Honey Bee Farming-How to Start and Government Subsidies/Schemes

Many crop farmers and individuals who want to start Honey Bee farming(Apiculture) don't know how to start beekeeping and many Government subsidies/schemes for promoting beekeeping. Through this post I will provide you information that will help to to know where to start and what to do next.The first thing you need to understand is that Honey Bee Farming is not for everyone.Only those who are passionate about Bees can succeed in this area.Those who are willing to study more about Honey Bees will navigate successfully through this farm business.

Get Trained 

This is the most important step towards starting a Honey Bee Farming Business.You can contact your nearest Krishi Bhavan,KVK,Agriculture Universities,Khadi Board,National Bee Board for getting the training programs they conduct and enrol yourself in such training programs.By attending such programs,you will actually experience Beekeeping and you can understand whether you can go for it or not.You will be getting all the experience of various equipments used in Beekeeping and contact information of various suppliers of such equipment.Apart from various scientific aspects of  Honey Bee farming,usually at the end of such programs,you will get opportunity to purchase Bee colonies ,equipments,Bee Boxes etc.Opportunity to build a network of Home Bee Farmers is an added advantage of such programs.

Start immediately after Training

After training,you should start immediately otherwise you will loose many contacts you have established and the experience you gained during training.Place the Colonies in silent or less crowded area of your farm.You need to check whether any threats are present in that area like Ants,pests,Chemicals etc.By this time,you would have got enough training to identify such places and start farming.

Maintenance and Running the Business

Major challenges of Honey Bee Farming is farm maintenance,splitting of Bee Colonies,curing diseases,Monsoon care etc.Also you need to ensure enough Market for your Honey.Contacting your fellow farmers,trainer frequently and Building your Network and keeping it live will help you in all these aspects.You can market your Honey through various government programs and Ayurvedic medicine manufacturers. Maintaining good contacts will help you in this.

Government Subsidies/Schemes for Honey farming

1)Training on Honey Bee Farming with Stipend: These training programs are provided by State Khadi and Village Industries Boards. The stipend may vary state to state but definitely you will get an assisted training program.Please visit your state khadi board website for information.Link of such program conducted by Kerala  Khadi and Village Industries Board is given.Visit contacts page to get contact information of your nearest office.

2)Prime Ministers Employment Generation Programme(PMEGP):Through this programme,you can get Loan up to 25 Lakhs in Manufacturing and 10 Lakhs in Service sector.Own contribution will be 10% .Rate of Subsidy will be 25% in Rural areas and 15% in Urban Areas.Details of such scheme of Kerala Khadi Board is given in the link PMEGP-Kerala

Link of National Khadi Board PMEGP scheme is given in this Link.

3)National Beekeeping and Honey Mission:It is a newly introduced program for Mass honey production termed by Hon'ble Prime Minister as 'Sweet Kranti'(Sweet Revolution).This program aims creating an end to end framework for skill development,employment generation,income generation and reducing unemployment among youth.Details of this program is available in the given guideline link.National Beekeeping and Honey Mission(NBHM).Contact nearest KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries commission)centre for applying the scheme.

Requesting all of our readers to go through the Government site links provided above and understand the details from Government site.It is very important that you apply for the benefits of these schemes.

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