Dr. Devinder Sharma, Bhumika Kapoor and
Manoj Thakur
We owe a great deal of gratitude to bees, an incredible but sometimes underrated insect that is among the world's hardest-working insects for their tireless perseverance. If bees didn't exist, our lives and our surroundings in their entirety might have been substantially different. To demonstrate this assertion, take into account some fascinating facts: about 400 distinct agricultural plant varieties and nearly one-sixth of the world's blooming plant species are pollinated by bees. Nearly 20,000 different species of bees are known, including solitary ones like mason bees, carpenter bees, and leafcutter bees as well as social bees like honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees. Therefore, for the greatest qualitative increase in crop yields, many cultivated crops used in agriculture and horticulture depend on or get benefits from pollinating insects, i.e., bees and other pollinators, by moving pollen from one bloom to another. Let's sum up: about 90% of all flowering plant species are designed for biotic pollination, primarily by insects. As a result, they have a huge impact on both the security of the economy and the production of human food globally.
Currently, one of the biggest threats to bees is the scarcity of safe habitats where they can establish hives and find a variety of nourishing food sources. Pesticide misuse and excessive monoculture farming pose major risks to bees by exposing them to dangerous chemicals and impairing their immune systems. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has found that 40% of invertebrate pollinators—particularly bees and butterflies—are in danger of going extinct globally. According to the FAO, bees and other pollinators directly contribute to more than $500 billion of global agricultural production annually. Around 75% of the world's food crops—including onions, pumpkins, apples, mangoes, and sunflowers—and nearly 90% of all wild flowering plants require pollination in a certain way.
Bees need our protection!!!!!
It is important to recognize that bees play an important role in food and nutrition security, and continuance of ecosystem services for sustainable agriculture and horticulture. Protecting bees and other pollinators will significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and will also help in eliminating hunger in developing countries. Bees halt the further loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable development goals (SDGs). Therefore, keeping in view the importance of bees in our livelihood, every year World Bee Day is observed on 20th May. Under the theme “Bee engaged in pollinator-friendly agricultural production, 2023, emphasize the importance of protecting bees and other pollinators, particularly through evidence-based agricultural production practices. The proposal put forward by the Republic of Slovenia, on the birth date of their pioneer beekeeper “Anton Jansa” with the support of Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations and FAO, to celebrate World Bee Day (WBD) on 20 May each year met with approval by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017. By giving people the chance to learn about the significance of incorporating pollinator-friendly agricultural production practices to protect bees and other pollinators, as well as by enhancing the integrity, sustainability, and viability of agri-food systems and bringing attention to the need to protect bees among the general public and political decision-makers worldwide.WBD offers a chance for all of us- including governments, commercial sector organizations, civil society and most importantly farmers to take action to conserve and enhance pollinators to increase their abundance and diversity and creating a source of financial security.
To boost the income of farmers' in India, beekeeping has been highlighted as an agro-based activity to be adopted by farmers and laborers in rural sectors as an integrated farming practice. Beekeeping supports rural communities to meet their nutritional requirements and to generate revenue of approximately Rs 2 lakh per annum by introducing 50 beehives in their fields and simultaneously adopting honey farming to achieve the goal of ‘Sweet Revolution'. It is becoming increasingly evident that bees can be a less expensive and important resource for encouraging sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture and improving crop yields. Depending on crop, season, and area, crop-wise yield gains have been recorded that range from 2 to 300 times. On that note, Government of India has launched National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) as a part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme with the aim to promotes overall development of beekeeping industry for employment and income generation for farm and non-farm households, to increase agriculture/ horticulture production, women empowerment and creating infrastructural facilities, and technology generation in beekeeping through three Mini Missions. India is one of the top five producers of honey worldwide. With the government of India's coordinated efforts, honey production has surged from 76,150 MTs in 2013–14 to 1,25,000 MTs in 2020–21, while exports of honey soared from 28,378 MTs in 2013–14 to 59,999 MTs in 2020–21, raising the total worth of revenue generated by the trade to over Rs. 700 crore. Madhukranti portal for online registration and a traceability system to identify the source of honey and other beehive products have been created. With 16 lakh honey bee colonies, more than 10,000 beekeepers, beekeeping and honey societies, firms, and companies have registered under the National Bee Board and are connected to the Madhukranti portal. Whereas, 100 mini-honey testing labs and 5 regional labs are also established in the different agro-ecological locations to assure the supply of high-quality honey. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers' Welfare (DAC&FW) has designated the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) as the fourth national implementing agency for the development of 10,000 FPOs (Farmer producer organizations), in addition to SFAC, NABARD, and NCDC aiming to shorten agri-product value chains for fair returns to all stakeholders, build sustainable smallholder institutions to strengthen collective capacities, and use technology for improved transparency, flexibility, and seamless agri-product trade. Indian Council of Agricultural Research additionally encourages location-specific research through All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honey bees and Pollinators (26 centres) that are located throughout different agro-ecological zones. Also, to promote pollinator-friendly agriculture management practises, FAO engages in a variety of programmes. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare (MoA&FW) and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) are working together to carry out the Green-Ag project, which is being supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
In Jammu division, there are about 2471 beekeepers having 1047 A. mellifera and 1424 A. cerana beekeepers with around 82660 bee colonies producing over 4500 tonnes of honey. The Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Doda, Ramban (Banihal), Kishtwar, Udhampur, Poonch, Reasi and Rajouri Districts of Jammu region are the most potential and suitable areas of beekeeping. Well, there is a lot of scope to promote beekeeping and pollinators, empowering farmers for scientific beekeeping and product diversification, and enhancing their existing skills through trainings for socioeconomic upliftment of under privileged tribal farmers.
At last, in order to promote biodiversity, sustainable agriculture practices can be used. Additionally, low levels of fertilizer application can improve ecosystem services provided by bees, reducing the negative environmental effects of agriculture. Consequently, apiculture needs to be actively incorporated into campaigns to support natural farming and integrated farming approach. The promotion of beekeeping in conjunction with agriculture could prove to be a win-win strategy that lowers input costs while increasing farmers' revenues. Furthermore, local communities all over the world have knowledge bases that include knowledge of flowers and pollinators. Many indigenous peoples use the products made by bees, such as honey, wax, pollen, and the bees themselves, for a variety of uses, including food, traditional medicine, activities connected to their spiritual and contemplative lives, and handicrafts. Bees and pollination are associated with a wide range of values besides agriculture and food production.
Ecological, cultural, economic, health, human, and social values are provided by bees and their habitats. Beekeeping is essential for local development as it normally involves little investment, produces a variety of goods, and may be conducted without the need for land ownership or rent, and offers flexibility in terms of activity scheduling and location. So, it is high time that adequate efforts should be made for its study and more importantly, for its conservation. What Einstein noted years ago, the time now has come to think seriously over it – “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have 4 years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
