Producing Honey: Learning, Making money and Growing

Honey is one of the best gifts of nature to mankind. It is not only an excellent food source but also has numerous medical uses. Due to its taste and health benefits, honey is always in demand in market.

Updated on: 29 January, 2021 8:05 AM IST By: Amit Bhatt
Pravin Kumar Raghuwanshi

Honey is one of the best gifts of nature to mankind. It is not only an excellent food source but also has numerous medical uses. Due to its taste and health benefits, honey is always in demand in  market. Honey has been grown by rural communities in India from time unknown. Due to its benefits it can used as replacement for jams, chocolate spreads and peanut butter for children. 

Pravin Kumar Raghuwanshi who hails from Betul District, Madhya Pradesh is a proud owner of his Brand  BEE'S WORLD INDIA.  As the name of the brand suggests he produces natural and pure honey by using honey bees.  

HOW THE BUSINESS STARTED 

Pravin worked for a number of companies doing business in agro products.  After gaining enough experience he decided to start his own business. The reasons were not only financial but also about self growth, motivation and professional satisfaction. Pravin said starting own business will  also be  important for future generations who won't have to look for work elsewhere and being owner of an enterprise is a matter of pride.    

HOW TO PRODUCE HONEY:  HOW THE BUSINESS WORKS 

The business activities that Pravin listed his business is involved in are: 

1. Box supply 

2. Buying  honey

3. Comb honey production 

4. Consultancy

5. Training  privately and pan Madhya Pradesh (master trainer with government), associated with Central Bee Research and Training Institute, Pune in capacity of  master trainer.

There are five types of bees that are used of  honey production by BEE'S WORLD INDIA: satpuriya bees (Apis cerana indica bees), mohirus bees (Apis dorsata), kothi bees (apis trigona), desi bees (Apis florea) and  Apis mellifera bees (foreign bees), brought to India by  Punjab Agricultural University. Though most of his honey production uses Apis cerana indica bees and Apis mellifera, the foreign bees. 

For actual honey production there are three categories of bees differing in their looks and the work they do.  The most important honey bee being the Queen bee whose main and only  task is to lay eggs, the other one being the drone bee which mates with the Queen bee and expires after the mating and lastly the worker bees which make the honeycomb,  look after honey production, raise baby bees and guards honeycomb.  

Honey is made using the nectar of flowers on plants. Following a rotation policy,  BEE'S WORLD INDIA  generate 50kgs of honey from one bees box instead of 10kgs per year if it is kept around one type of flowers. They have honey farms in Betul (Madhya Pradesh), Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh) and Rajasthan where the boxes are kept in  sarson flower gardens. 

ADVANTAGES OF DOING BUSINESS IN HONEY PRODUCTION 

Products that BEE'S WORLD INDIA sell are flora honey, normal honey, comb honey,  jar honey and honey in the forms of  honey candy, honey strips. If you are a honey producer and want to sell honey there are companies all over India who will buy your honey for sales. Pravin also buys honey for resale. There are well established brands like Dabur, Patanjali selling Honey at 350-500 Rs per kG. Pravin is selling  his honey at Rs. 1000 per KG which is bought by health conscious people looking for pure honey as its away from impurities. Pravin mentioned  that he can earn Rs 10,000 per year per box. Pravin earns 5-7 Lakhs per year through his honey farms business. 

HONEY FARM SHOW 

Pravin gave a demo on FARMER The BRAND on how his business functions. Pravin showed how these boxes are arranged and how the bees (Queen bee, drone, worker bees) produce honey on the slabs inside the boxes. He showed the boxes using Indian bees and foreign bees. 

Enthusiasts and people interested in making good money through selling honey can contact BEE'S WORLD INDIA (https://www.beesworldindia.com/) for training and consultancy purposes.  

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