World Bee Day was celebrated today with great enthusiasm with the Union Agriculture Minister stating that the government is working very seriously under the guidance of Prime Minister to bring about a “Sweet Revolution” in the country. On this occasion, a national level function was organized in Tent City-II, Ekta Nagar, Narmada, Gujarat in the presence of Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister.  Shri Tomar inaugurated an Exhibition at the venue of event as well as Honey Testing Laboratories and Processing Units at Pulwama, Bandipura and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, Tumkur in Karnataka, Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Pune in Maharashtra and Uttarakhand in a virtual mode from Gujarat. Shri Tomar said that empowering small farmers is the goal of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. He said that about 55 percent of India's population is rural and the country will progress only when the rural population progresses.

The centrally funded scheme, ‘National Beekeeping and Honey Mission’ aims to establish 5 big regional and 100 small honey and other Bee Products testing laboratories, out of which 3 world class state-of-the-art laboratories have been setup, whereas 25 small laboratories are in the process of being set up. The Government of India is also providing assistance for setting up of Processing Units. More than 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of honey is being produced in the country, out of which more than 60 thousand metric tonnes of natural honey is exported. In order to bring qualitative upgradation of  domestic honey to attract the world market, the Government of India and the State Governments are making concerted efforts and focusing on capacity building of bee keepers for production of honey by adopting scientific techniques.

Shri Tomar recalled that when PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he set new dimensions in the development of Gujarat.His government remained sensitive towards  the development of poor and  small farmers in Gujarat. In terms of poverty alleviation, employment generation, development of health facilities, adequate availability of irrigation to the farmers, Gujarat performed excellently under the leadership of Modi ji. The State has become a role model of development. During the programme farmers from different states interacted with Union Agriculture Minister and other dignitaries and narrated their experiences on how beekeeping activity had augmented their income.

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Kailash Choudhary said that the government has provided necessary resources along with new technology to the farmers through various schemes for beekeeping. The government is working on a mission mode to promote beekeeping, so that the income of farmers increases. Shri Choudhary said that Prime Minister Shri Modi has worked continuously for the betterment of the farmers, even during the Covid pandemic.

The Agriculture Minister of Gujarat, Shri Raghavji Patel expressed happiness over the selection of the State of Gujarat by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for organizing this event. He urged the farmers of Gujarat to adopt scientific beekeeping for better income generation.

Ms. MatejaVodeb, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Konda Reddy Chavva, FAO Representative in India, Mr. Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW)  Dr. AbhilakshLikhi, Additional Secretary, DA&FW, Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Horticulture Commissioner, DA&FW,  Mr. Meenish Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board, senior officers of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Government of Gujarat and large number of farmers/beekeepers and stakeholders associated with honey production participated in the event.

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APS