Govt plans awareness campaign to boost honey production

Kutch is the major honey producing region in Gujarat.

S N Tyagi,Joint Managing Director,Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation Ltd,said: “Over 90 percent honey comes from this region and the destruction of Gando Bawal has led to a major loss. This region alone early produced around 5 lakh kg honey,but now produces only 80,000 kg.”

Tyagi added: “Now,in summers,wild bees migrate to houses due to lack of water. But the locals usually destroy the honeycombs due to fear. Recently,there were reports of two deaths in the region due to bee sting. But we plan to put up camps to educate the locals about these insects,which do not attack unless provoked.”

Honey production showed a major setback in 2006- 07 when only 154 quintal honey was collected.

The production was 1,118 quintal in 2005 –06.

Tyagi said: “We are now seeing a slow rise again in 2009-10. This time we collected 1,188 quintal again. But we need to sustain it. We want help from the locals as they can give shelter to the bees. They can also be educated to collect honey. They can keep some amount of it and give us the rest to us. Honey production is a natural process and it cannot be controlled by us.”

He further said: “A honeycomb constructed by big bees (Apis dorsata) can easily produce 20 to 25 kg honey. The nesting of wild bees has been rampant. At least two to three combs can be found in every house. Although we do not expect a drastic increase in production but we would not like to loose out on what we have.”