Raghuveer Singh, a farmer from Koteshwar in his mid-60s had been practicing traditional bee-keeping for more than two decades. But it was not a very scalable methodology and was also a hard and time-consuming process. With the training provided as part of the “Skill Development and Sustainable Livelihood” program under the CSR initiative of Team Computers, Raghuveer has a scientific and better understanding of Bees, bee-caring and techniques of bee-keeping and honey extraction. Better techniques of scaling and using the modern techniques with research-based knowledge bank approach made all the difference in harnessing the power of bee keeping knowledge. He is expecting to earn additional annual income of 20,000 which is a huge support for a smallholding farmer like him

As part of the ‘Integrated Himalayan Honey Value Chain’ pilot project, 20 bee keepers in 5 villages of Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, have been selected for up-skilling and for upgrading their capacity to undertake honey production at commercial levels. Appropriate Technology India (ATI), an India NGO that has been working in Uttarakhand since 1994 in biodiversity conservation and economic development, will be providing the technical know-hows and handholding in seasonal bee management and honey extraction. In this area we need to understand that the land resource that the farmers have is very limited and more over the location is remote and therefore the opportunities are also few. To address the issue of migration and to increase the income of smallholding farmers in Uttarakhand, beekeeping activity as a lucrative livelihood option needs to be promoted and revived in Uttarakhand.

The other key aim of the project is to protect and enrich the indigenous bees ‘Apis Cerana Indica’, the India Honey Bee. These bees are also relatively non-aggressive, rarely exhibiting swarming behavior and are ideal for beekeeping. (European honey bee, Apis Mellifera, produces 75% of India’s honey.)