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Bee-keepers seek govt support to sell export-grade honey in domestic mkt
Industry sources said around 60,000-tonne honey is lying in cold stores across the country as export of mustard honey was hit due to the covid-19
Bathinda With the lockdown leading to stockpiling of thousands of quintals of mustard honey across the country, apiarists want government’s intervention to convert the glut-like situation into a new business opportunity.
Industry sources said around 60,000-tonne honey is lying in cold stores across the country as export of mustard honey was hit due to the covid-19. Bee-keepers are seeking the formation of a dedicated policy for honey to support bee-keepers in marketing mustard honey in the domestic market and other high-value honey by-products like pollens, bee venom, royal jelly and beeswax.
The honey has huge demand in the west and is also called ‘cream honey’, being dreamed from mustard flower nectar
President of Progressive Bee Keepers Association Narpinder Dhaliwal said Punjab farmers have a stock of 15,000 tonne of mustard honey but it has no Indian market.
“An integrated honey policy is needed as bees play a crucial role in the pollination of agricultural and horticultural crops. The myth needs to be broken that crystallised mustard honey is adulterated. Since honey is also known for immunity booster properties, stockpile can be marketed in the country with the assistance of government agencies to improve the economy of bee-keepers,” said Dhaliwal.
With an annual estimated production of 18,000 tonnes, Punjab is the third-largest producer of honey. According to National Bee Board data, Punjab has 2.7 lakh bee colonies.
Beekeepers say liquid honey or one the one that is derived from nectar of all other flowers and does not crystalise, is consumed in India.
Shahzada Singh Kapoor of Ludhiana-based Kashmir Apiaries, one of the country’s largest honey exporters, says since overseas shipments are uncertain, the government should step in to help small and marginal bee-keepers in marketing their produce. “Contrary to the per capita honey consumption in the West of 700-grams, Indian consumption is just 60-gram. Indian bakery and sweet confectionary should be incentivised to replace sugar with a healthier option of honey,” he said.
Kapoor, a second generation honey export entrepreneur, said India has about 35 lakh box-bee colonies against the potential to harvest 12 crore such units, adding that byproducts of honey were also good opportunities.
“If mentored, bee-keeping can become a more profit-making venture. Bee pollen has an immense scope in the health supplement sector, where venom can be sold to the pharmaceutical sector,” he added.
A progressive bee-keeper from Bathinda’s Tungwali village Gurcharan Mann said the state government should buy the entire stock of honey for marketing by Markfed at its mega honey packaging unit in Jalandhar.
“To reduce financial burden on bee-keepers, the state should provide sugar to feed bees in the ongoing off-season. Markfed should purchase honey kept at cold stores and this cab be lifted, as and when needed for for marketing,” he added.
