Prof. M. Premjit Singh
President, FAI,
Former Vice Chancellor, Central Agricultural
University (CAU), Imphal (India)
Title of Talk:
Bee Farming for Sustainable Agriculture
Bee Farming for Sustainable Agriculture
M. PREMJIT SINGH
Former Vice-Chancellor Central Agricultural University
Imphal,Manipur,India
ABSTRACT
Modern agriculture has come to depend greatly on the bees to fulfill its pollination needs. In the North-eastern region of India, a separate subspecies of Asian honeybee was reported and named as Apis cerana himalaya which differed from Apis cerana cerana of North West Himalayas and Apis cerana indica of South India. Further, there are three locally adapted populations or ecotypes of the subspecies A.c.himalaya that correspond to geographic distributions (1) the Naga and Mizo hills, (2) Brahmaputra valley and Khasi hills, and (3) the foothills of the northeast Himalayas. Pollen analysis of honey samples collected from North-eastern region of India revealed that the dominant sporomorphs were of Brassica sp., Solanum sp., Helianthus sp., Wendlandia sp., Ageratum sp., Clematis sp., Adhatoda sp., Mussaenda sp., and Papilionaceous, Rubiaceous, Rutaceous and Zingiberaceous members. Bee flora of the region was studied and identified 107 bee plants. Available information on important insect pollinators, foraging behavior and pollination requirements of the new subspecies, A.c. himalaya in relation to yield and quality of important oilseeds, fruits and vegetables of the region are reviewed and discussed. Large scale demonstration on Zero tillage cultivation with bee pollination for three consecutive years in 1000 ha revealed that the farmers involved in the project improved their income by getting net profit of Rs 34,620/ha, which includes cost of honey within three and half months with a low investment of Rs 17,480/ha with B:C ratio of 2.98.
Key words: Beekeeping, northeastern region, bee flora, bee pollination, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables Apis cerana himalaya