Youth tastes sweet success in producing organic honey

Bhupalapally: A young man in the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district center is producing organic honey in an innovative manner and earning lakhs per month. Oruganti has received training in beekeeping at Jayashan-kar Agricultural University in and started producing honey organically.

He is currently maintaining ten boxes of bees. Each box yields up to 7 kilograms of honey, three times a month.

For the past four years, he has been raising European hon-ey bees (Apis mellifera). Worker bees travel up to five kilo-meters daily, collecting nectar from about 16,000 flowers to produce honey and store it in these boxes.

The lifespan of these bees is around four to six weeks. Each box contains three types of bees: worker bees, queen bees, and drones.

The queen bee, which is golden in color, lays about 2,000 eggs per day. Drones protect the queen bee and the eggs. Worker bees take 21 days to develop, he adds.

To promote beekeeping among farmers in the Bhupalpally district center, he has been organising beekeeping activi-ties.

Along with honey production, bees also help with crop polli-nation, benefiting farmers by increasing yields.

However, due to excessive pesticide use in crops in the dis-trict, honey bees are at risk of dying when they approach treated plants, he rues.

“That’s why I started with fewer boxes. Market honey often contains various chemicals, but the honey I produce organi-cally has a high demand,” he added.

Many people prefer the organic honey due to its numerous benefits. Honey is considered a divine medicine, improving blood circulation and digestion. “Beekeeping has been very rewarding, both financially and otherwise. I encourage farmers to explore honey production for higher profits,” he suggests.