Honey adds a sweet touch to Vyapar 2022

Honey adds a sweet touch to Vyapar 2022
Kochi / June 16, 2022

Kochi, June 16: Sweetening the proceedings at Kerala’s MSME-centric B2B conclave Vyapar 2022, a variety of honey products, including natural honey and value-added products, from apiculturists from across the state, are on display.

For centuries, only natural honey was known to wild honey collectors and bee-keepers in Kerala. Of late, there has been a major shift to value-addition since there is a big demand for flavoured honey, considering their nutritional and medicinal value.

“Apiculture has great scope as an economic activity. Being a farm-related enterprise, it could be integrated with agriculture development projects,” said Shri S Harikishore, Director of Industries and Commerce, Govt. of Kerala.

Concurring with him, Shri Suraj S, CEO, Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-Bip), said it is an encouraging trend that many youngsters are now taking up apiculture seriously on realising its business potential.

Entrepreneur Shri Rafeeq, the promoter of the Beecraft Honey Museum in upland Wayanad, has come to the expo with as many as seven varieties of honey, which include stingless honey, black forest honey, karanj honey, lychee honey, mustard honey, tulsi honey, coriander honey, garlic honey and ajwain (carom seed) honey.

“Visitors to the Honey Museum will get a complete idea about the place of honey in human history and all the features of apiculture. Besides honey tasting, the guests will also be taken through all the beekeeping processes like making beehives, nurturing bees, extracting honey and evaluating its quality,” he added.

The museum aims at giving a boost to small- and medium-scale beekeepers by tapping the huge demand for honey, and its value-added variants within and outside the country, he pointed out.

Anup Baby Sam from Pathanamthitta, a successful apiculturist whose annual output averages 5.5 tons a year, said beekeeping can be a highly gainful activity, if conducted scientifically. An engineering graduate, he maintains over 700 bee colonies besides holding online classes on apiculture for the aspiring beekeepers.

Apart from the income from honey, apiculturists can also have some extra money by making devices to keep and extract money and making cream from bee wax, he pointed out.

Ayub Khan from Kollam makes a good business of making and selling the apiculture-related tools. Many of the consumers who buy honey often themselves show interest in having at least one bee colony at their residential premises, he said.

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