TURA, Dec 10: In what can be deemed as a potential game-changer for the sector of apiculture in Garo Hills region, the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) has recently adopted many villages in West Garo Hills and transformed them into honey centres.
The adoption was formalised during a programme which was attended by NEHU Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla, Gambegre BDO SG Momin, campus in-charge of NEHU Tura Prof Sujata Gurudev, among others
During the programme, Nodal Officer of Apiculture Mission Frederick A Sangma informed the gathering about the initiative.
He also informed how beekeeping can facilitate village development by improving the livelihood of future generations.
“Beekeeping promotes pollination and also produces honey, which will give employment to the farmers and double their income. The plants were selectively chosen for each month and grown so that there would not be a shortage of flowers for the bees to feed on. This is the reason for beekeeping being called a green industry,” Frederick said.
Nodal Officer, Incubation Centre, NEHU. Tura, Dr R Sasikumar, on the other hand, explained the gathering about the village adoption and how he and his team contacted the DCIC Tura for collaboration on the Apiculture Mission.
A skill-training programme for potential apiculture farmers was conducted in the incubation centre of NEHU, Tura campus, which was attended by a total of 150 farmers from the villages of Aminda Ading, Aminda Rangsa, Aminda Simsanggre, and Chigitchakgre under Gambegre.
“The apiculture farmers were trained successfully and input supports were distributed. Each Apiculture Input Support Kit includes bee boxes, bee nets, extractors, and other equipment and was funded under North East Hill (NEH) Scheme, ICAR. More apiculture input support will be provided based on the performance of the farmers,” informed a statement by NEHU.
The NEH programme was implemented by ICAR-NIBSM, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in collaboration with NEHU in 2019 for the welfare and socio-economic development of farmers in the Northeastern Region.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, Prof Shukla assured that the incubation centre would sign a buy-back agreement with appropriate governing bodies to popularise wild organic honey from Meghalaya into international markets.
He also informed that in order to assure quality, the incubation centre has already established a well-equipped advanced food-testing laboratory at the Tura campus having full-fledged processing plants, which are maintained by the NEHU Tura campus.
Prof Shukla added that the honey villages will be able to produce close to 10,000 kg of pure honey per year through modern scientific method with green processing, and will become a role model for the entire country.
It will also enhance the livelihood standard of the village and help in the growth of the state overall, he said.
It may be mentioned that the incubation centre at the Tura campus, as per the university, will extend all types of support including capacity building, technical input, quality assurance, trade mark and branding and intelligent marketing at the domestic and international levels.
