MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) Honey is being mainly used in medical and food industries viz.; beverages, processed foods, jams, and jellies and is increasingly used as an ingredient in health and beauty products. The details of honey imported in India during last three years is enclosed as Annexure-I.
(b) National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) is promoting scientific beekeeping for holistic growth of beekeeping industry for income & employment generation, providing livelihood support to farm and non-farm households, to enhance agriculture/ horticulture production, developing infrastructural facilities & promoting latest technologies in beekeeping all over the country including Rajasthan.
4 project proposals viz.; (i) 2 proposals to Rajasthan Agriculture University, Jodhpur for Sumerpur Pali and Sirohi districts for trainings on scientific beekeeping, technology demonstration on beekeeping, empowerment of women through beekeeping and plantation of bee friendly flora; (ii) 1 training project to Agriculture Research Station, Kota, Rajasthan and (iii) 1 research project to National Research Centre on Seed Spices (NRCSS)- Rajasthan for promotion of beekeeping in Rajasthan for farmer’s livelihood and biodiversity conservation have been sanctioned under NBHM in Rajasthan State.
(c) In India, the following six species of honeybees are found:
i. Rock bee/Giant Bee, Apis dosrata which constructs large single combs in open on large trees, buildings, overhead water tanks etc.
ii. Little bee/small bee- Apis florea which makes a small palm sized comb in open in bushes/small shrubs/small branches of trees.
iii. Asian hive bee/ Indian honey bee-Apis cerana- This species make its nests/combs in dark cavities of trees trunks, walls etc. Bees construct multiple combs parallel to each other. This species is commercially reared for the production of honey, wax and crop pollination. Each colony produces about 8-10 kg of honey.
iv. European honey bee-Apis mellifera- This species is most widely used species for commercial honey production in India. Honey production per colony ranged from 25-40kg under migratory bee keeping conditions.
v. Himalayan Cliff bee- Apis laboriosa- This bee species constructs larger combs similar to Apis dorsata in southern facing cliffs of high himalayan mountains. In India this species found in Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagalnd and Mizoram states.
vi. Black dwarf honey bee-Apis andreniformis- In India its distribution is very limited and restricted to the high altitudes of north-eastern regions.
(d): As on date, about 12,000 Beekeepers/ Beekeeping & Honey Societies/ Firms/ Companies with 18.00 lakhs honeybee colonies registered with National Bee Board (NBB) on Madhukranti portal under NBHM.
Further, 16335 beekeepers have been registered and benefitted by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Ministry of MSME in their “Honey Mission” scheme during the last 5 years (2017-18 to 2021-22 (Up to 25.03.2022).
The detail of honey produced during last three years (2019-20, 2020-21 & 2021-22- 3rd Advanced Estimate) is placed in Annexure-II.
(e) to (g): Under NBHM, NBB is creating awareness about the importance of honeybees/ beekeeping by conducting various awareness programmes viz.; trainings, Conference/ Seminar/ Webinars, etc. all over the country time to time. As on date, 1133 beekeeping trainings/ exposure visits and 75 National/ State/ District level seminars on scientific beekeeping have been sanctioned under NBHM.
Further, AICRP on Honey bees and Pollinators, ICAR also conducts regular trainings and awareness programmes about the importance bees through its 25 research centres located across the country.
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