Telangana needs a BEE Hub to revive agri, create jobs, says apiculturist Indira Reddy

Until 2016, California earned major share of its economy from export of almonds. Due to lack of pollination the farmers faced a drop in their yield by 60 per cent. A lesson learnt hard, these farmers began to rent bee hives for pollination of those crops. Same is the case at apple orchards. After these farmers started to use bees for pollination, the colour, size, taste of the produce along with the seed quality began to improve. Coming to oil seed crops and its farmers in India, facing the same fate, will get the support of Indian Institute of Oil Research, which has involved stakeholders to mull on methods to increase oil seed crop acreage.

One of the stakeholders is an Apiculturist. Founder president of Telangana Bee Hub Society, K Indira Reddy speaks to Bizz Buzz about the rising demand for apiculturists in Telangana. Farmers in Nizamabad and other districts of Telangana have sought Indira Reddy’s support to tackle extinction of bees that has resulted to reduction in pollination and crop yield. Besides being an apiculturist and trainer, Reddy is also the Founder of Rutika Innovations Pvt Ltd, and author of Telangana Queen Bee, a journey with honey bees

As an apiculturist and entrepreneur, you are going to meet the Chief Minister with a proposal. Could you elaborate?

As the Founder and President of Telangana Bee Hub Society, I want the State Government to support us in setting up BEE Hub, an autonomous body that will utilise CSR funds for developing honey bee farming, diversifying crops, giving subsidies to farmers, skilling unemployed youth, women, and other related activities. For the first time in India, Telangana will be establishing a BEE Hub, a nodal agency for all the departments including Agriculture, Horticulture, and State government, on the lines of National Bee Board.

Talking of subsidies, what is its current status in terms of implementation?

The National Bee Board has a budget of Rs 500 crore. I sent a proposal for setting up a Custom Hiring Centre in order to maintain 1,000 bee hives, develop nucleus boxes, and to give free training. After applying through MANAGE, our Society received Rs 1 crore. But, the State government does not have the budget. That is the reason behind asking the government to give its nod for BEE Hub. We are also submitting a proposal to get subsidies for farmers, FPOs, and bee keepers. Around 40 per cent to 75 per cent aid is granted to farmers and keepers for buying bee hives. Usually, Rs 800 for one bee hive and Rs 800 for bees is given, here the farmer has to pay Rs 1,400 to get one hive and bees.

What are the projects lined up in collaboration with the State government?

Special Chief Secretary for Industries Jayesh Ranjan has recommended to the Director of Food Processing to set up 50 clusters, deploy 5,000 bee hives for producing six tons of honey. I have been roped in to support Self Help Groups with skill development, form clusters of 100 women, supply bee hives, guide in collecting honey, branding and marketing the produce. This initiative is going to enhance the income of rural women in a big way. Telangana Bee Hub Society also met with the concerned government authorities for setting up of a Bee Park. This education centre will educate all about the benefits of bees. The proposed Park is likely to come up at Public Garden, Necklace Road, Indira Park, or KBR Park.

How did you develop interest in Apiculture?

I used to run an IAS coaching academy. While taking a class on pollination I realised the importance of bees. Central government has introduced various schemes to bolster Apiculture. Yet, I noticed a gap at the ground level as the benefit is not reaching farmers here. Moreover, there is only one training centre in Hyderabad, where the fee is Rs 5,000 and for a farmer this is not practical. I tried to understand various related government schemes. I also took up the five-day training from NIRD. However, this training is not elaborate enough. Honey bee farming, and pollination service is a good business model that has not been tapped to its fullest.

How would you describe the importance of bees for a healthy ecology?

