ગુજરાતી
English
The sweetness of honey in Gujarat; The sweet path of beekeeping.
Retired ISRO scientist Dr. Madhukant Patel has developed an integrated hive management system. In this, a sensor-equipped hive has been developed by detecting the temperature, humidity, weight and hum of the bee.
In addition, he has developed a spectrometer that can detect the amount of protein, adulteration and moisture in honey.
The smart hive and the technology associated with it developed by scientist Dr. Madhukant Patel can prove to be a revolutionary step in the field of beekeeping. Honey is extremely important for producers, agriculture and the environment. In 2024, the beekeeping market in India was Rs 2839 crore. Out of which the market of Gujarat is around Rs 300 crore. With this new invention, even a slight increase of 10 percent in this value or production can bring a big revolution.
Retired ISRO scientist Dr. Madhukant Patel has developed ‘smart hives’. Which are making beekeeping more efficient, easy and fruitful. Smart hives improve the quality of honey and also benefit agriculture.
Integrated Management System
In traditional beekeeping, it is difficult to regularly check the hive or honeycomb. Inspecting the bee colony remotely does not provide complete information. Integrated management system helps a lot without checking the hive. Temperature, humidity, weight can be detected by using smart hive in the system.
The condition inside the hive can be constantly monitored with the help of sensors and necessary data can be obtained. By analyzing this data through artificial intelligence (AI) models, beekeepers are given useful information and suggestions for beekeeping.
Abnormal events occurring in the hive can be detected. This helps in solving problems like swarming of bees or colony collapse.
This system also includes “GIS mapping” and “remote sensing” technology. This allows the health of the hive to be monitored in real time and pollination can be improved. Spectrometer
The hand-held “spectrometer” estimates the quality and purity of honey, and also helps in knowing where the honey has come from. This technique aims to increase the production of honey and other bee products such as royal jelly, pollen, propolis and wax. This benefits beekeepers and also helps agriculture by improving pollination efficiency.
Dr Madhukant Patel, who lives in Ahmedabad, said that honey is a complete food, complete taste and complete medicine. 140 types of honey are produced from different flowers. Honey is useful in the treatment of all diseases.
Scientists believe that marriages should not be done within the same tribe, similarly bees do not fertilize between plants of the same species. They only pollinate and fertilize (cross-pollinate) between plants of different species of flowers, fruits or grains.
Sweet Revolution
Natural Honey Production in India
According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India exported 59,999.24 metric tonnes of natural honey worldwide in 2020-21. From which India has received 716.13 crores or US $ 96.77 million. India exports honey to the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Emirates and Bangladesh.
In the year 2024, the beekeeping market in India was Rs 2839.44 crore. India exported 1,07,963.21 metric tonnes of honey, worth Rs 1518.86 crore. Honey worth about Rs 300 crore is produced in Gujarat. In which there is potential to increase production with smart hive.
May 20 – World Bee Day is celebrated.
Box
Queen bee in box A main bee box contains one queen, one male and all the rest are called workers. The queen bee monitors the entire box. The queen bee lays 200 to 1000 eggs per day. The rest of the bees, called workers, bring food from outside. Since the queen bee consumes a substance called royal jelly in its food, its lifespan is a maximum of 2 years. Whereas the lifespan of other worker bees is 72 to 100 days. The price of a box is 3500 to 4500. In which 10 thousand bees also come along.
13 crore bees
By selling honey, tribal women have made Soldhara village, 10 km away from Chikhli in Navsari district, famous for beekeeping. Living here, Asmitaben and her husband Ashokbhai learned to raise bees and are currently doing honey business. They have 13 crore bees. Rabi season is considered to be the most favorable. In this season, many crops including mustard, sunflower, coriander are sown, whose flowers make good honey.
On an average, 30 kg of honey is produced from one box. For good production and more number of bee colonies, the box is taken from one village to another at night. Most of the honey is produced around mustard crops.
About 63 farmers in 15 groups in Banaskantha make honey and they get Rs 150 for 1 kg of honey. Farmers can make 5 kg of honey from one box of bees in 5-15 days.
Honey revolution of farmers in Gujarat, production of many types of honey. National Bee Board (NBB), National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) are working.
Honey with different flavors
At present, ginger, lemon, basil, parsley, drumstick, eucalyptus, multi flora, leech
Good honey production can be obtained from flowers of jasmine, neem, mango, litchi, sunflower, sesame, coriander in the forests. The main varieties of natural honey are mustard honey, litchi honey, sunflower honey, eucalyptus honey, karanja or pongamia honey, acacia honey, Himalayan multiflora honey and vegetable and wild honey. According to APEDA, 500 species of wild flowering plants are found in the forests of India, from whose pollen and nectar the bees prepare honey. Information about honey cultivation in Ajma Farming can be found on 9737674736.
