New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) The National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) will not only address infrastructure gaps in the honey-making business but also help marginal beekeepers organise together for dealing with the adulteration in honey, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Tuesday.

Addressing a national conference, Abhilaksh Likhi, additional secretary in the agriculture ministry, said the implementation of the central government scheme NBHM will be proven to be a huge step in achieving the 'Sweet Revolution' in the country.

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"NBHM will help in filling gaps in infrastructural facilities for honey and linking marginal beekeepers in an organised way for dealing with adulteration in honey," he said in a statement.

He added that the NBHM has the aim to create a network of honey testing labs covering all parts of the country and for this, 100 farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) of beekeepers will be proved as the centre.

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He suggested including honey FPO beekeeping society/ cooperative/ firms for better sustainability in the honey sector.

The national conference was organised by the National Bee Board (NBB) in collaboration with cooperatives NAFED, TRIFED and NDDB. Over 600 participants attended the event.

NBB has launched the Madhukranti portal for traceability of honey and other beehive products such as bee pollen, bee wax, bee venom and propolis.

Stressing on the effective implementation of NBHM across the country, NBB Executive Director N K Patle said beekeepers and other stakeholders need to be provided with factual benefits.

"To increase the income of beekeepers, it is advisable that along with the production of honey, other beehive products like royal jelly, bee pollen, bee wax, bee venom, propolis, etc. should also be produced," he added.

Balraj Singh, coordinator of All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honey Bee and Pollinator at agri-research body ICAR, said that there are currently 25 AICRP centres in the country, which are actively involved in research in beekeeping and pollination.

ICAR is on the way to creating "pollinator gardens" under AICRP centres across India, he said adding that the first such type of pollinator garden has been established at the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

NAFED Additional Managing Director Pankaj Prasad said the cooperative is creating 65 clusters and FPOs of beekeepers and honey processors.

These 65 FPOs will be part of the honey corridor linking northwest to north-eastern regions. NAFED is aiming at bringing all these 65 FPOs associated with honey production for creating requisite infrastructure under the NBHM, he said.

Abhijit Bhattacharya from the National Dairy Development Board stated that NDDB has an approach of creating honey FPOs on the line of dairy cooperatives to get the benefit of infrastructural facilities available with dairy cooperatives and milk unions.

TRIFED General Manager Seema Bhatnagar said the cooperative is already involved in promoting beekeeping in tribal parts of the country and procuring wild honey and has also exported to various countries' honey worth Rs 115 lakh during 2020-21. HRS hrs

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)