Bees are important for pollination of crops. Bees also contribute to natural organic farming. If bees disappear so will the crops of fruits, vegetables, legumes, pulses, oil seeds, (excluding wheat, paddy and cotton). There are five types of bees that collect honey but others only pollinate grains. In a bee colony, there is one queen and few drones along with many worker bees. They forage for pollen and nectar as food to make royal jelly that is secreted from their own body and fed to queen. When she gets ample food she lays 500 to 2,000 eggs per day. In the absence of food, the queen is directed to stop laying eggs. This cycle should not stop for crops and bees to thrive. Few farmers have tried manual pollination, but it is time consuming and expensive.

How is Telangana Bee Hub Society supporting farmers in Telangana?

Telangana has lot of flora. In Nalgonda we have sweet lime, soap nuts in Devarakonda, then there is ajwain, mustard, and so on. To help these farmers earn better yields, we are training them in bee farming. In Telangana, I am the master trainer and I have five other master trainers working for me, besides five trainers. We hold three-day training sessions through webinars and physical classes too. From each hive, farmers can collect two kilograms of honey per month. Each kg can be sold for Rs 500. For farmers more than honey income, increasing yield is important. Honey bees, through pollination, can increase the yield from 70 to 100 per cent, depending on the variety of the crop.

Which crop in the State stands to gain the most from this method of integrated farming?

80 per cent of land from the 160 lakh hectare is engaged in cultivation of cotton and paddy in Telangana. Only 20 per cent of the land is available for oil seeds and pulses. The focus can be put on promoting oil seeds such as sunflower and safflower. We are going to approach the government to give Minimum Support Price for oil seeds. If this happens, we will train these farmers to deploy hives. Post this, we will be able to show the authorities that farmers are earning income from oil and honey. Now it is Kharif season so most of them will go for paddy. In the second crop, wherever there is water shortage, sesame and safflower can be grown as their cold pressed oil is in demand.

Which are the products made under Rutika Innovations Pvt Ltd?

The first one is honey, sold under the brand name Sacred Honey. Then there is honey millet cookies, that is made on demand. We make soaps, lipsticks and lip balms that are made from organic food colour, shea butter, coconut oil, bee wax, honey and some essential oil. These are handmade at my village where I have employed women; they make 100 to 200 pieces a day. We also sell Bee wax wraps which is used for packaging food in place of aluminum foil or plastic. We rent out hives for Rs 2,000 and sell it for Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000. Earlier I had bought 60 hives and now we are at 500. By September or October I will be deploying 500 more hives to collect mono floral honey. Till now, more than 200 farmers have been benefited and with this expansion we will be deploying 250 more hives to benefit more number of farmers.

How is the demand for these products?

Only from last year we started to sell our products, till then we were researching. We do B2B and B2C. Our products are available at CISF, CRPF canteens, few retail outlets and stores owned by my students. Going ahead, will be scaling up production of hair oil, royal jelly supplements, and shampoo. I will be meeting up with the GHMC to permit me to set up a store in front of KBR Park. I have approached We Hub and Aleap to guide with validation, legal licenses, certifications and funding. Right now, honey is processed manually. I will be setting up a machinery costing Rs 22 lakh for dehydration, double filtering, and bottling honey. Its capacity is 500 kg storage and 100 kg moisture reduction per day. Till now, we have provided employment, both direct and indirect, for 30 people.

Talking about validation and licensing, other than the FMCG products, is royal jelly supplement tested, validated and approved for sales in India?

In Germany there are research articles published that approves the use of royal jelly. In India this hasn’t been validated. Hence, as the president of Telangana Bee Hub Society I urge the government to set up testing labs here. These lab equipments are expensive for any normal bee keeper to own. Royal jelly has huge demand in cosmetics and pharma sector. There is one testing lab in North India, they send it to Germany which is an expensive affair. I have already approached National Bee Board, together we will be contacting the Indian Council of Medical Research so that usage of royal jelly can be validated. Our concern does not stop here as we have plans of establishing Apitherapy centre, this therapy too needs validation. Moreover, I want to take up bee venom treatment for which again approval of the Council is needed. I will soon be starting Apitherapy course, and advance level course in royal jelly and queen rearing, which is certified by the Centre for Bee Research Training, and NBB.