| The National Horticulture Board (NHB) has recently sent 5,000 beekeeping boxes, along with bees, to the state government, to be distributed in 10 of the 12 districts in the hill state in the next year or so, say officials. |
| These bees will be fed on the stevia herbal plant leaves, which are said to produce sugar-free honey. The stevia plant is also considered a natural sweetener and attracts bees to feed on them. |
| These leaves will be fed to the bees when they are unable to feed on flowers and other vegetation in the dry winter countryside and also during the rainy season when the bees are unable to fly out in search of food. |
| In the lean season, the hungry bees are usually fed sugar by beekeepers, which results in the production of poor quality honey later but using stevia will change this practice. |
| Sugar-free honey is much in demand by diabetics and those who do not wish to gain weight but at the same time want to enjoy the taste of sweet honey. |
| It is also said to reduce cravings for sugar and fat besides being helpful in controlling blood sugar and high blood pressure. |
| Officials say the project was sent to the NHB by the Himachal Organic Association to popularise healthy, sugar-free honey consumption in the state. The state HOA has already signed a deal with a Kangra herbs company for bee-keeping boxes. |
| "Eventually the state government plans to procure some one lakh beekeeping boxes to produce herbal honey and distribute them across the hill state," said a state government official. |
| "Farmers wishing to get into beekeeping can submit projects of up to Rs 10 lakh. The NHB will bear a fifth of this money and the rest will have to be paid by the beekeeper," said the official. |
| "A box of bees will be sold to farmers for Rs 3,000," he said. |
| "We have already received 80 beekeeping projects from enthusiastic farmers in the state," said Ram Naresh Sagar, programme officer, NHBC, Shimla. |
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