New buzz about beekeeping

‘‘Honey-producers normally picked up used one-litre bottles for their produce. The packaging—they usually chose liquor bottles—was as much a put-off as the size, and the bee-keeper made little money from the enterprise,’’ says Ramandeep Singh, associate professor at the department of business management, PAU.

‘‘We motivated them to stop using the used bottles, then to get the AGMARK stamp of quality. Next, we urged them to pack the produce in 50 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml, two litre and 20-litre portions.’’

Bee Keeper Association president Gagandeep Singh explains out the rationale behind the decision. ‘‘Why, after all, would a bachelor buy a litre bottle of honey? Also, 50 ml sachets could be an alternative to toffees for children. We sold some of these products at a no-loss-no-profit basis recently at the Kisan Mela at PAU and got a tremendous response,’’ he says.

While the honey has been launched commercially in various sizes, the skin products are still being handled on the basis of orders from beauty parlours. ‘‘We give them the technologies and methods and let the farmers find their way,’’ PAU’s director of extension programmes S S Gill says.

As the Progressive Bee Keepers’ Association shows, it’s not a bad idea at all. ‘‘Each of us 60 farmers contribute 10 per cent of our produce to the common pool. Now we are planning to launch a common brand, under which honey and other products will be marketed,’’ says Gagandeep.

‘‘It’s not easy to keep together an association like this, but till date, our operations have been very transparent. Plus, we ensure that the small farmer—the ones with 20 or 50 or at most 100 colonies of bees—does not lose money.’’

PAU is also encouraging bee-keepers to grade their products. ‘‘Basically, honey takes on the flavour of the crop on which the bees feed. So the honey produced by bees feeding on eucalyptus would be good for sore throats and colds. To promote focused end-use, farmers are marking their produce as sarson honey, coriander honey and so on,’’ says Ramandeep.

‘‘This enhances their market base and makes the effort profitable.’’