Today, we will share information about honey bee farming. Honey Bee farming is related to agriculture in which investment is low and profit is respectively higher. Honey Bee farming business can be done by farmers including small farmers, unemployed people, people who are having barren lands and can't do any type of farming on their land can choose beekeeping as a career.
Bees found in India
According to different regions and climate conditions five types of bees are found in India that are given below.
- Apis mellifera
- Apis indica
- Apis dorsata
- Apis florea
- Dammer
Honey Bee farming project report
Honey bee farming cost
Bee hive box price is Rs 4000 for 1 box
50 bee hive box price - Rs 4000 x 50 = Rs 200,000
Cost of farm equipment - Rs 5000
Cost of feeder - Rs 7500
Cost of 300 ant wells - Rs 6000
Total cost = 218,500
Honey beekeeping profit
1 bee box can produce between 30 to 50 kg honey.
50 bee boxes will produce
50 boxes x 30 kg = 1500 kg honey
Cost of raw honey per kg Rs 200
1500 kg honey x Rs 200 = Rs 300,000
Net profit = honey bee cultivation profit - honey bee farming cost
Net profit = Rs 300,000 - Rs 218,500
Net Profit = Rs 81,500
Note - This price may vary accordingly and the average cost of beeswax per kg Rs 300 is not included in the above calculation. You should go for bee farming subsidies to reduce the bee hive box costs information about beekeeping subsidy is given below.
How to start Honey Bee farming in India
Madhu Grams are being made at the panchayat level of the districts. You should approach khadi gram udyog village industries to set up your bee farming business.
To start honey bee farming in Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan or any other state you need to follow the basic steps including land or space requirements, equipment for beekeeping, suitable climate knowledge and more all the basic and advanced information about beekeeping is mentioned below in detail. Please have a look -
Certificate diploma and degree courses are conducted for beekeeping. In these courses new techniques of beekeeping are taught to beekeeping beginners. If you are also a beginner then it is advised to enroll in a beekeeping beginners course however, you can buy a beekeeping beginners guide online. Information is the main asset of any business or any work to be done so you should collect all the information about the beekeeping business and then start a beekeeping farming business.
Requirements for bee farming
Equipment needed for beekeeping are given below
- Wooden box
- Knife
- Mouth cover
- Gloves
- Honey removing machines
- Frames and combs
- Queen excluder
- Inner cover
- Painting
- Smoker
- Hive tool
- Protective wear
- Hive bodies
- Hive stand
- Bottom board
- Drum are the things needed for beekeeping.
Best month for beekeeping in India
November to February is the best month for beekeeping in India. Flower blooming stage is the best time to start beekeeping in nigeria, uk and this is the best time for beekeeping in bihar means you can start beekeeping anywhere during the flower blooming stage and it is said that flowers are like boon for bees.
Best season for beekeeping
When flowers start blooming, that is the best month to start beekeeping. Flowers attract honey bees and are beneficial for bees.
Honey bee colony management
Honey Bees are social insects in organized groups. Some of the qualities of honey bees are good communication, nest, defence, labour division, environmental control etc. Honey bee colony consists of three types of bees such as queen, drones and workers. However, each bee has its own working style and structure but survival is mainly dependent on the coordination of all of these bees.The size of the colony plays a big role on the working efficiency of the colony.
Role of queen bee in hive
In the paragraph below you can find the job of queen bee that explain function of queen bee and the role of queen bee in honey making.
- Without the permission of the queen bee, no bee can move from the hive.
- The queen is the superior in the entire colony.
- The main job of the queen bee is reproduction.
- Early spring and summer are the season when most of the eggs are laid.
- on an average 1500 eggs are laid per day.
- Queen has an elongated body during the egg laying period. Queen has a curved stinger and large thorax and the productive life span of queen bees is 2-3 years.
- Pheromones are produced by queen bees.
- When fertilized eggs develop a new queen then the process is done in three ways: emergency, supersedure and swarming.
- Supersedure queens are more healthier than emergency queens because they receive sufficient food during development.
- Queens produced through swarming are found at the bottom of the frames or in between in the gaps of the comb.
- It is the responsibility of the bees living in the colony to prepare a new queen if the previous queen is accidentally killed, lost or removed.
Drone bees
- Drone bees are male bees and present in huge quantities in the colony.
- While talking about the body structure of drone bees the heads of the drones are large in shape and eyes are on the top of the head close to each other. Drone bees have no stinger, pollen baskets, wax glands.
- Drone bees are present during the late spring and summers.
- Drone bees do not take any food from the flowers.
Workers
- These are the smallest bees in the colony. They are small in size as well as small in reputation and position but they are large in quantity in comparison to the other two bees.
- These worker bees are mainly female bees with no egg laying capacity. These bees have some special features and structure like pollen baskets, wax glands, brood food glands and scent glands. Therefore all the activities of the hive are performed by these worker bees.
- Cleaning and polishing the cells, caring for the queen, removing debris, ventilating the hives, bee wax building and brood feeding etc are some of the jobs of common worker bees.
- The lifespan of worker bees depends on the season. In summers the lifespan of worker bees is only 6 weeks but in winters the lifespan of worker bees is six months.
Laying workers
- These workers are found in swarming season during the poor fitnes of the queen.
