Jammu-Kathua youth keep bees for business

People have managed to earn Rs 3,000-3,500 a month from bee farming.

Surinder Singh had to join the race for a regular employment early in his life. And all that the experience gave him was dejection and hopelessness. Surinder's struggle began soon after he left studies after Class XII and had to go out to fend for himself and his family.

A native of Village Chhallan in Kathua district in Jammu, he tried his best to secure a government job, failing which he began working with a private firm. He changed firms after firms but bad luck was hot in pursuit, and he had to head back home, after being falsely implicated on charges of theft.

And then Surinder was introduced to bee farming. Today, after a decade-long struggle, he has a steady income of between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 per month from his small apiary.

Two years ago, Puneet, an agriculture graduate from a village near Surinder's, was trained in bee-keeping by the state horticulture department. Now, with financial support from a local rural bank, he is developing bee colonies and producing honey which is likely to yield an annual income of Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000.

A college friend inspired Puneet to take to bee-keeping. Now, he plans to rope in more unemployed youth into this business.

Spotting the potential of bee-keeping as a source of employment, Jammu-based NGO, Sehyog, working with women and youth, is proposing to form self-help groups (SHGs) and manage loans for local bee entrepreneurs from banks.

Potential for honey production has been spotted in Kathua, Jammu, Reasi, parts of Udhampur, Rajouri and Doda.

Several NGOs and teams of state horticulture department have begun organising camps and are encouraging farmers and village youth to set up agro-based business ventures with small investment.

Apiculture Officer, Jammu, S N Saini says the Jammu region has vast potential for honey production and at least three good crops can be obtained in a year. He discloses that the Doda and Ramban belt produce world-class 'white' honey which is unique in the country.

White honey is produced from the flowers of plectrantus bush, found only in this belt.

Saini says Samba, Akhnoor, Marh, Ramnagar and Banihal are also potential areas for honey production and that a project has been formulated for the welfare of the rural youth and submitted to the National Bee Board for approval.

Efforts were on to increase the number of bee colonies here. Recently, a disease, called 'mite', hit the colonies-in-the-making and damaged the crop. However, the disease was stopped from spreading and the bee colonies revived.

As the things stand now, Samba, Akhnoor, Marh, Ramnagar and Banihal areas have about 35,000-40,000 colonies among them. Jammu has a potential of over 120,000 colonies and production of honey may go above 3,000 quintals. So far, only 38,000 colonies are in operation.

Once the bee-keeping project gets an approval from the Union Agriculture Ministry, quality honey production in Jammu &Kashmir is set to increase manifold, Saini says.