Apiculture in India

Introduction

Honey and beekeeping have actually an extended history in Asia. Honey was the very first nice food tasted because of the old Indian inhabiting rock shelters and woodlands. He hunted bee hives for this gift of god. Asia has some regarding the earliest records of beekeeping in the shape of paintings by primitive man within the stone shelters. Utilizing the development of society, honey acquired an unique status within the resides regarding the old Indians. They regarded honey as a magical compound that influenced the virility of women, cattle, since also their lands and plants. The immediate past has witnessed a revival associated with industry when you look at the rich woodland areas along the sub-Himalayan hill ranges and the Western Ghats, in which it was practiced in its most basic form.
In Asia beekeeping is mainly forest based. A few natural plant species provide nectar and pollen to honey bees. Thus, the raw product for creation of honey is available free of nature. Bee hives neither demand additional land room nor do they compete with farming or pet husbandry for any feedback. The beekeeper requires only to spare a couple of hours in a week to look after their bee colonies. Beekeeping is consequently essentially suitable for him as a part-time career. Beekeeping comprises a resource of renewable income generation towards the rural and tribal farmers. It gives all of them important nutrition by means of honey, protein enhanced pollen and brood. Bee services and products additionally constitute crucial components of people and old-fashioned medication.
The institution of Khadi and Village Industries Commission to revitalize the traditional village sectors, hastened the development of beekeeping. Through the 1980s, an estimated one million bee hives was functioning under numerous systems of Khadi and Village Industries Commission. Creation of apiary honey in the united kingdom achieved 10, 000 tons, appreciated at about Rs. 300 million.
Side by side aided by the improvement apiculture with the indigenous bee, Apis cerana, apiculture utilising the European bee, Apis mellifera, gained appeal in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Crazy honey-bee colonies regarding the giant honey-bee and the oriental hive bee have also exploited for collection of honey. Tribal populations and forest dwellers in many parts of Asia have actually honey collection from wild honey-bee nests because their standard profession. The techniques of number of honey and beeswax because of these nests have altered only somewhat on the millennia. The major regions for production of this honey are the woodlands and farms over the sub-Himalayan tracts and adjacent foothills, exotic woodland and cultivated vegetation in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Eastern Ghats in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.