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.
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.”
