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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Long Life by eating Honey

A 113 years old man in Arizona is leading a normal young man's life. His name is Bernado and he is capable of taking care of himself,moving around himself and playing with children.His father lived for 99 years,mother 104 years and grand mother lived for 108 years.So what is the secret behind their long life.This is not a single case of a family.There are thousands of family who have long life.But those stories are not so popular.Lets start analyse how Bernado is leading a healthy life even at the age of 113.

Bernado himself revealed the Secret.He uses Honey Daily along with some ingredients and he walks 2.5 kilometres daily.He recommends to consume Honey,Cinnamon,Garlic,Oilve oil,Chocolate.These need not be mixed together,but use as a part of your food habit.The most important among them is Honey.

Honey is rich with strong antioxidants and improves your immune system.The health benefits of honey is well known and is well described in Ayurveda.

Raw honey is the best for consuming.The honey extracted from beehives contains all the nutritions in pure form and is the best form of honey.

If you are having a Honey farm,it will provide you both Physical and Mental health.Watching beehives will provide you lots of strong mental energy and it releases all stress in your daily life.The busy bees transmits lots of positive energy.

If you are interested to watch beehive everyday,you can do Honey bee farming as a Hobby.You can also convert it to as a small scale honey bee keeping business too.

If you are interested to live long and farming honey,you are welcome to comment below.also requesting you to like us on our Facebook page.

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10 Remarkable Health Benefits of Honey

Honey is Natures most remarkable gift to human. The Liquid gold is a treasure of medicinal properties .Ancient Ayurveda described Honey as one of the primary Ottamooli(Single medicine) for curing multiple diseases.The scope of Honey is well beyond sweeter.The latest research on Honey revealed that Honey contains 22 Amino Acids,11 Enzymes,22 Minerals,11 Carbohydrates,14 fatty acids etc. The other interesting fact is that these are combined in a very special formulae which will preserve these ingredients for years and activate them for showing their complete properties.As per Ayurveda,the health benefits of Honey are

1.Anti Ageing

Anti-oxidants in  Honey repair skin and provide fresh look.It removes all the free radials which will cause ageing of skin.In Ayurveda,Honey is used for curing of wounds and sores also.It is an antiseptic.Honey also smooths the working of internal organs which will help us to have a long healthy life.You can have a long life beyond hundred years also by eating Honey.Honey provides Energy and Heat to the body during old ages.

2.Strengthen Memory

Honey prevents cellular damages and supplies ingredients for repairing of cells especially in brain.It also stimulates the cell functions and removes the dangerous free radicals from cells.This property is very helpful for retaining neurons at old ages thus retain memory.The benefits of honey in reducing brain cell damage is well proved by modern science.Because of these properties,Honey is well used in treating alzheimer's disease also.

3.Improves body functions especially sleep

Honey helps our body to regulate hormones which are controlling our body functions . Melatonin is mainly responsible for sleep . Honey contains strong ingredients to regulate the production of Melatonin.Thus Honey acts as a good medicine for sleeping disorder.

4.Prevents Heart attack

Ayurveda suggests to add honey in your daily food.It will help to reduce the bad cholesterol and improves the blood circulation.As stated earlier,honey can control your moods so it will control how much stress hormones are released in body.Stress hormones are dangerous for heart. Ayurveda suggests to take a glass of water with Honey and lemon juice in it before going to bed.

5.Improves the Production of Red Blood Cells

Honey contains 22 Minerals.The minerals like Iron,Copper and Manganese are required for production of Haemoglobin.It is the Red pigment required for production of Red Blood Cell and it is responsible for carrying oxygen to the Cell.

6.Anti Dandruff Property

Apply Honey diluted with 20 percentage of Warm water to the Dandruff  affected skin and keep it for two hours.Continue this daily for one week.This will help you to solve Dandruff and itch relief. 

7.Help to regulate Body Weight

Consuming one teaspoon Honey daily before going to bed will Help fatty persons to reduce weight and lean person to gain weight.Keep in mind that over consuming honey may result in negative effect.

8.Improves Eye functions

Applying Honey on eye daily as per instructions from an Ayurvedic Doctor will help to improve Eye sight,recover from eye diseases etc.

9.Reduces Pimples

Applying Honey on face will help to reduce pimples and provide a clean and smooth face.

10.Treatment of Allergies

Raw Honey is best useful for this.It contain good percentage of Natural Pollens.If consumed daily,it will reach inside body and trigger immune response that produce allergy.If it continues daily,Body will get used to it and it will not produce high response to pollens.Thus reduce the Allergic response.In addition to that,Honey has the medicinal property to soothe the Cough which will also help to reduce the Allergic effects.

