Honey extraction from stingless bees. (Express photo)The Central Bee Research Training Institute (CBRTI), Pune has started an initiative to popularise meliponiculture or stingless bee keeping and promote the domestication of such bees in Maharashtra.
As part of this initiative, the CBRTI, Pune conducted a two-day training programme on May 30 and 31 that was attended by 32 participants, comprising farmers, students and others.
As the name indicates, stingless bees do not sting, they are low maintenance, easy to handle and can easily be domesticated in urban areas and villages. “In India, Kerala, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are the leading states for meliponiculture. In order to popularise this in Maharashtra, efforts have been made by CBRTI, Pune and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to launch a project on popularisation and domestication of stingless bees this year,” Dr Daisy Thomas, project investigator, who is monitoring the project along with a team of CBRTI staff, told The Indian Express.
“Beekeeping with stingless bees is called meliponiculture. It is an agro and forest-based job-oriented technology for connecting and recycling resources into value-added products and protecting biodiversity through pollination, resulting in the enhancement of crop productivity,” she said. “Lakhs of feral colonies of stingless bees are present in the country.”
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There are many reasons to consider meliponiculture in the beekeeping industry, including importance in pollination, sustainability of ecosystem, easy handling, medicinal properties of honey etc. The training included sessions on natural colonies, multiplication of colonies, plants for stingless bees etc.
As compared to commonly domesticated bees such as cerana and mellifera bees, the distribution and domestication of stingless bees is lesser, Dr Thomas said. “This is due to less knowledge and limited training about its management. Mass production and management of stingless bees should be further explored. The CBRTI recommends the inclusion of stingless bees in all families, both urban and rural,” Dr Thomas noted.
Dr Rahul Mishra, director, CBRTI, KVIC, Mumbai has extended support for implementing the project, Dr Thomas said. Dr Thomas is the former deputy director of CBRTI.
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