Tag: Bee Wax

Pawandeep Singh Arora

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Leaving the dream of settling abroad, this Bee-Keeper engrossed himself in his father’s profession.

Now-a-days, our young generation is more eager to settle down overseas because they feel that in abroad, they can have more secure future. But if we do our job with hard work and devotion by staying at our own nation, then we can have secure future in India too and need not to go anywhere else.

One such young man is Pawandeep Singh Arora. After completing his MA, Pawandeep first tried to settle down in abroad, in light of the fact that, as other youth, he additionally feels that there are more chances to work abroad.

Pawan’s uncle lived in Spain, so only after completing his matriculation, Pawan tended to go there. But due to some reasons, this desire remained unfulfilled, nevertheless, he continued his studies. As time passed, he noticed that his dream of going abroad is not working out. After completing his graduation, he opened a coaching centre with his sister. He closed the coaching centre after 2 years, when his sister got married.

Pawandeep’s father, Mr. Shamsher Singh, is into beekeeping farming since 1990. Being educated, Pawan wished either to go abroad or to have some good job here, because he did not want to continue this beekeeping business. But then his father began falling sick. At that time, Mr. Shamsher Singh was working at his Bee farm in Madhya Pradesh. The doctor advised him to take rest, due to which Pawan himself had to go to Madhya Pradesh to handle the work. That time, Pawan did not had any information about extracting honey, but after being on the farm for 4 months in Madhya Pradesh, he got enlighted himself with knowledge on beekeeping. He benefited a lot in this work. Gradually, Pawan’s interest started growing in the beekeeping and he decided to adopt beekeeping as his business and concentrated all his attention on this. To gain more knowledge about this, he also took 7 days’ beekeeping training from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Amritsar. After developing an understanding about the extraction of honey, now Pawan is focused on the marketing of honey. He saw that traders are buying honey for INR 70-80 per/kg from him, and selling it for INR 300 per/kg.

“Traders buy honey at a cheaper price from us and sell it at a higher price. I thought I would no longer depend on merchants for selling the honey. For this purpose I decided to sell honey myself” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Pawandeep first had 500 boxes of honey bees, but he reduced the number of boxes from 500 to 200, so that he could focus more on the marketing for his beekeeping and he also shifted 3 workers to do the work of packaging. He profited a lot by packing and selling honey himself. He visited various farmers’ fairs too and sold honey himself, from where he got good results from the people.

Being young made, Pawan understands the importance of social media. So he created a website to sell honey and also promoted it online, in which he got succeeded.

Now-a-days, due to lack of knowledge about marketing, beekeepers tend to close their honey farming. If the business of beekeeping is done with a knowledge of marketing, then a lot of profit can be made in this work too.

There are various types of honey prepared by Pawandeep:
  • Mustard Honey
  • Eucalyptus honey
  • Akashiya Honey
  • Kashmiri Sawai honey
  • Shisham Honey
  • Litchi Honey
  • Multiflora Honey
  • Kher Honey
  • Jamun Honey
  • Java Plum Hone
  • Berry Honey
  • Ajwain Honey

Pawandeep extracts honey from different places such as river canals. He carries honey bees boxes on the sides of canals so that honey can be extracted, and then migrates them back so that they can be packed and made ready for selling. He prepares “A” grade honey, which completely freezes, which is the hallmark of real honey. People with low eyesight used honey prepared by his farm which improved their eyesight.

“We go to different places to extract honey, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Sirsa, Moradabad, Rajasthan, Rewari etc. Along with honey, we also extract Bee-Wax, Bee-pollen and Bee-Propolis which is sold at a very good price.” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Along with honey, Pawan also processes turmeric. He takes raw turmeric from farmers and processes it and sells turmeric along with honey. Pawan’s father (Shamsher Singh), mother (Neelem Kumari) and wife (Ritika Saini) also helps him in this work. For this work, they get help from the girls in the village for packaging of honey.

Future Planning

After achieving success in the bee-keeping business, Pawan wants to take this business to a higher level and market different products.

Message
“A message for farmers who are a part of Bee-keeping business; they should not depend on merchants. The bee-keepers should extract, pack and market the honey themselves only then profits can be made in this work.”

