In view of the unemployment problem facing the country there is ample scope for providing employment opportunity to unemployed youths in this industry. Moreover, the traditional honey hunters who lack the scientific knowledge and skills are unable to get enough income out of this. Besides honey, its by-products are rarely available. There is enough research based scientific knowledge, skills and technologies available in India, which can nurture this industry in a more scientific and professional way. People particularly in the down stream should be given the scope, opportunity and enabling environment to take up this occupation for earning their livelihood.

The Scenario of Honey Beekeeping Industry in the State of West Bengal:

Business of Rock-bee Honey – Current Situation*

In India, production of honey is very low as compared to China, the highest producer which exports 80,000 tones annually in comparison to India’s 7,000 tones.

Estimates of honey production in India, as presented in the workshop titled ‘Awareness- cum-technology transfer in bee-keeping, 2006” organized by National Bee Board, New Delhi, is about 64,455 tones a year. Consumption of honey in India is also very low. The per capita consumption is estimated to be a dismal 3.0 gm as against that in Germany it is 1.5 kg. Sundarban is the largest provider of rock-bee honey in West Bengal. Honey available in the region is collected during a specific period between March and May, the period when Mangrove trees bloom in Sundarban bio-sphere.

The Forest department issues permit to honey hunters every year to collect honey and wax from forest. The guidelines have it that the permit holding hunters (members) who collect honey from combs can sell it only to the Forest Department against payment of a pre-determined collection fees (price of raw honey). However, in the discussion of the Focused Group , on 21st June,2014, held at Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology , Sri Ramkrishna Ashram, Nimpith, the Implementing Agency (I.A) of the cluster, the DFO, Govt. of West Bengal, informed the house that though there is no specific guidelines about the existing practice but to save the original beekeepers of Sundarban area from the un-ethical middleman group , the forest department collect that honey .The Hunters do also sell the honey collected from forest to private middlemen. The Forest Department does procure honey on behalf of West Bengal Forest Development Corporation Ltd. (WBFDC), which in turn transports honey to its filtration unit at Kolkata. Subsequently, WBFDC markets only filtered honey, mostly in consumer pack, under brand name of “Mouban”. It also sells honey through exhibitions and a few select wholesalers. The price that is paid by Forest Department to honey hunters (Presently Rs. 100 a kg) though in several times the payment is being made in delay and it is fact also in open market price is more than the rate of local Govt. In this regard the cluster may play a good role with the professional approach and the DFO has assured also in the meeting for their whole hearted cooperation in this regard.

Data available from ‘The 24 Parganas Beekeepers’ Cooperative Society Ltd., village- Shasan, P.O Baruipur is presented in Table below that highlights basic facts of Sundarban honey.

Number of Beekeepers, Bee colonies, etc., in Sunderban

Project Report on promoting Beekeeping as a Supplementary Livelihood activity for Poor BPL households in Sunderban, January 2008 of IL&FS CDI Ltd., New Delhi

There are some 8-10 processing units in West Bengal, data on which is provided in Table below:

Honey Processing Units in West Bengal

The State Forest Department is having one unit which does not process but only filters the honey and then markets it under the brand name “MOUBAN”.

None of the units as shown in the Table above are state- of- the- art and modern and use basically heating technology to process honey.

Potential for Development of Honey Business

In addition to rock-bee honey (also referred to as wild squeeze honey) that is produced in the mangrove forest in Sundarban, bee-keeping (Apiary) in Sundarban also holds a good prospect and, if taken up in a planned manner, could emerge as an important additional source of income to honey hunters. The concept is born out of the fact that the large area (roughly more than 3.00 lakh ha) under cultivation of crops, fruits and vegetables could support forage requirement of honey bees in Sundarban tract. Considering one hectare under cultivation as bee flora base for two colonies as a reasonable assumption, Sundarban region could support a total of 1, 00,000 bee colonies as against estimated number of 10,000 colonies existing at present.

Mobility of habitants in Sundarban being very difficult most of the time due to their dependence largely on water ways for transportation, the ‘Apis cerana’(indigenous honey bee species) could be an ideal choice of honey bee species to begin with. Later, when adoption of bee keeping becomes a prominent activity, bee-keepers could be advised to switch over to ‘mellifera’ (migratory Italian honey bee species) as a more viable choice, for it requires special attention and care at all times. Rearing this type of bees (yield potential of 40-60 kg per colony per year) also requires the keepers to have very sound technical knowledge which takes long time to acquire and internalize.

