Farmers in the area were encouraged to undertake beekeeping as a source of income because stingless bee honey is said to have high nutritional and therapeutic value.
The ICAR – Krishi Vigyan Kendra, MYRADA, Erode District, the ICAR – Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Hyderabad, Zone X, and the ICAR – National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bengaluru, recently collaborated to conduct a skill-oriented training for the promotion of stingless bee colonies for the benefit of farming communities in the Gobichettipalayam, Chennimalai, and Bargur hills recently.
A total of 150 farmers took part, and they were given stingless bee colonies along with all the necessary equipment to help them develop in the large-scale adoption.
According to P. Alagesan, senior scientist and head of ICAR-KVK, MYRADA, agriculture and its linked activities like livestock management and poultry farming are critical to the income of the agriculture community. Agriculture provided income to the agricultural population, but it was strongly reliant on the effective advent of monsoons. He said that bees were crucial to cross-pollinated crops and environmental sustainability. However, he said that the usage of high levels of chemical pesticides and intense agricultural techniques had resulted in a drop in the population of honey bees, which had resulted in low crop output.
According to the scientist, Indian stingless bees, also known as dammar bees (Tetragonula iridipennis) or Kosu theni in Tamil, played an important part in pollination behavior and crop yield increase in agricultural and horticulture crops.
“Because of its medicinal worth, the honey is in high demand and more expensive than honey produced by other bees,” he explained. Alagesan urged farmers to engage in stingless beekeeping to increase their revenue.