The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has distributed 1,750 honeybee boxes among 175 tribal people in Gujarat's Valsad district as part of the agency's ambitious 'Honey Mission' project being monitored by its chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.
The boxes were distributed among tribal people in the remotest Soldhara, Famaswada, Motaponda, Vaghai, Nisrana and Kagsala villages of Valsad district on Saturday.
While distributing the honeybee boxes, Saxena, in a statement, said besides production of 30,000 kilograms of high-quality honey from these bee boxes in this area (Valsad) having abundant flora and fauna, beekeeping would open many job avenues for the unemployed youth and aspiring entrepreneurs.
On September 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in Varanasi said the nation is all set to make record production of honey while distributing 500 bee boxes among 50 farmers there.
The next day, KVIC distributed 500 bee boxes among widows of tiger attack victims, Scheduled Cast and Scheduled tribes and unemployed people in Bali island of the Sundarbans in West Bengal.
Saxena said, "Being the nodal agency of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the KVIC would provide loans for setting up units of processing, packaging and labeling etc for the honey."
The development initiatives taken by KVIC in Valsad have given a ray of hope for tribal people there and they are willing to be the part of development, he said, adding beekeeping will enhance the flora and fauna of the Valsad area through cross-pollination.
The KVIC chairman also said the commission had decided to distribute at least 7000 bee boxes among farmers in Gujarat by the end of this year.
"So far, we have distributed nearly 3,000 bee boxes among the SC/ST villagers of Valsad, Navsari, Tapi, Dahod and Narmada districts, besides 1,750 among general category villagers in Banaskantha, Patan and Bhuj/Kutch districts, under our 'Honey Mission' project in Gujarat," Saxena said.
He said following the prime minister's call for 'Sweet Revolution' on December 10, 2016, at a function of Banas Dairy, the KVIC came in an action mode with its 'Honey Mission' with a target of distributing 1,30,000 bee boxes across the nation before November this year.
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