The increasing profitability of apiculture

Interestingly, while India's honey output has increased since 2005-06 by nearly 240 per cent, exports have bounced by over 260 per cent

With over half the honey produced in India finding markets abroad, beekeeping (apiculture) has emerged as a lucrative export-oriented allied activity of agriculture. For nearly two decades, growth in honey exports has constantly outpaced the rise in production. India is now the world’s sixth-largest supplier of this natural sweetener to the global bazaar. The scope for further boosting exports is substantial, but that would require locating new markets abroad and revamping the honey sector’s entire domestic value chain, from production to processing, packaging, branding, transportation, and marketing. At present, the bulk of the exports, nearly 80 per cent, land up