Mukesh Devi

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Abuzz of sweet success: Meet leading lady in beekeeping world with an annual income of 70 lakhs from honey business

“It is believed that future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Milakpur is a small village in the interior of Jhajjar district of Haryana, which is not even properly linked to the main road and has no direct bus service. It almost seems impossible for a person to think of starting any allied farming activity or business while living in such a place. But the successful endeavour of Mukesh Devi in beekeeping field has proved that anything is possible if you have the passion to do it. Even after suffering from painful toxic stings of bees, Mukesh Devi and her husband had never thought of stopping and they continued their passion of producing the best honey in Northern India.

In the year of 1999, Mukesh Devi’s husband – Jagpal Phogat started beekeeping after getting inspired by one of her relatives who was also doing beekeeping. With the help of training provided by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mukesh Devi also joined his husband’s venture in 2001. The work which they began so early with few beehives, started growing gradually with the time and now it has been expanded in other areas of states as well- Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

Seeing the health benefits and rising market demand for honey, now Mukesh Devi has started selling the honey under her own brand – Nature Fresh. Currently, she has 2000 honey bee boxes for honey collection.

Mukesh Devi has not only made her family status financially stable but she has also provided employment to more than 30 people. By sending honey bee boxes to 5 different states with the help of their employed workforce, Mukesh Devi and her husband collects around 600 to 700 quintals of honey annually, and by honey, it doesn’t just means the ordinary honey with same flavour and taste, they have honey in more than 7 different flavours which are collected from the plants of Tulsi, Ajwain, Coriander, Shisham, Eucalyptus, Lychee, Neem, Mustard, and Pigeon Pea. Tulsi honey is one of the best honey they have with great market value.

When it comes to honey collection then the couple pay special attention to the time and weather of different states and according to that they set up their beehives at different locations. For organic honey, boxes are sent to the jungles in different states, below are given some time spans of honey collection from different places:

• For Tulsi Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Madhya Pradesh (October to November)
• For Ajwain Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Rajasthan (December to January)
• For Ajwain – Boxes are sent to Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab (May to July in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab)
• And from Feb to April, boxes are set up at different locations in Haryana
Moreover, the income of this couple is not only limited to honey production and its selling, they also sell Comb Honey, Honey Amla Murraba, Honey Carrot Murraba, Bee Pollen, Bee Wax, Propolis, and Bee Venom, which have a good market price. Presently, Mukesh Devi and her husband are earning around 70 lakhs annually just from beekeeping.

Mukesh Devi and Jagpal Phogat efforts have been appreciated by many organizations and officials, some of them are given below:
• Received National Award from IARI, New Delhi, in Rashtriya Krishi Unnati Mela for beekeeping and producing different varieties of honey in 2016.
• Mukesh Devi & Jagpa Phogat honoured by Agri Leadership Award at Surajkund, Faridabad
• Awarded by Union Minister of Steel – Birender Singh for good honey production
• Awarded by Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Their achievements have been published in IARI progressive farmer magazine namely Adhyeta and Innovative Farmer Magazine with other 39 progressive farmers.
Mukesh Devi is a progressive beekeeper and her initiative has set an example for other women entrepreneurs that if the efforts are in the right direction than even beekeeping business can make you a millionaire.

Future Plan:
Mukesh Devi and her husband have bought a piece of land in their village where they are planning to set up the processing unit of their products according to the market demand.

Message
“Looking at the present status, farmers must pursue allied farming activities with conventional farming for better financial stability.”

Bhupinder Singh Sandha

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Meet Progressive Beekeeper Bhupinder Singh Sandha Who Is As Busy As Bees in Propagating Apiculture

By remembering the first bee sting, generally, most of the people just hate being around the bees, unaware from the fact that these little busy bees can help you make an unbelievable sum of money, not only from honey but from many other by-products of honeybees.

But it was never money for which Bhupinder Singh Sandha started beekeeping; it was the buzz, the art of bees, and the boons of beekeeping which fascinated Bhupinder Singh Sandha more towards it.

It was 1993 when Bhupinder Singh Sandha came to know about the process of apiculture during a visit to honeybee farm in Rajpura organized by Agriculture Department. Watching the bees at work inspired Bhupinder Singh so much that he decided to start beekeeping with mere 5 subsidize honeybee boxes.

To say, Bhupinder Singh Sandha had a diploma degree in pharmacy and he was a pharmacist, but his life was surrounded by the buzzing bees and sweetness of honey.

In 1994, Bhupinder Singh Sandha also opened a Pharma store and also use to sell processed honey at that store and steadily his beekeeping business was also expanding. His purpose of coming in the pharmacy line was to really help the people, but later he realized that he was just selling the prescribed medicines, which was not what he actually thought. He did market research in 1997 and analyzed that beekeeping is the line on which he needs to focus. So, after 5 years of running the pharma store, he finally dropped the medical line and decided to completely focus on the bees.

