BEEKEEPING COURSE CONCLUDES AT PAU

LUDHIANA, MARCH 31:



A five-day 'Basic Beekeeping Training Course' organized by the Department of Entomology, PAU, for scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) farmers and farm women of Punjab, concluded here today.



The Chief Guest, Dr. Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU congratulated the 41 trainees who underwent training in the course. Dr. Kang said that a large number of people in India are below the poverty line, earning very less income. The subsidiary occupations such as bee keeping can help in the enhancement of their economic well being. He suggested the trained participants to maintain contact with PAU experts and try to excel in bee keeping profession through hard work and innovation. He added that it was a matter of pride that Punjab, with 25000 bee keepers, produces about 30% honey of the country. The trained bee keepers can further this attainment, he said. Dr. Kang delivered certificates to the trainees. He released the proceedings of the recently held honey festival at PAU which were distributed among the trainees.



The PAU Director of Research, Dr. S.S.Gosal informed that this training course was organized under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), wherein the trainees were reimbursed their to and fro fare and provided free literature on beekeeping. He described bee keeping profession as greatly beneficial in requiring less investment, bee multiplication, apiary box multiplication, enhancement of productivity through pollination, etc. He shared that efforts were on to develop better strains of bees and more efficient equipment to give a boost to bee keeping in the state.



The Dean, College of Agriculture, Dr. D.S.Cheema, giving examples of vegetable hybrids, said that bees offer a remarkable advantage of pollination as these are attracted toward colourful flowers. He advised participants to take up bee keeping as their income enhancing profession.



The Additional Director of Extension Education, Dr. H.S.Dhaliwal said that trainings help to pursue targets. He emphasized the need to go and for better marketing through selection of better market place, obtaining better prices for quality and promotion of value addition, etc. The Additional Director of Communication, Dr. Jagtar Singh Dhiman suggested participants to keep in touch with the technical advancements and technology generation through reading the farm literature published by PAU.





Earlier, Dr Ashok Kumar Dhawan, Head, Department of Entomology, PAU, said that PAU has been pioneer in successful introduction, establishment, multiplication and dissemination of Italian honey bee throughout the country. This brought about the commercialization of beekeeping in India in general and Punjab in particular, thereby enabling the country to export good quality of honey to the developed western countries. With the efforts of PAU experts, Punjab, today, is a leading state in apiary honey production and has emerged as the hub of beekeeping industry in India.



Dr Pradeep Kumar Chhuneja, provided an overview of the activities carried out for the participants during the training course. Dr Jaspal Singh proposed the vote of thanks.
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