SKUAST Jammu hosts awareness prog on Beekeeping

Jammu: One-day awareness camp on beekeeping under NABARD funded project “Mobilization of Farmers through Development of Bee Village for Collective Marketing of Organic Honey” was Thursday organized by Division of Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, here at Bharakh, (Pouni) Reasi.
The camp was held on the directions of Vice Chancellor (SKUAST) Jammu Dr. J. P. Sharma by KVK Reasi and in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Reasi.
Dy. Director Floriculture and Landscaping, Sunil Singh was chief guest at the camp.
Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Singh emphasized the farmers to adopt beekeeping to increases their income resources. He expressed satisfaction that beekeeping is being well adopted in the country for increasing crop productivity.
Dr. Devinder Sharma, PI of the Project said that Beekeeping has been useful in pollination of crops, thereby, increasing income of the farmers/beekeepers by way of increasing crop yield and providing honey and other beehive products, viz. royal jelly, bee pollen, propolis, bees wax, etc. that serves a source of livelihood for rural poor.
Dr. Banarsi Lal, Incharge KVK, Reasi spoke about the prospectus, present status of beekeeping in Jammu emphasized for the better management of bee colonies for increased honey production.
Adarsh Gupta, DDM NABARD, Reasi highlighted the importance of the beekeeping for increasing productivity and providing employment to the unemployed youth. He informed the participants regarding the various schemes and programme of NABARD.
Dr. Mangla Ram Bajiya (JRF) gave a detailed lecture on diversification in beekeeping.
Practical demonstration was given to the trainees in the Apiary.
Dr. Sanjay Kaushal, SMS Agronomy and Amrik Singh AEO, Pouni also deliberated upon various aspects of beekeeping.
Progressive farmers viz. Gurdev Singh, Kamal Kumar and Jarnail Singh expressed gratitude to the organizers and requested to hold more such programmes to create awareness among the farming community.