And it is said that – You feel the real happiness in life when you choose a job you love.

Same was with Bhupinder Singh Sandha, he found beekeeping the real pursuit of happiness. In 1999, he expanded his bee farm to 500 boxes and came up with 6 types of honey varieties like Himalayan, Ajwain, Tulsi, Jamun, Kashmiri, Eucalyptus, Litchi and many more. Other than honey, he also sells bee pollen, bee wax, and roasted flax-seeds powder. The brand name which he chose to represent his honeybee products is Amolak and currently, it has a very good market in Punjab. With the group of 10 workers, he manages his whole bee farm and his wife also supports him in his business.

For Bhupinder Singh Sandha beekeeping is a major part of his life, not only because it is the source of income, but also because he loves to see bees at work and it is one of the great ways to experience this nature’s wonder. Through beekeeping, he wants to rise along with other farmers in the different field. He also guides the farmers who visit his farm regarding practical training for honey harvesting, Queen Bee rearing and packaging the products. Through Radio programmes and print media, he tries his best to contribute to the society and propagate apiculture and its diversification.

Bhupinder Singh Sandha’s farm is situated in his village Tiwana, Patiala, where he has taken 10 acres on lease. He generally keeps 900-1000 honey boxes and sells the rest. His wife is his second business partner and supports him at every step. To make his work more successful, he has attended many training to improvise his skills and has also displayed his work in many national and international platforms across the globe. He is also the recipient of many appreciation letters by various departments of Punjab Agriculture University in the field of beekeeping. He has his own ATMA Kissan Hut by the name Amolak under ATMA scheme where he sells his processed products.


Future Plan:

In future, he is planning to come up with one more by-product of honey bees and that it propolis. Other than beekeeping he wants to introduce chemical free organic jaggery powder under the Amolak brand. He has many other great ideas on which he is still working and will disclose it later with the time.

Message

“For beekeepers marketing honey themselves is the best thing because in this way they can reduce the adulteration and the role of mediators who seize most of the profit.”

 

Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kick started his profession with his own passion for beekeeping and in the future also he will try to explore the potential hidden in apiculture field for the welfare of the society. If the story of Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kindled you to know more about beekeeping then you can contact him to know more.

Ravi Sharma

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Tailor Turned Beekeeper Creating a Medicinal Powerhouse by Expanding Apiculture

Apiculture is rising industry which is not only attracting the people of agrarian society but also people from other different communities because of the future gain. One such a person who is creating a medicinal powerhouse in his village by expanding apiculture is Ravi Sharma.

Starting from 1978, till 1992, Ravi Sharma used to tailor the clothes and also guide 10 other men under him, in the same profession in his small village Gudana of district Mohali. His tailoring business was going well in a small village shop until he visited Rajpura, Patiala and met Dr. Walia (Agri Inspector).

For Ravi Sharma, Dr. Walia acted as a pathfinder towards beekeeping; he was the one who inspired Ravi Sharma towards beekeeping and helped him in adopting it smoothly.

In the beginning, Mr. Sharma got 50% subsidy and himself he invested Rs. 5700 on 5 honeybee boxes, from which he obtained 1 ½ quintal honey and earned good profit. First earning encouraged Ravi Sharma to expand his work to 100 honeybee boxes and this is how he switched to beekeeping and dropped the profession of tailoring completely in 1994.

Visit to Rewari, Haryana in 1997 in an agricultural event, boosted up Mr. Sharma’s fascination towards beekeeping and then he decided to increase the number of honeybee boxes. Now, the bee boxes number varies from 350-400 in his farm.

In 2000, Mr. Ravi also gave a try to dairy farming with 15 cows, but it was not as successful as beekeeping. Due to labour problem, he has to end it. Now he has only 4 HF breed cows and one Murrah buffalo for home purpose and sometimes he also sells their milk in the market. In the meanwhile, beekeeping work was going smooth.

But the journey towards successful beekeeping was not that velvety. In 2007-08, a mite attacked was encountered in his beehives colonies due to which only 35 honeybee boxes were left unaffected and the rest were destroyed. This incident completely shattered the beekeeping business of Ravi Sharma.

But this fall made Mr. Ravi stronger and he rose more powerfully and established his honeybee farm successfully within a short span of time. After seeing his success many other people consulted him to start their own beekeeping business. He started distributing 20-30 honeybee boxes to his relatives and friends also and in this way he created a medicinal powerhouse.

