Rajhmundary, January 30: With hundreds of beehives getting damaged during the recent rains and cyclone, honey has become scarce in the state. The shortage of ‘rock bee honey’ (raw honey) is also driving up the price with the price per kilogram now being Rs 500 up from Rs 250 earlier.
The annual production of rock bee honey in the state is about 3,500 quintals and it reached even 4000-4500 quintals during 2004-2006. But though the decline in raw honey production started from 2007, the government did not take any initiatives to combat the problem. Raw honey is usually available from May to June and November to December in the state. But during 2010, there was no raw honey at all.
The Honey purifying unit (HPU) in Rajahmundry came to a standstill three months ago due to the lack of raw materials. Meanwhile, the stocks of purified honey is also exhausted and ayurvedic companies and other drug making units are facing problems due to the scarcity.
HPU has an annual business turnover of around Rs 3 crore and has an order of Rs 1 crore per annum. The unit in Rajahmundry has the purification capacity of 200 qunitals per month.
The Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC) is trying to produce honey by building apiaries. In this method, a queen bee (female bee) is kept in a box along with some male bees. The hive that is subequently formed will lead to more honey being produced.
GCC is also involving tribals in the collection of raw honey and in association with the Central Bee Research and Training Institute of Pune, they imparted training to 3,000 tribals to be honey collectors. They were also provided with necessary kits to protect themselves from the bees during extraction.
Speaking to Express, HPU senior manager R Satyanarayana said that they expect production of 100 quintals of raw honey per month from May onwards.
–IANS