Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched five Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for producing honey which will be set up with the help of NAFED in East Champaran (Bihar), Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).
The inauguration programme was hosted online and attended by the new Honey FPOs, farmers and FPOs from various parts of the nation.
Tomar said, “Beekeeping in India is highly predominant in the unorganized sector among the rural and tribal population. Despite having a huge potential of honey production in the country, the beekeeping industry is still underdeveloped. The adoption level of beekeeping is also quite less due to various constraints.”
He also said that honey beekeeping will change the lifestyle of small and marginal farmers and help in achieving the goal of increasing farmer’s income.
“NAFED will address these issues by acting as an intermediary and filling up the gaps between the elements of the beekeeping supply chain and also ensure price remuneration to the beekeeping farmers. Through these Honey FPOs, NAFED will also work for the promotion of beekeeping as an occupation for unemployed women and tribal populations and uplift their livelihood,” Tomar said.
According to NAFED, 4,000 to 5,000 bee-keepers and honey collectors would benefit directly through these five FPOs. NAFED would help them in branding and collective marketing of the honey as well as explore overseas markets for them.
The Honey FPOs made by ISAP under the aegis of National Bee Board (NBB) and NAFED will help its members in not only upgrading their skills in Scientific Bee Keeping but will also help in making its members set up the state of the art infrastructural facilities for processing honey and allied beekeeping products like bee’s wax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, etc., quality control laboratories, collection, storage, bottling and marketing centres.
source: krishi jaagran