So it is very Important that you have a natural stock of Honey.Honey Farming is the best option for getting free natural raw honey.For that you need one active Beehive only.It will provide you both Physical and Mental strength.So what is in your mind.Comment below.Also not forget to Like us on Facebook. 

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Honey Bee Farming in Rubber Plantations-New Business Opportunity

 Rubber plantation is a good source of income for a traditional farmer.As the price of the rubber increases with increase in fuel rate,the profitability also increases. It won't be a bad idea if we can increase the income further by doing some small changes in the plantation. Honey bee farming in rubber plantations is such a small idea which increases the income from Rubber plantations by spending small amount of money and time which you can spare.

 This is not only for  a rubber farmer,but also for anyone having land near to rubber plantations.Rubber trees are great source of Honey.The joining part of young leaflets (petiole) produce Honey dew. At normal conditions the Honey produced in rubber plants not completely collected by honey bees.By doing honey bee farming near rubber plantations,we can ensure most of these honey is collected by our bees.As the rubber plantation area is large in India,Honey bee farming has great scope.Various Government agencies like Rubber board,National Horticulture Board,NABARD,Khadi Board etc give training and assistance to promote Bee keeping.

 Honey Bee farming is a great way to reduce unemployment in rural areas.This also increase the availability of pure natural Honey.This farming can avoid wastage of women work hours in village areas.Incorporating Honey Bee farming in current farm is always a sustainable method of farming.

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• Small scale Honey Bee keeping Business
• 10 Remarkable Health benefits of Honey
• Honey Bee farming
• Long Life by eating Honey

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Small Scale Honey Bee Keeping Business

 We know the economic importance of Honey in our society.Also we can learn how to handle honey bees for bee keeping purpose.So if we can spare a little time and money,we can develop this idea to a successful business.For a farmer having crops,fruits,vegetables or plantations,Honey bee farming can yield double benefits for him.For a new farmer,Honey bee keeping is a new business as well as opportunity to realize the potential of other farming techniques.So lets have a look on Honey bee farming.

For starting a Bee keeping or Apiculture business, you need to have some idea about various aspects of Honey bee farm.Below details may help you.

Bee Hive Box

 It is one of the Essential thing in a honey Bee farm.It is the box where Honey bees do their activities like build their combs,store Honey,Grow their young ones etc.So it is the primary place for a farmer to concentrate.A typical Honey Beehive box consists of Brood chamber,Honey chamber(Super) and a roof.Brood chamber consists of eggs of  Queen and some honey.We can extract honey from honey chamber.The box should be protected from rain,direct sunlight and bee predators.A small honey bee farm can have 5 to 25 honey bee boxes.You can get Honey bee boxes from local bee keepers in your area.National Horticulture Board and Rubber Board also provides Honey Bee Boxes and financial aids for farmers.

Selecting Suitable Honey Bee

 Selection of Honey Bee is one of the critical stage For a Bee farm.The nature of your farm depend on the Honey Bee breed you select.To have an idea about Honey Bee Breeds and their selection,visit my previous post about Selecting Suitable Honey Bee For Your Farm. European honey bee,Indian(Asian) honey bee,Dwarf(stingless) Honey Bee etc are suitable bees for your farm.

Essential tools Required

 A beekeeper require some essential tools for safe handling of Bee farm.They are

• The smoker: Smoker is used to control aggressive bees in a box.This is mainly used during honey extraction.
• Hive Tool,Knife:This tool is used for handling Honey Bee Box ,its frames and Honey combs.
• Bee Brush
• Honey Extractor: It is a Mechanical equipment used for extraction of Honey.

 Some farmers also use protective clothing during honey extraction.

Processing of Honey

 Honey extracted from honey comb need to be processed for storage and packing.The extra water content and impurities are removed during processing.During processing, Honey is heated by placing it in a container which is heated by Hot water.After keeping it in 45 degree for half an hour,it is cooled.The impurities and water will be there on the top of honey and is removed.This process repeats until all impurities are removed.  

Marketing and Profitability

 If you can ensure the availability and quality of the Honey,marketing is not a problem.lots of Ayurveda companies require honey for their products.Government agencies also helps in marketing of Honey.The profitability of honey Bee keeping mainly depends on the Honey production rate.If you incorporate bee keeping with your Rubber plantation,the profit will be huge.There are lots of rubber plantation in India,especially in Kerala where we can utilize Bee Keeping.Bees also help in pollination of other plants in our farm.So it is a sustainable and profitable organic business that you can do within your farm for earning some extra money by improving the farm.

