The 21-day winter school on “Commercial apiculture for livelihood security of farmers and unemployed rural youth,” programme kicked off under the aegis of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on Thursday.
A total of 30 participants from 12 states of India are attending the programme, organised by the department of entomology, PAU. Apiculture scientists from PAU, other parts of the country and USA as well as progressive bee-keepers will deliver lectures on diverse aspects of bee-keeping.
Adulteration of honey – the burning issue
Project coordinator of ICAR- All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP – honey bees and pollinators)Balraj Singh, PC cell, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Campus, New Delhi, said adulterations such as sugar syrup and cane sugar are used in honey, which increase the blood sugar level in body.
“About 60 per cent of honey is being exported contributing ₹760 crore. Honey bee production and export is one of the priority areas of the Government of India and focus is on providing self-employment to the youths. Several projects were being sanctioned by the National Bee-keeping and Honey Mission and therefore, participants can avail this opportunity,” he added.
“What we are really eating in the name of immunity booster and energy product is sugar, which will add to the challenge of overweight and obesity, which in turn makes us more vulnerable to severe Covid-19 infection,” said an expert requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}“What we are really eating in the name of immunity booster and energy product is sugar, which will add to the challenge of overweight and obesity, which in turn makes us more vulnerable to severe Covid-19 infection,” said an expert requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}Sandeep Bains, nodal officer of winter school and dean, postgraduate studies, PAU, said the annual apiary production in Punjab was 17,000 metric tonnes. “Punjab has emerged as a hub of bee-keeping and PAU is a pioneer in apiculture diversification,” she added.
PK Chhuneja, professor of entomology and course director, said bee-keeping took its route from PAU in 1962.
The immense contribution of PAU to the field of apiculture is evident from the fact that a centre of excellence for bee-keeping was established in the university in 1998 and PAU was conferred with the “Best AICRP Centre (Pollinators) Award” in 2016, she informed. Bains further said PAU was imparting training in bee-keeping to supplement the income of the farmers as well as the unemployed youths.