M Kalyanasundaram, Dean, Agriculture, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, said yield of many crops is not only dependent on fertility and absence of pests, but also on pollination, which could be aided only by honey bees. Absence of pollination has triggered crop yield loss by 30 per cent. The declines could have a serious effect on food security because bees are essential to pollination.

Cardamom, a major cash crop in pockets of Bodinayakanur in Theni, The Nilgiris and Yercaud in Salem, has suffered crop yield loss by 25 per cent owing to absence of bees and other pollinators. But, still many farmers never realised the yield loss.

On the other hand, pesticides and insecticides were sprayed indiscriminately on plants and it has ultimately affected the bees and prevent them from pollinating the crop, thus resulting in indirect loss to farmers.

“Honeybees are called angels of agriculture, the backbone of Indian economy and pollination can’t be aided by any other means except honeybees,” Dr Kalyanasundaram told DT Next.

Bees collect pollen from various agricultural and horticultural crops such as sunflower, sesame, papaya, guava, moringa, all citrus plants, banana, sapota, pulses, brinjal, tomato, cucurbit vegetables, water melon, musk melon, pumpkin, bottle gourd and bitter gourd.

Bee colonies that live in bee boxes could also be placed in coconut orchards as the best remedy for button shedding to achieve tremendous yield. Further, the Dean said honeybees also play a phenomenal role in hybrid seed production as well.

More importantly, pure honey, which has become a high priced commodity, sold at Rs 500 a kilo, help in boosting the income of farmers. A farmer could produce seven kilos of honey a year in a bee box. There’s a steady market for pure honey, which also has medicinal value and all ayurvedic drugs are honey based.

Hailing the initiative, P Murugesan, district president, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Thoothukudi, said farmers are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yield. Beekeeping could not only fulfill the purpose of promising agriculture, but also offer a good source of income generation, since beekeeping for honey production is gaining popularity across India.