“Once there also came a time when honeybee boxes count reached up-to 4000, and all those people who owned it, started beekeeping after seeing my success in beekeeping venture.”

Today, Ravi Madhu Makhi Farm has two workers for managing the bee farm work. Marketing is also smooth, as Ravi Sharma has a tie-up with a person who buys all the honey from him, and sometimes Ravi Sharma also sells 4-5 quintal of honey on the roadside shop near Anandpur Sahib from where he earns well.

Beekeeping is the only source of income for Ravi Sharma through which he is supporting his family of 6 members, which includes wife, mother, two daughters, and a son.

“My wife- Mrs. Gyan Devi, was the main supporting pillar in my beginning beekeeping years. Without her, I would not have reached this level in my life.”

Currently, honey and bee wax are the two main product of Ravi Madhumakhi Farm.

Future Plan:
Till now I have expanded the beekeeping work in my village and few relatives only, but in future, I want to expand beekeeping to a much larger area.

Message:
“A person should do his work with complete dedication and include these three words in his efforts “Imaandaari (Honesty), Gyan (Knowledge), Dhyan (Care)” then only he can achieve what he wants.”

Because of Mr. Ravi’s effort today Gudana village has become a powerhouse for honey production and he will keep his work in progress to make beekeeping more impactful business in the future also.

Harbir Singh Pandher

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HOW FATHER’S INVESTMENT IN APICULTURE, HELPED SON REAP RICH DIVIDENDS FROM IT IN THE FUTURE

The young scion of Pandher family – Harbir Singh Pandher not only took his father’s beekeeping business ahead but he also turns it into a profitable venture with his ideas and efforts.

Harbir Singh, a residence of Kuhli Khurd, Ludhiana is a young lad who even after holding an engineering degree in Civil, decided to continue his father’s occupation and give it a boost with his innovative ideas.

When Beekeeping Business was basically introduced to Pandher Family….
Gurmail Singh Pandher – Father of Harbir Singh, started beekeeping business almost 35 years ago without any training. In 80’s, when nobody ever thought that apiculture can also be a profitable source of income at that time the futuristic mind of Gurmail Singh ran in a different direction. At that time, he started his apiculture business with mere two honey-bee boxes, and today his son has turned his work into a flourishing endeavour of 700 honey-bee boxes.

Even though Harbir’s father beekeeping work was making a good profit but it was still lacking the marketing perspective, due to which they were not able to cover the ideal market. So, Harbir thought of giving his father local business a boost with his planning and thinking. Harbir just after completing his studies overtook his father’s business. Choosing father’s business was not a compulsion for Harbir, it was his passion to continue the work which he has seen his father doing all his childhood.

The first thing that Harbir did after he started managing his father’s work was to give a brand name to the business- “ROYAL HONEY”. Harbir was well aware that to promote a business on larger scale branding is very much important, so he got his business registered under this brand name. To give his work a more professional touch, Harbir especially visited PAU in 2011 for beekeeping training.

In the year 2013 he also gets his product registered under AGMARK and today from packaging to marketing, he does everything himself. He is mainly focusing on two products and that is honey and bee wax.

Harbir has mainly Italian Bees at his farm, and to maintain the higher quality of the honey yield they do season to season migration of honey-bee boxes from one place to another in nearby states of Punjab. He has employed 7 workers for this work. Mainly he leaves his boxes in Chittorgarh (Carrom Seeds fields), Quota (Mustard fields), Himachal Pradesh (Multi-flower), Malout (Sunflower fields) and another place in Rajasthan (Bajra & Tuar fields) by taking area on rent. By the method of manual processing, he extracts honey and then does the packaging and marketing of his products.

Other than beekeeping, Harbir and his family are also doing farming and dairy farming. They have 7 acres of land on which they grow rice and wheat for home purpose, and have 15 buffaloes, whose milk they sell in the village and also keep some of it for personal use.

Currently, Harbir is making a good profit from his family business and in the free time, he also helps other people by guiding them towards the beekeeping business. Harbir’s future plan is to expand his business to a larger extent and also become fully independent in terms of marketing.

Message for Farmers:
“
Nowadays farmers shouldn’t be dependent on farming only, they should adopt other agribusinesses also along with farming, so that if one option fails then they at least have other option to survive. Beekeeping is a very profitable business and farmers must give it a try to know about its benefits.
”