Very low household Consumer’s demand for honey notwithstanding, its demand as an intermediary product used in pharmaceutical industries is steadily moving north-ward. Further, as mentioned earlier potential for export looks quite promising. Share of export from India could grow steadily from the present paltry level of 7000 tones compared to annual demand for world markets pegged at around 10,00,000 tones, if the production is restructured and organized in a well articulated line.

The Sundarban Beekeeping Cluster & its present Scenario:

The Sundarban Beekeeping Cluster is located in Sundarban area covering six blocks such Pather Pratima, Kultoli, Mathurapur II, Namkhanna, Gosaba and Jaynagar II,Sagar. The cluster has a radius of about 40 kilometer. However, as proposed the cluster will be now limited to Pathar Pratima and Kultoli blocks that cover about 12 villages which are mostly the tribal villages. The places are located in Sundarban islands covered with rivers and dense forest. The nearby mangrove forest is rich with abundant flora and fauna, herbs, shrubs, plants and trees. The geographical location of the place and climatic condition make it fit for breeding of natural honeybees.

As per a survey conducted by Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology about 1000 traditional tribal bee hunters are presently engaged in the honey collection and related activities. Besides collection of honey, the collections of other minor forest produces and catching of fish and crab add to their family income.

Out of 1000 Bee keepers, 620 most needy bee collectors belonging to tribal, SC and minority communities have been selected for the initial phase of intervention.

Most of the bee hunters belong to tribal community and primarily depend on the river and forest resources for the sustenance of their livelihood. The tribal people mainly collect honey form the interior forests and sale the raw honey directly to the forest department and in local markets / Hats. Often they face the tigers and forest wild animals during their expedition to the forest.

However, they lack the scientific skills of honey collection, which often results in damage of beehives, bees. Moreover, due to lack of proper knowledge and skills of honey processing, place for storage etc they sale out the honey immediately at very cheaper price. While the major portion of the collected honey goes to forest department, the buyers in the local markets are the agents of exporters or big business men who collect honey in huge quantity and in turn process it elsewhere and sale at higher price which is around 175 kg. However, the price offered by forest department seems to be very low that varies from place to place from Rs 100 in general. Since it is a predetermined condition based on which a hunter is given permit to enter into forest, the poor hunters do not have any other way. Unfortunately the forest department does not have any processing plant and they simply filter the raw honey and sale in the market under the brand name of “Mouban”. In the entire process of honey collection to marketing the worst sufferers are the honey hunters who at the cost of their life dare to venture into forests and face the monopoly raj of forest department and the traders who determine the price. It would be heart breaking to hear the melancholic story of families who have lost their son, daughter, wife and husbands fighting Royal Bengal tigers in the forests while collecting honey. Many of them are migrating to Kolkata and other places in search of employment.

The poor and needy collectors lack business skills and the entrepreneurial ability to sustain the trading activity on a commercial basis. The innocence, illiteracy and ignorance of tribals and other hunters are some of the reasons for their lack of bargaining capacity. Therefore, the individual hunters are in need of training in improved technology, equipments, preparation of value added products etc on a continuous basis. They also need Exposure Visit to change their mindset, get new ideas and adopt new practices for getting higher income. Skill up-gradation training, established marketing channels, scientific and hygienic methods of honey collection and processing, quality-testing facilities for honey, new machinery support services etc are some of the services that are needed for the development of the cluster. Given the organized inputs, the economic return to the hunters would be more and they would be a part of the organized system that can sustain their livelihood.

Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology, unit of Sri Ramkrishna Ashram, Nimpith, a State NGO has been working on bio-diversity project and have service centre in remotest places to help the needy people in the filed of agriculture development, fishing etc. This is for the first time that the organization has conducted a preliminary survey on the honey hunters in Sundarban and plans to put in organized effort to ameliorate the condition of the poor hunters.

There is an enabling environment since potential stakeholders like KVIC, State Government Departments particularly forest Department, Tourism, NABARD, Sundarban Development Corporation, etc are giving priority to promotion of work and life of the poor people living in the island. The local leadership, the district administration, the NGO and moreover the State Government have favoured this project for the benefit of the poor honey hunters. It is worth mentioning here that Ramakrishna Ashram has adequate infrastructure facilities like land and buildings, vehicles, boats etc which will be very helpful while implementing the project. It is envisaged that there is ample scope for convergence of resources from different resource support agencies to carry forward the project in the long run.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLUSTER

Note: Out of the 07 blocks initially Pathar Pratima and Kultoli covering 12 villages will be taken up for first phase of intervention.

i) Artisans to be covered

ii) Skill Level of Artisans