Bihar will benefit from the Honey Mission initiated by the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

The commission would soon provide training to youths and farmers among others on beekeeping. It will also provide them free bee boxes so that they take up honey production seriously and help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of 'Sweet Revolution' under which he wants to accelerate honey production in the country.

The chairman of the commission, Vinay Kumar Saxena, said this at a programme organised at the commission's office in Patna on Sunday.

Beekeepers from various places, including Vaishali, Muzaffarpur among other places had also participated in the event. 'As part of the Prime Minister's vision, we want to double the honey production in the country by 2020. Bihar is doing well in honey production, but we want to further boost the production here. By training farmers here on beekeeping, we can help them generate more income. For example if we provide 10 bee boxes to farmers, it would provide him/her Rs 50,000 additional income through honey production. Besides, the crop yield of the farmer would also increase because of pollination by bees. Bihar has abundant crops suitable for pollination,' said Saxena.

He added that training would ensure production of high-quality honey apart from other products, including wax.

According to commission officials, Bihar produces 10 per cent of the total honey produced in the country.

'The state holds the 11th position in honey production in India. There are around 9,000 beekeepers in the state. The start of training on beekeeping and distribution of free bee boxes would definitely accelerate honey production in the state,' said state director of the commission S.K. Gupta.

Beekeepers who participated in the programme said there were various constraints in continuing with beekeeping in Bihar.

'The state government doesn't support us in marketing our product. Bihar is one of the largest producers of honey in the country but our product is not being marketed well because of which we are not being able to earn profits. Besides, the state or the Union government has not started any laboratory here where we can test the quality of honey being produced. We want to experiment with flowers and crops in honey production but we are unable to do this because of lack of lab facility here,' said Shiv Kumar Singh, a beekeeper with Vaishali Madhu Utpadak Samiti.

He added: 'Big companies like Dabur, Kejriwal group, Pioneer Food & Agro Industries buy honey from us and sell it in the market after processing it. But many times they keep bills due. There is no platform of the state government where we can directly sell our honey to people without the involvement of middlemen.'

Arun Prakash, the chairman of Rural Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme Federation, another participant at the event, said banks in the state were flouting collateral-free-loan norms for micro, small and medium industries whose limit was up to Rs 2 crore.

Prakash said: 'Besides there is no online portal for marketing our products. How can our MSME products compete with big companies such as Patanjali among others when there is no initiative from the government on marketing our products?'