Punjab exports honey worth Rs 15 cr annually

Ludhiana, July 13: Punjab exports 3,000 tonnes of honey worth Rs 15 crore to the US, the UK, Europe and West Asia, besides accounting for 25 per cent of the total honey produced in the country.

This export is out of a total production of about 5,500 tonnes produced by 2.5 lakh Italian honey bee colonies in the state. It also exports bee wax to these countries.

This information was given by the head of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) (Entomology department) Dr N S Buttar to the Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) yesterday.

The team was here to review the progress of honeybee research and training at the university.

PAU is one of the nine centres across the country where quantitative and qualitative research on bee-keeping is being carried out. This all-India coordinated research project with a budget provision of Rs 91.30 lakh has enabled Punjab to top the list of states in honey production for commercial purposes.

PAU Additional director of research (Agri) Dr G S Hira who addressed the QRT team, pointed out that honeybee venture can be up-scaled to about ten lakh colonies. This, however requires additional manpower to strengthen the centre of excellence in honey bee at PAU and liberal funding to meet the travel expenses of the university scientists imparting training to beekeepers, Dr Hira added.

On an averge, a bee colony produces 25 kg honey annually. This 20-frame colony has one queen, drones and workers. A farmer in Punjab markets his honey at Rs 100 per kg-- the retail price.

Dr Buttar said honey marketing requires streamlining and government intervention to end exploitation of the bee keepers.

Besides the retail marketing, the farmers are compelled to sell honey at Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg to NGOs, state agency like Markfed, local traders, exporters, ayurvedic institutions, beauty parlours and pharmaceutical companies.

According to Entomologists, Dr G S Gatoria and Dr Pardeep K Chhuneja, honey bees and bee keeping vocation can do much better but for the honeybee diseases and Varrora mites, which together cause heavy casualities on the honey-bee colonies. It is estimated, these two problems account for 25 per cent mortality rate in bees. Interestingly, honey beekeepers, numbering about 23,000, are like nomads or what PAU scientists say 'migratory honey producers'. In other words, honeybee colonies mushroom in those areas of the state where there are mustard, sunflower and cotton fields or eucalyptus plantation and forest cover.

Consequently, the beekeepers in the south western districts of Punjab shift their colonies to Rajasthan and beyond by the end of July.

A few even move to central Punjab districts like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. This migration is influenced by the presece of the above mentioned crops depending upon the season.

The QRT team interacted with the Vice Chancellor of the university Dr K S Aulakh and appreciated the work done at PAU.

The team was particularly impressed by the training programme which the university has introduced for beekeepers. The team comprised of Dr R C Sihag, Dr Harvir Singh and Dr N S Bhat along with Dr R K Lakra, Project Coordinator (ICAR).

UNI