Earning through Bee Keeping: A success story by Anup Chandra and R Bhagawati
ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh Centre, Basar 791101, West Siang Distt., Arunachal Pradesh
Morik Basar, a 31 year old farmer of Gori village, Basar, West Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh, was hesitate to come near bee colonies, now shows keen interest and started earning his livelihood through it. He attended a 3-day Training cum Exposure visit programme on "Commercial Honey Production" in February 2010 sponsored by NABARD and organized by ICAR Basar, a two-day Exposure Visit cum Training on Bee-keeping" at AAU Jorhat, organized by ICAR Basar under NAIP, "Training on Bee keeping" under Tribal Sub Plan in 2014 and interested to participate in all the future training programmes related to bee keeping. He started with three numbers of bee boxes with Apis cerana colonies and bee keeping accessories received from ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh Centre, Basar under the Tribal Sub Plan Programme in 2014 and within a short span of one year, he increased the number to thirty six by dividing the colonies and by collecting the colonies from nearby forest areas. According to him, August to initial weeks of October is the peak swarming season and more numbers of local colonies can be captured which are more stable, strong and disease resistant than the one we are procuring from distant places. Morik Basar tells that he is harvesting honey 5 times in a year and in one harvest he is getting around 2 kgs of honey. By harvesting 10 kgs of honey in a year from one box, his total production is around 360 kgs which he sells for Rs. 500 per kg, thereby, making earning of Rs. 1,80,000 in a year. It is worth to appreciate his earnings in the initial year of establishment. He is eager to expand his bee keeping with a target of minimum 100 boxes which may yield nearly 1000 kgs of honey worth Rs 5 lakhs in a year. Apart from honey production, he is making make bee boxes also based on the measurements of a standard box mitigating the scarcity of its availability and supplying to other interested farmers in the village. Now, at this stage, Morik Basar is capable enough to train his neighbours and other farmers in all aspects of bee keeping and definitely a source of inspiration for others.
Address Details
Sh. Morik Basar
S/o Sh. Tumo Basar,
Village: Gori II, Basar, PO & PS: Basar
West Siang District, Arunachal
Pradesh 791 101
Contacts:9402051604, 8258009949
Fig showing harvesting of Honey from combs
