Shillong, Dec 14: Prof. P. S. Shukla, Vice-Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong inaugurated the adoption of Honey Village in the presence of Shri. S. G. Momin MCS, BDO, Gembegre Block, Prof. Sujata Guru Dev Campus incharge NEHU, Tura Campus, and Dr. R. Sasikumar (Nodal Officer, Incubation Centre, NEHU, Tura Campus.
Mr. Frederick A Sangma the functional Manager, DCIC Tura and Nodal Officer, Apiculture Mission gave a short introduction about the program. He demonstrated to the people on how beekeeping will help in the development of the village by improving the livelihood of future generations.
The positive effect given by beekeeping is that they promote pollination and also produces honey which will give employment to the farmers doubling their income. The plants were also selectively chosen for each month and grown so that there won’t be a shortage of flowers for the bees to feed on. This is the reason for beekeeping being called a green industry.
Dr. R. Sasikumar expressed his journey toward the adoption of Honey Village. He with his team contacted DCIC Tura and joined hands to work for Apiculture Mission. They conducted skill training for potential apiculture farmers in the Incubation Centre of NEHU, Tura Campus.
A total of 150 apiculture farmers were identified from 5 villages, namely Aminda Ading, Aminda Rangsa, Aminda Simsanggre, Nengja Bolchugre and Chigitchakgre village, from Gambegre C&RD blocks, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.
The apiculture farmer were trained successfully and input supportswere distributed. Each Apiculture Input Support kit includes bee boxes, bee nets, extractors, and other equipment and was funded under North East Hill (NEH) Scheme, ICAR. He also stated that more Apiculture Input Supports will be provided based on the performance of the farmers.
The NEHU programme was implemented by ICAR-NIBSM, Raipur, Chhattisgarh in collaboration with NEHU at Meghalaya,from 2019 for the welfare and socio-economic development of farmers in the North Eastern Region (NER).
The said scheme is implemented under the able guidance and leadership of Dr. P. K. Ghosh, Director, ICAR-NIBSM and Dr. P. Mooventhan, Senior Scientist, Nodal Officer, ICAR NIBSM, coordinating all developmental activities with NEHU for the betterment of the farming community. In addition, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between ICAR-NIBSM and NEHU under this programme.
Speaking on the occasion the Chief Guest, Prof. P. S. Shukla, Vice Chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong said he wasdeeply overwhelmed and cherished the initiative taken byAmindaAding, AmindaRangsa, Aminda Simsanggre and Chigitchakgre village, and the residents for their decision to rear bees in each and every household.
The Incubation Centre, NEHU Tura Campus will extend all type of supports such as capacity building programme, technical input supports, quality assurance, trade mark and branding, and intelligent marketing at domestic and international level.
Prof. P. S. Shukla also assured that our Incubation Centre NEHU will sign buy back agreement with appropriate governing bodies to popularise Wild Organic Honey from Meghalaya origin into international market.
Regarding, quality assurance, the Incubation Centre, NEHU Tura Campus has already established well equipped Advance Food Testing Laboratory at NEHU Tura Campus, and also having full-fledged processing plants which are maintained by Incubation Centre NEHU Tura Campus.
Additionally, Prof. P. S. Shukla has stated that this Honey village will able to produce 100% pure wild organic honey roughly 10,000 kg/year through modern scientific method with green processing, therefore this honey village will be role model for entire national and also enhance the livelihood standard of village people, which will be highly possible to increase the growth rate of Meghalaya from 2% (As per the RBI official information) to some extent.
