In a boost to apiculture in Kerala, a beekeeping equipment manufacturing unit under the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) at Kalavamkodam, near Cherthala, is set to begin operations in the coming weeks.
According to Horticorp officials, the plant is the first-of-its-kind in the public sector in the country that will offer high-quality apparatus to bee farmers at reasonable rates. “At present bee farmers in the State buy equipment from private agencies. The unit at Kalavamkodam will ensure the availability of quality materials at fair rates,” says J. Sajeev, Managing Director, Horticorp.
At ₹25 lakh
The manufacturing unit set up at a cost of ₹25 lakh, including a grant of ₹19 lakh from the Union government and the own fund of Horticorp, is expected to start full-fledged operations by the end of this month. In the initial phase, the plant will manufacture beehives, smokers, comb honey cutters, hive stands and so on.
“The unit will manufacture all paraphernalia needed for beekeeping. We will begin with the manufacturing of beehives. All the machinery for making hives has been installed at the unit and the production will begin in the next couple of weeks. The timber for the same is sourced through the Forest department and is expected to reach the unit in the coming days. The production of all other equipment included in the first phase will start before the end of September,” says another Horticorp official.
The official says that bee farmers would get a 40% subsidy for equipment manufactured at the Kalavamkodam unit in the current fiscal.
Expansion plans
The Horticrop has already prepared a plan to expand the unit with the aim of manufacturing honey-processing machines, storing drums, collection traps, vending machines, implements for making value-added products, and hygienic collection of honey in the second phase.
The agency is also in the process of setting up a bee-breeding unit at Kalavamkodam. As part of it, 25 bee colonies will be set up in the initial phase, which will be raised to 100 colonies in three months.