Market
There is a great demand for good quality honey in the market. Without compromising on quality, only marketing is taken care of.
An average of 3,000 kg of honey comes out from 100 boxes. This gives an income of up to Rs 10 lakh. Its annual cost is Rs 3 to 4 lakh. Thus, excluding the cost, the profit is Rs 6-7 lakh.
Some honeys are sold in the market for up to 2000. Normal honey is sold in the market for 500 to 1000 rupees per kg.
Arrangements should be made to provide proper nutrition (food) to the bees.
When there is a shortage of flowers in summer, sugar solution should be kept near the bee box so that they can survive. Pollen is good for the good health of bees in the rainy season. Pollen grains can be prepared by oneself.
70 percent of crops are pollinated by bees. In such a situation, bees are also beneficial in producing good crops. Where there are bees, the grains are healthy and thick. Due to the sweetness coming out of the flowers of the crop, the chances of insects coming in it are very less. Due to which more production is obtained.
Combo honey
There are three types of members in the hive. There is a queen bee in the hive, which lays eggs. At the same time, about 10 percent are males, who cross the queen bee. While 90 percent of workers are bees. Their main work is to bring pollen, protect the hive, bring water, produce honey.
5 lakh earn livelihood
12 crore beehives can be made in India due to 40 thousand types of plants. 60 lakh people can do this work. 12 lakh tons of honey can be produced. In Gujarat, 5 lakh people can make 90 thousand tons of honey from 90 lakh hives. Still the government is not serious about it.
In Gujarat, bees were to be reared for honey production at 18101 places in a year. Out of these, permission was given to rear bees and produce honey at 6392 places.
Expense and income
It costs 2 lakh to prepare 100 honey houses. In comparison to which there is a net profit of 2.90 lakh. If a honey house produces 40 kg of honey and earns 1.5 lakh rupees from it. If honey is produced at the rate of Rs 150 per kg, then an income of Rs 6000 is generated from one honey house.
First Honey House
The first beekeeping center in North-Central Gujarat was built in 2011. Farmer Kishorbhai Ladhaji Mali (Kachhwa) of Ranpur, Deesa built 28 bee houses. He got 60-80 kg of honey from one house. When flowers bloom on crops in the field, the bees carry their pollen from one plant to another. Therefore its production increases.
Honey Processing
Farmer Salmanali Noorbhai Dodia of Meharpura village of Himmatnagar has set up a honey processing unit (bee colony). This is the first unit of its kind in the state of Gujarat, which has been started in Sabarkantha. 50 bee houses are built with an investment of Rs 4 thousand per house and 1 thousand kg of honey is obtained per year from one house. 50 thousand kg is produced. One kilo is available for Rs 10. 200-300.
Best honey in South Gujarat
Farmers in Valsad, Dang and Navsari districts have started cultivating honey on a large scale. The poison of bee stings, royal jelly, propolis and pollen are very useful. Ashokbhai Patel of Soldhara village in Chikhli taluka of Navsari started extracting honey from 50 beehives in 2008-09. 30 people work, the cost of one hive is 100 to 120 rupees per month. Honey is sold at a price of 300-500 rupees. Honey is easily available from mustard flowers, sesame flowers, acacia flowers.
India and Gujarat
India is at the 9th place in honey production. About one million colonies of Indian bee Apis cerana and European bee Apis mellifera produce 85 thousand tonnes of honey. This provides income to 2.50 lakh families of 40 thousand villages. Honey is exported from India to Germany, America, England, Japan, France, Italy and Spain.
Honey in Gujarat
It is estimated that 1800 villages and 1200 families in Gujarat are involved in the honey business. Dr. C.C. Patel, Jalpa. P. Lodaya, Department of Entomology, B.A. Agricultural College, A.A.U., Anand have prepared many scientific details of honey. 1 crore bee colonies can be grown in 60 lakh hectares of India and 5 lakh colonies in 3 lakh hectares of Gujarat.
Increase in agricultural production
In the farms where there is a honey house, production has increased from 17 percent to 110 percent. In which there is an increase of 44 percent in rye, 90 percent in gungli, 45-50 percent in fruits. Production increases by 17 to 20 percent in cotton.
Chikhli
The Chikhli beekeeping centre in Navsari produces 80 thousand tonnes of honey annually. Soldhara village has become famous for honey farming. Ashokbhai Bhagubhai Patel has been earning well from bees for 10 years.
He collects honey by developing bees on sesame flowers in Halvad taluka, coconut trees in Mangrol taluka and wild Borid, Kher and Gorad trees in Kutch.
Ashokbhai’s wife Asmitaben was honored as the best woman farmer by Navsari Agricultural University.
