Bee kind, honey

Paliwal began working on non-violent honey collection8212;a method originally developed by the late Gandhian Amrutrao Ghatge at J C Kumarappa8217;s Nai Talim workshop8212;in 1987 while at the Centre of Science for Villagers, Wardha.

8216;8216;In 1953, Ghatge developed a kit comprising a sting-proof, top-to-toe dress, a ladder and a clip that would attach the comb to the tree after the removal of the honey-pot. While working with tribals at Mendha Lekha village in Gadchiroli district in 1994, I realised they found the dress suffocating and clipping difficult.

8216;8216;Moreover, they didn8217;t want to carry the water that the bees needed to be sprayed with to prevent them from attacking the hunter. That prompted me to make the method more user-friendly,8217;8217; Paliwal says.

A biometric study of the comb8212;Paliwal has a doctorate in neuroendocrinology and the reproductive system of honey bees8212;revealed that a mere foot-long part of the average three-feet-long rock bee comb contains most of the ripened honey that young bees spurn in favour of non-ripened honey stored in the remaining part.

8216;8216;I redesigned the dress to make it more airy, introduced rope-climbing and eliminated the clipping operation. As against Ghatge8217;s method, I cut out only the ripened honey part, which allowed the comb to hang on to the tree or rock,8217;8217; he adds.

Interestingly, the bees fill up the cut-out portion within a month and it8217;s ready for another harvest. 8216;8216;This way, we can do six harvests in two seasons, as against only one in the traditional method. One comb fetches between 21-30 kgs in a year. The abandoned comb is then used to make natural wax,8217;8217; Paliwal says.

The method, incidentally, was designed for the ferocious rock bees Apis dorsata, which can8217;t be tamed for bee-keeping, and which account for 18,000 tonnes of the 27,000 tonnes of honey produced annually in India. The domesticised Apis florea, Apis cerena indica and Apis mellifera contribute the remainder.

With 275 hunters using Paliwal8217;s methods, the innovator says honey worth Rs 2.5 crore has been produced across 50 villages since 1998. 8216;8216;In Wardha alone, hunters with the Centre for Bee Development have produced honey worth Rs 38 lakh in the past five years. We recently exported 25 quintals of our Nisarg honey to Singapore,8217;8217; says Paliwal. 8216;8216;If, earlier, they earned Rs 1,500 a year, now they earn Rs 10,000-30,000.8217;8217;

Benya Jambhekar and Dhanraj Koche from the Susarda block of malnutrition-affected Melghat region of Vidarbha vouch for Paliwal8217;s claims. 8216;8216;We have stopped migrating for work now,8217;8217; they say.

But can the likes of Jambhekar and Koche afford Paliwal8217;s Rs 6,500-kit? 8216;8216;We have it financed through the District Rural Development Agency, Oxfam and the Council for Activation of People8217;s Action in Rural Technology,8217;8217; says Paliwal. 8216;8216;Recently, the Chhattisgarh government gave Rs 2,200 individual loans to 60 hunters for replacement of their worn-out dresses,8221; Paliwal says.

Paliwal, too, has received his reward: He won the Young Scientist award at a international honey conference two years ago, has had his work recorded by the United Nations Development Programme. And has hundreds of tribals from 12 districts across many states thanking him for changing their lives.

COMBING THE FACTS

8226; India produces just 2 of world honey, way behind China 16, Mexico 6.7, Argentina, Germany, Canada

8226; Rock bees are found only in the South East Asia. Their potential in India is largely untapped

8226; Rock bee honey has greater medicinal value than that of domesticated bees, since it is collected from wildflowers

8226; India8217;s per capita consumption of 6 gm/year is abysmally poor compared to Europe8217;s 1,600 gms