Vol. 10, Special Issue 8 (2021)

Author(s):
Shubham Arya, Dr. Anil Kumar, Keshav Kumar and Dheeraj Kumar

Abstract:
Indian agriculture sector accounts for 17.32 per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in financial year 2017-18 and provides employment to more than half of the total workforce of the country. Agriculture not only means the cultivation of land for crop production but also includes practices of allied activities such as livestock, poultry, beekeeping, sericulture etc. Beekeeping (or Apiculture) is one of such activities. Beekeeping is an agro based seasonal activity. It is currently one of the most widespread agricultural allied activities carried out throughout the world. Originally honey bees were mainly reared in traditional nets, bamboo holes, crevices of walls, wooden log, forest trees etc. and honey was extracted through crude method of squeezing the combs which resulted into destruction of bee colonies and deterioration of the quality of honey produced. At current time India ranks first in terms of number of beehive stocks followed by China in the World. The average annual production of honey worldwide was about 1.8 million MT during 2016-17. In Uttarakhand, beekeeping forms an integral part of small holder farming system and plays a significant role as source of additional cash income in subsistence farming. There were several problems that faced by the bee keeper. Beekeepers have no opportunity to decide or get satisfactory price of their produce. Beekeepers mostly sold their honey directly to the processor. March and April were most important months from view of level of production and disposal of honey. Unconditional weather and climatic conditions, bee diseases and unfixed price of honey were major problems faced by the beekeepers.