- They lay 5 to 15 eggs per cell.
Feed the bees
Pollen, nectar, honey and water are the source of energy to the honeybees. They take proteins, minerals, vitamins and fat content from the pollen whereas honey provides them carbohydrates. In winters and summers you may need some extra feed for your bees so always be prepared for the emergency feed and arrange emergency feed on your farm every time. You can use combs of honey, dry sugar or sugar candy as an emergency feed.
Top Honey producing states in India
- Uttar Pradesh
- Paschim Bengal
- Punjab
- Bihar
- Rajasthan
Major honey producing states in India
- Uttar Pradesh
- Punjab
- Jammu Kashmir
- Bihar
- Paschim Bengal
- Madhya Pradesh
- Uttarakhand
- Gujarat
- Tamil Nadu
- Maharashtra
- Rajasthan
Government schemes for beekeeping
You can take advantage of subsidies and loans in the beekeeping business. You can take cooperation from Khadi village industries. Khadi gram udyog village industries provide various support for beekeeping including loans and subsidies.
You can establish honey processing unit with the help of khadi village gramodyog.
Government subsidy for beekeeping
The Uttarakhand government is giving 80% subsidy on honey bee farming. So it's a good opportunity for those farmers who are thinking about how to start a honey bee business and want to start a honey bee farming business. Government is giving a subsidy of Rs 3200 on beekeeping boxes the price of one beekeeping box is Rs 4000.
How to apply for beekeeping grants
To take advantage of the scheme you can contact the district joint director or the horticulture department of the district. In Uttarakhand you have to purchase 20 bee boxes out of 500 boxes and the government will give a 3200 subsidy for each box thus you can participate in this scheme. Government is also providing the bees Apis cerana indica and Apis mellifera.
Necessary things about beekeeping
Somethings to keep in mind while collecting bee products
- Don't collect raw honey means you should not perform harvesting when honey is in raw form.
- Collect and store honey in a food grade vessel only.
- Don't use tin vessels or drums. It will reduce your honey quality and you won't get the appropriate price for your product.
Where to sell honey in India
You must be wondering how to sell your honey then you should understand that you can sell honey in the market by yourself. You can also contact a local honeybee agent for selling your product. There is a proper market for honey selling where you can sell your honey bee product. Talk to the people who are already doing beekeeping business and they can guide you about selling honey at farmers markets. You can also establish a small honey bee keepers plant where you can process it and then sell into the market directly.
3 Interesting facts about beekeeping
- Farmers usually pay beekeepers and provide some space nearby their farms. It helps farmers crop to give better and healthier results. Thus beekeepers can earn money from farmers apart from beekeeping income and this is a very common process in foreign countries like the US, UK etc.
- Bees are best pollinators and they usually transfer the pollen grain from male flower to female flower so that these flowers can produce fruits or their bioproducts.
- It also resolves land problems.
- Bee venom farming is much more beneficial then bee farming but at the same time you have to invest high amount in bee venom farming.
- So these are the key facts about beekeeping
Beekeeping training in India
While talking about a beekeeping training institute or beekeeping training center you should approach your district krishi vigyan kendra for basic information. You can also visit the department of horticulture in your district for information on bee farming training center in India.
Few Bee farming training institutes are given below
- Rajasthan khadi gramodyog sanstha sangh Jaipur Rajasthan
- National bee board
- Beekeeping training in Punjab - Karnal NDRI
National bee board and Rajasthan khadi gramodyog sanstha provides beekeeping training centers regularly throughout the year. Moreover, Rajasthan Khadi gramodyog Sansthan Sangh also provides boxes for beekeeping.
Beekeeping training courses
There are various types of beekeeping courses available in India. These courses are classified according to the time duration, educational qualification and continent. Time duration for some of the courses are given below.
- 6 months course
- one month course (certificate course)
- 2 days beekeeping course
- 5 days beekeeping course
- six days beekeeping course
- 10 days beekeeping course
- 15 days beekeeping course
- 6 months bee farming course is the biggest course which contains all the information about beekeeping. BSc is the minimum qualification required for the 6 months beekeeping course.
- 15 days beekeeping course - In this course basic information about beekeeping is provided and minimum qualification for this course is 10th pass.
- 5 days beekeeping course - This course is for all those farmers who are illiterate hence, no qualification is required in this course. This is a basic course about honey bee farming.
- There is a different course for queen beekeeping and there are lots of different courses in beekeeping.
Honey bee farming - FAQ
Frequently asked questions about bee farming are given below
Which state produces the most honey?
Uttar Pradesh is well known for top honey production in India.
Which state is the largest producer of honey in India?
Uttar Pradesh followed by Paschim Bangla and Rajasthan are the largest Honey producer states in India.
What time of year do you start bee keeping?
Before starting a beekeeping business a question occurs in mind that what time of year to start beekeeping then we must say November to February is the best time of year to start beekeeping.
Which farming is costlier among honey bee farming and bee venom farming?
Bee venom farming is much more costly than honey bee farming.
What are the basic requirements for beekeeping?
Wooden box, Knife, Mouth cover, Gloves, Hive bodies, Hive stand, Bottom board, Honey removing machines, Frames and combs, Queen excluder, Inner cover, Painting, Smoker, Hive tool, Protective wear, Drum are the things needed for beekeeping.