World Honey Bee Day: KVIC distributes bee boxes to Assam tribals

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) gave away 1,000 honey-bee boxes to an Assamese tribe in Kaziranga to mark the celebration of World Honey Bee Day today.

Claiming it to be a world record of giving away the maximum number of bee-boxes on a single day, KVIC Chairman V K Saxena distributed 1,000 bee boxes among the Mishing tribals in the Kaziranga forest area, beating the previous best of 841 in Israel some two years ago, a KVIC statement said here.

KVIC said it has fixed a target of distributing 1,30,000 bee-boxes across the country by November 2018, adding it has so far distributed 27,000 bee-boxes in the country.

"Being the nodal agency of the Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the KVIC would provide loans for setting up units of processing, packaging and labelling units for the honey," it said.

Saxena said that besides production of 30,000 kilograms of high-quality honey from these bee-boxes in the Kaziranga forest area, bee-keeping would open up job avenues for the unemployed youth and aspiring entrepreneurs.

"The development initiatives taken by KVIC in Assam have given a ray of hope for tribal people here and they are willing to be a part of the development. The bee-keeping will also enhance the rich flora and fauna of the Kaziranga forest area through cross-pollination," Saxena said.

Besides distributing the bee-boxes, practical training was also imparted to 100 beneficiaries in examination of honeybee colonies, acquaintance with apicultural equipments, identification and management of bee enemies and diseases, honey extraction and wax purification, the release said, adding honey bottles were also ditributed to 500 school kids at Kohera village in Kaziranga.

"From the very moment Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for Sweet Revolution', the KVIC came in action mode with its enthusiastic Honey Mission' with a target of distributing 1,30,000 bee-boxes before November 2018 across the nation," it said.

The KVIC had last year established Khadi training-cum-production centre in association with Assam forest department, providing 25 charkhas, five looms and other accessories to the village artisans at Silimkhowa village in Kaziranga forest area, the release said, adding it provided job opportunities to nearly 50 rural families of this area.