Dubai: India's Honey Mission Programme is creating a 'Sweet Revolution' in the country through bee farming and production of bee wax.
According to Emirates News Agency, India ranks eighth globally in honey production, producing over 100,000 metric tonnes annually, marking a threefold increase in the last two decades.
India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is seeking self-sufficiency for his country in the production of bee wax, which is a critical ingredient in pharmaceutical production, food, textiles, and cosmetics industries. "India currently imports bee wax, but our farmers are now rapidly transforming this situation," Modi said in an episode on Mann Ki Baat, his monthly radio address to the nation. He encouraged more farmers to join bee farming alongside their regular agricultural practices to increase their income and improve their livelihoods.
Modi highlighted the global demand for natural organic honey produced in the mountainous and riverine regions of West Bengal. As part of the Honey Mission Programme, the Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Manoj Kumar, distributed 2,050 bee boxes, honey colonies, and toolkits to beekeepers across six Indian states over the weekend. Kumar noted that a total of 200,000 bee boxes and bee colonies have been distributed to farmers to date.
The KVIC, established in 1956 under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, aims to promote village industries across India. The ongoing 'Sweet Revolution' seeks to replicate the success of India's 'White Revolution,' which dramatically boosted milk production from the 1970s onward.