“The trainings were useful, as we learnt how to extract honey and by selling it our income will increase. Alongside, we get wax as well, and we earn more from it. Further, we end up multiplying from one box to another to a third box, and we hope to keep more boxes as they have been really useful.” Master Trainer Santhosh Goma Manegal, from Shahpur, Thane District, Maharashtra

Somajibhai Magi (age 26) is a marginal farmer from Vill Dandwal  in the interiors of Pindwal area of Dharampur Taluk, Dist Valsad, Gujarat. He has a 1 acre wadi on which he has planted mango and cashew. In other patches close by, he cultivates rice, niger and nagli for his family’s annual consumption.

Somajibhai says that though it has been only 4 months that he has had 2 boxes,  he has been collecting cucumbers almost every third day from his small cucumber patch. He sells it at the neighbouring village bazaar. He attributes this increase to the bee boxes as earlier the same patch used to give cucumbers every 6th or 7th day only.

“Initially I used to get afraid of being stung by bees but when I saw Atarji (Technical Expert) handling the bees in training with a lot ease, I overcame the fear and now I can handle the box and bees easily” (we have pictures of Somajibhai also)

Bhikare (55) of Patilpada Village in Talesari cluster (Dist Thane) has been  collecting honey from combs in the surrounding hills from the time he was a teenager as and when he came across a hive.  He is a progressive small farmer, always willing to try something new and has enthusiastically taken to beekeeping. Bhikareji says “Beekeeping gives me good returns by way of honey and increases productivity with less work”. He says there has been a greater yields in his wadi which his neighbours did not have this year.

Bapu Ramchandra Jadhav, 35years, is a progressive farmer from village Sehnavad in Gaganbawada Taluk of Kolhapur District. He owns two acres of land in which he grows sugarcane, banana, corn, rice, sunflower and some vegetables for self consumption.

Some local people had taken training from Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) 6 years back. One such farmer had kept his bee box in Bapu Jadhav’s farm. He thus became aware of the pollination benefits from beekeeping, but due to the fear of bee stings and no training, he never took care of the honeybees or maintained the bee box.

As he had observed the pollination benefits from bees he wanted to learn beekeeping. He had also taken efforts to make a group of 10 farmers to take KVIC training. But since the training was to be held in Mahabaleshwar at a stretch of 8 days, he never could make time for the training due to his farming and other commitments.

When he heard that Under The Mango Tree would train farmers in beekeeping at their own village, he was excited. He was been a keen learner and soon picked up the essential beekeeping skills. Within 4 months he had transferred 7 colonies and learnt division of boxes.

Bapu Jadhav has observed prominent increase in banana yield after keeping bee boxes in his farm. In the first year when he had no bee boxes in his farm, each plant had only 5-6 bunches of banana and even after the use of some pesticides, the crop was prone to ‘ Karpa’  disease(drying of leaves). But this year with just 5 bee boxes in his farm, he has around 9-10 bunches of banana on each plant and no incidence of disease even though he did not use any pesticide. Not only has  the yield  increased manifold but the shape and taste of the banana is far better than the previous crop. He has experienced similar changes in Sunflower and corn yield as each flower and corn has more seeds, unlike his neighbour’s crops. He gives all the credit for this change to his bee boxes.

Apart from the benefits to his crop, Bapu Jadhav has extracted 9 kgs of honey form 3 bee boxes and sold it @ Rs.250/- Kg. People have come to his doorstep to buy the honey.

Bapu Jadhav says that training has provided him the technical skills of beekeeping whereas monthly follow up visits by the Technical Expert have helped him to keep up the interest and motivation to consistently maintain the bee boxes. Bapu Jadhav was initially very apprehensive about handling the bees, but with practice he has learnt the skill of handling the bees carefully. He says training, Atarji’s (Technical Expert)  careful handling of bee box and bee veil have all helped to overcome the fear of sting and now he handles his bee boxes confidently.

Kishan Abaji Pawar (41) of Bhavandagad village in Surgana, a tribal block in the Nasik District of Maharashtra, owns a one acre wadi. A wadi (a BAIF initiated programme) is denuded land on hilly slopes, converted into small orchards of cashew, mango  and other forestry plants. They are a source of fuel, fodder and steady income.

Kishan Pawar, ever since he was little, loved to observe and track honeybees as a pastime. Often, when the season was right especially during Holi and Diwali, this was a very productive activity for there was lots of honey to be got!

In March ’09,  BAIF field staff informed Kishan about a UTMT-BAIF training programme on bee keeping. There, he was amazed to learn – that as a farmer he did only half the work in the wadi and honeybees did the rest! Bees, by visiting the various flowers in his orchard, ensured that pollination took place. And, the number and size of the fruits all depended on the honeybees!

He also saw a bee box for the first time at the training.  That  bees could live in a box was new to him; it demonstrated how a natural colony found locally could be transferred into the box. However, bees unlike the cows and buffaloes that he had, did not require to be fed or their water tanks filled each day. The bees took care of themselves with minimum effort from him. And besides pollinating his orchard, they would also give him honey right in  his backyard.

Kishan Pawar’s interest grew when he visited his friend Manik whose bees that he had transferred into the box, were doing well. So Kishan observed the box closely and decided to make one on his own, using local wood. He then transferred a local colony into the box; within a week, he was the proud owner of a box with bees which he installed in his wadi.

As part of the monthly follow up visit in the next month facilitated by BAIF and UTMT,  the Apiculture expert suggested some improvements to the box and management of the bees. Kishan  was inspired to make more boxes.

Like Kishan, more and more people have taken to bee keeping in Bhavandagad village. Also, like Kishan, they now have an extra source of income from the honey and beeswax of the boxes as well as having greater agricultural productivity of their land.  Bees, the farmers of Surgana have decided, are truly beneficial.

Testimonial from Deepti, an urban beekeeper:
“Life has changed after the bee training workshop. How you may ask? Well, for starters every flying insect is closely scrutinised as a possible bee. Secondly, people at home have started thinking that I may need therapy – I mean who else would nearly kill anyone who is about to step on a moth? Thirdly, and I never thought I would say this, I think I am falling in love with bees.”
Deepti the dramatic bee & honey lover.

Testimonial from Mahadevan, an urban beekeeper:
Thank you for organising a fantabulous, on the ground, practical training on beekeeping. While my expectations were simple, my experience was simple awesome. I am not exaggerating, i have never seen a training programme (including the ones i have organised/coordinated/attended) in my professional career with so much attention to detail, crisp explanation and clear articulation with an empathic understanding of the query. Excited to be a beekeeper

Mr Mahadevan, Entrepreneur