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Stingless Honey Bee Farming(Dwarf Honey Bee)

  Stingless Honey Bees or Dwarf Bees are one of the native breeds of Honey Bees found in India and many other countries.The main speciality of these bees are they are small and stingless which makes it  very easy to  handle.Lots of people fear the aggressive nature of Honey bees so they don't want to keep Bees even if they are interested in applications of Honey.For such farmers,Dwarf honey bee farming is a suitable option.The main drawback of these bees are low Honey production rate.From one colony,we can get only 1Kg of honey per year.By increasing number of colonies and reducing operating costs we can overcome this issue.

  Stingless bee keeping enables great opportunities to ladies who can utilize their free time at home.As Dwarf honey bee don't have stings,this farming is fearless and easy job,ladies can replace the requirement of skilled labour which may be required with other type of Bees.Thus we can reduce the running cost considerably.This type of Honey has great medicinal properties and is used in various Ayurveda medicines.As the availability is less,we can get high price for our Honey.These factors also promote Stingless honey Bee farming and help the success of the farmer.

How to capture Stingless Honey Bees from Surroundings

  Stingless Honey bees are found in nature.For utilizing them in our farm,we need to keep them in specialized boxes.This is a big task as they won't come so easily.This require special techniques and patience.One common technique is to provide a box at the entrance of the bee nest and allow them to pass through the box.Over time,they will start to build combs inside the Box.After 6 months,you can separate the box and keep it as a separate honey bee nest.Below video of 'Kissan krishideepam' describes the strategies to be used by the stingless Honey Bee farmer for getting great benefits from this farm.


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Selecting suitable Honey Bee for our farm

 There are lots of varieties of Honey Bees found in India.Some of them are found only in forests,some are native breeds ,some are imported from other countries and some are Hybrid varieties.Choosing the right bee is an important task which can influence the success of our business.Ease of handling,Honey production rate,Disease resistance etc play important roles in the selection of Honey Bee breeds.

Main Breeds of Honey Bees found in India are

Giant wild Honey Bee or Rock Bee

  Giant wild Honey bees are not suitable for Honey Bee Farming.This type of Honey Bees are found in forests and its surroundings.The size of the Bee is big compared to other types  of Honey bees.This will form its Hive as a single comb and it is built in big trees.The Honey production is very high compared to other breeds,but they are very aggressive.Their bite can lead even up to death.So they are not suitable for our farm.

Common medium size Honey Bee

 This type of Honey Bee is normally found in our surroundings.They also form single comb in open area.Even though they are aggressive,Only their massive attack is danger.Honey production rate is low and they often change their hive.So this also not suitable for our farm.

Indian Honey bee(Apis Cerana Indica)

 This is a domesticated variety of Honey bees common in India.We can get an average of 10Kg Honey per year from a hive.Even though they have stings,they are not that much aggressive.They have high disease resistance.This breed is suitable for Honey farm.

Stingless Bee

 This is a small type of Honey bee common in India.They Don't have stings and are not aggressive.The production of Honey is very less,but it is valuable due to its medicinal properties.Ease of handling,stingless nature,medicinal properties etc makes this breed suitable for Honey farm.

  The selection of Honey Bee breads depends upon how we want to do the farming.If you want to generate high income by selling lots of honey,then Indian Honey Bee(Apis Cerana Indica) is suitable to you.If you don't want to deal with issues like Honey Bee sting,then it is better to go for stingless Honey Bee Farming,but the rate of production of honey will be less.My suggestion is that you use both type of honey bees and start benefit from them.Later you can specialize on one particular breed as per your experience.

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Honey Bee Farming

 Honey is one of the magical product from nature which shows its love towards living world.Honey Bee is the special type of Bee designed to extract Honey from nature and store in a consumable form.In India,Honey is considered as one of the important natural medicine.Many Ayurveda medicines are prepared by using Honey.Honey Bee farming in India is at its initial stage only.Over thousands of years the source of honey was just forests only.But increased exploration and Honey hunting decreased the honey sources and Beehives considerably.Today we are paying for what we have done in past.The Increased applications of Honey and decreasing Honey beehives make Honey a valuable product.So its the right time to make a plan to convert this situation to a successful business for the benefit of us and the Nature.Honey Bee farming or Apiculture or Bee Keeping is a high profit generating business now.

 Honey Bee farming is not a time consuming job.But it require patience.It is like an automated job.Once you setup the system,you just wait.Thousands of Honey bees work for you.What you have to do is give proper security to Beehives and collect honey in time.Being a modern farmer,you can not just do only Honey Bee farming to fulfill your dreams.you can implement Honey Bee farming along with other farming businesses to get great benefit from it.

 There are lots of things you should keep in mind before starting a Honey Bee farm business.we can do detailed analysis of those things in coming posts.Indian climatic conditions especially in Kerala is suitable for this farming.If you combine Honey Bee farming with rubber plantation,the result will be amazing.So its the right time to take right decision.

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