farmer needs to pay this loan within 5-7 years. Canara Bank is also offering loans for Bee-Keeping.
So, now if you are interested to start up with this opportunity, you can directly approach to the bank for the loan details.
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of Crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. |
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