- Training 1,432 farmers in beekeeping including women, thereby increasing their income by Rs 10,000 -12,000/ annually.
- Providing 1,500 small beekeepers direct market access for their sustainably harvested honey and increasing their annual income by 25%.
- Creating 55 Master Trainers to provide support to scale up the BPR model at farm level and by Rs 12,000 per annum.
- Bringing to the market 8 Metric Tonnes of honey and 5 Metric Tonnes of beeswax.
Impact of Beekeeping on Agricultural Productivity:
Results from a UTMT short-term research study on the impact of indigenous beekeeping with the Apis cerana indica on agricultural productivity, show that of 16 locally important plants studied showed increased productivity with the highest being Capsicum (Bell Pepper) at 227% and ridge gourd at 27% as compared to farms with no bee boxes.
Examples of increased agricultural productivity at the farm level are as follows:
These remarkable productivity increases as a result of beekeeping, have substantially increased marketable surpluses of both food and cash crops for farmer families, increasing their incomes by over 50%.
Qualitatively, UTMT’s BPR model has established and resulted in a leap of faith for farmers that beekeeping is very much possible in areas where unsustainable honey hunting was practiced earlier leading to a decline in the local bee populations.
Our Future Plans
Expansion of farmer trainings to consolidate and create beekeeping clusters:
By 2015, UTMT will train 10,000 marginal farmers, creating self sufficient beekeeping clusters in various states across India.
- Farmer trainings will expand to cover 5,000 farmers in five of the poorest districts in the state of Gujarat; another 2,000 farmers in tribal districts in state of Maharashtra and 1,000 farmers in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh over the next 3 years. Other potential growth areas are the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. This will lead to an average increase of income of approx $ 400 per annum per family in these areas of poverty.
- The project will focus on building capacities of 300 local farmers as Master Trainers who will upscale the activity locally and simultaneously earn Rs 15,000 per annum (approx $ 350).
- Training for 100 carpenters and 500 women in production of necessary bee-keeping and honey collection inputs will be undertaken, raising their incomes by approx $300 per annum.
- An institutional structure (possibilities being a farmer-producer company or co–operative) to motivate and sustain support to farmers working with the A. Cerena and network, access markets, infrastructure and finance will also be established.
Recognising that scaling is essential to influence governmental policy, UTMT aims to collaborate with state governments as successful implementation would validate replicability and ensure policy support. To take this forward, UTMT is collaborating with the state Government of Gujarat on a large scale pilot, impacting 5000 farmers in the poorest districts.
On the Market Access Side:
- Put in place physical infrastructure such as bottling, processing plants to ensure better prices for the farmer
- Initiate the process of organic certification among its farmers
- Construct well managed, value chains for honey and beeswax which will eventually be farmer owned and managed
- Improve honey consumption in India (the Indian consumer consumes only 5 gms of honey compared to worldwide average consumption of 1.5-3 kgs in Europe) by showcasing use of honey in recipes.
- Encourage honey as a healthy gifting option for corporates and individuals for festivals and weddings
- Access organic and niche markets in India and the globe to sell honey and beeswax to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics producers, candle companies.
In the next 5 years, UTMT aims to be a recognized gourmet brand for its ethics of quality, purity, organic-certified and fair-trade in India with a global presence. A profit distribution model for producers will also be created within the UTMT framework by then.