Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that his Government is all set to establish quality control laboratory for honey in the state while announcing the promotional funds meant for those engaged in honey bee farming being doubled to make it Rs 50 lakh. He said this while participating in a workshop on ‘Uttarakhand honey bee farming-current situation and possibilities’ organised by the state horticulture and food processing department to mark the World Honey Day at Kisan Bhawan on Saturday.
He also visited the stalls which showcased honey brought by the farmers engaged in sericulture from across the state and interacted with the farmers too to understand the problem they are facing and how the state government can help them in value addition or increasing the production of honey. He asked them to send a proposal while mentioning their best practices which are being used in honey bee farming.
On the occasion of the World Honey Day, CM congratulated them and expressed happiness over certified quality organic honey on the display. “Now, with entire world acknowledging organic produce, their prices are increasing phenomenally. The State would establish quality control labs to help the growers get better price of their produce after procuring certification. Farmers should also give emphasis on quality packaging for their produce to attract more and more buyers,” he said. He also assured that he would call a conference of those engaged in honey bee farming where the scientists and experts would be invited. It would help the growers to have direct interaction on how they can increase their production, he said.
CM informed that to mark Pt Deendayal Upadhyay birth centenary, the state is going to launch multipurse agriculture loan upto Rs one lakh at the interests of two percent for the farmers.
Addressing the workshop, the state horticulture minister Subodh Uniyal said that 2083 metric tonne honey per annum is being produced in the state while the number of those engaged in honey bee farmiiing is 4600 in Uttarakhand. Their ministry is promoting aromatic, organic, tea and herbal cultivation as well, he said.
Secretary Horticulture D Senthil Pandian said that following on the CM’s instruction, the World Honey Day is being observed in the state for the first time. “Honey protects environment and helps farmers’ source of income too. In this financial year, the number of such farmers would be doubled as they are being promoted under integrated farming. State has been decided to plan things for the next five years after the completion of the workshop. Apart from the Union and the state government, we are planning to seek help from the corporate sector under corporate social responsibility (CSR),” he said.
Among those engaged in honey bee farming present at the workshop were Pushkar Singh Papaula from Bageshwar, Harish Chandra Joshi from Champawat, Kunwar Singh Bisht from Chamoli, Subodh Kumar Dhondiyal from Dehradun, Sanjeev Saini from Haridwar, Narendra Singh Rawat from Nainital, Randheer Singh Chouhan from Pauri, Durga Singh Dhami from Pithoragarh, Rukmani Devi from Rudraprayag, Vijendra Singh Panwar from Tehri and Dinesh Chandra Bhatt from Uttarkashi.
Mention worthy, United State of America had decided to felicitate the honey bee growers for the first time in 2007.