Jammu : The 2-day Annual Review Meeting of All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honey Bees and Pollinators concluded on Friday at Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Jammu).
About 24 centres of AICRP on Honey Bees and Pollinators of the country participated in the mega event and made scientific deliberations on diverse aspects of beekeeping.
On the concluding day, Plenary and Technical and sessions were conducted under the Chairmanship of Dr. T. R. Sharma, DDG (Crop Science), ICAR and Dr. S. C. Dubey, ADG (PP&BS), ICAR. Dr. T.R. Sharma.
The DDG (Crop Sciences), ICAR, New Delhi, in his concluding remarks said that programmes should be centre specific and there must be proper project planning so that execution of the programmes shall be efficient to achieve desired outcomes. He stressed that there is a need for statistical analysis and data should be authentic and more conclusive. He further advised all the honey bee centres of the country to work in unity to bridge the gaps in scientific honey production technology to produce quality honey.
Dr. Sharma recommended high quality publications.
During the technical session and expert discussion various suggestions were put forth for development of Honey bees and pollination centres. Expert panel was of the opinion to focus on projects on APIS bees and non-apis bees and their role in pollination. They emphasized on conservation of pollinators, their efficiency index and also for the establishment of centres for excellence for bumble bees, indigenous bees and solitary bees.
There were remarks that Honey bees and pollinators play an important role in increasing the crop production from 15 to 60 per cent but the need is to find solutions for the adulteration in honey. Earlier 16 publications prepared by different centres were released on different aspects of honey bee and pollination. Panel of experts consisted of Dr. D.P. Abrol, Dr. V.V. Belavadi and Dr. Stephen Devnashan, who did pioneered work in apiculture. Proceedings of the meeting were conducted by Dr. Sachin Gupta and vote of thanks was presented by Dr. Balraj Singh, Project Coordinator.