They give permanent employment to 50 people. They have 3 thousand honey boxes. Eco points have been created in the fields.
This honey is used to treat physical disability in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Honey is collected by placing honey boxes in the wild acacia forests of Saurashtra and Kutch at the end of summer and monsoon and in the fields of Dang, Valsad and Navsari during the rest of the time.
Pesticides
Pesticides are sprayed on the crops, which spoil the crops.
This kills a large number of bees. They have been asked to stay away from the use of these poisonous chemicals.
Farmers’ experience Prakash
They started a beekeeping center in Banaskantha. They earn honey worth Rs 1 lakh per year. Then in the next year 2018, he increased the number of boxes to 100 and started earning honey worth Rs 1 lakh per year. Prakash, a farmer from Sherpur village, has earned an income of Rs 40 lakh from honey and started a beekeeping centre business. He has installed 900 bee boxes and is producing 35,000 kg of honey per year from them. This year he has produced 45,000 kg of honey.
Experience of farmers of Lakhani
Rona Lalaji Patel, a farmer from Madal in Lakhani taluka, has built bee houses and has produced 15 to 17 tonnes of honey from 350 bee houses per year. 13 lakhs are made in 6 months. This has been possible because of Banas Dairy. 7000 kg of honey is obtained from 100 houses. One ton is obtained for one lakh. There are about 10 thousand bees and one bee in one house lays eggs continuously. It gives 6 kg of honey in 10 days. Tejabhai Lala Bhuria
Tejabhai Lala Bhuria, a farmer from Madal village of Lakhani in Banaskantha, has raised bees and produced 18 tonnes of honey every year. He has produced honey worth about Rs 27-30 lakh every year on his 10 hectares of land. He has also received an award as a good farmer. Pankaj Bhurabhai earns about Rs 30 lakh every year.
Dinesh Thakor
Dinesh Thakor sells 900 boxes of honey bees for Rs 45 lakh every year. He has sent boxes to Rajasthan, MP, UP. He prepares honey in fennel fields in Surendranagar, Bhavnagar and Amreli. Boxes are placed in pomegranate, sweet fruit orchards.
Kutch
Dairy farmers of Kutch have adopted beekeeping and produce honey along with their dairy products through their cooperative structure.
Jamnagar
Twin dairy farmer Nareshbhai Dharmshibhai Gangani of Jamnagar produces 4,000 kg of honey per year from 200 boxes.
Government assistance
A total of Rs 8 crore 76 lakh assistance has been given to bee farmers so far. Rs 4 crore 18 lakh has been given to 1245 beneficiaries for setting up bee colonies, Rs 4 crore 15 lakh to 1234 beneficiaries for purchasing beehives, Rs 33 lakh to 317 beneficiaries for honey extractor and Rs 9 lakh for production of bee colonies by bee-breeders.
In the year 2025, about 5300 beneficiaries of 53 tribal talukas of the state will be provided two bee boxes per beneficiary free of cost. 11300 people have been trained. With the aim of making arrangements for honey production, processing, packing and marketing, ‘Mission Bee’ program is being run under the Horticulture Department from the year 2022-23. In the year 2024-25, a total of Rs 1 crore 28 lakh was paid to 284 members of Amul Dairy for honey boxes, honey extractor, food grade container, processing, packaging, cold room unit for beekeeping. Apart from purchasing beekeeping equipment, Rs 1 crore 28 lakh was paid to 500 members of Banas Dairy for various units. Rs 1 crore 80 lakh was sanctioned. There are 5 types of bees Praveen, who has studied up to MSc (Master of Science in Horticulture), tells Gaon Connection that there are five types of bees. Some of these are native species and some are foreign. 1. Apis Serena Indica – commonly known as native bee. This species can be reared easily. 10 to 15 kg of honey can be produced from one box in a year. Bees of this species do not attack humans in swarms. 2. Apis mellifera- This is a European species of bee. Bees of this species also do not attack humans in swarms. Therefore, it can be reared easily. 30-60 kg of honey can be produced annually from one box of this species. However, the annual production in India is 30 kg. 3. Digona bee- It is generally called a stingless bee, which does not cause any harm to humans. It can be reared but the production is very low. Its honey is full of medicinal properties and is bitter to eat. Therefore, it is used in making many types of medicines. Bees of this species do not make wax themselves. They collect gum from the plants of various trees and save honey by making honeycombs. 4. Apis florea- It is small in size and lives in the forest. Which is found in the plants of various trees in fields or forests in India. The bees of this species do not stay at one place. Because of this it is not possible to domesticate it. 5. Apis dorsata- This bee … fields of Apis dorsata.Its size is much bigger than Apis Florea. It is also found in forests. It attacks humans in a herd. Therefore it is not possible to domesticate it.
