Socio Economic Profile of Successful Beekeepers and Profitability of Bee Keeping in Muktsar District of Punjab

The main feature of bee-keeping enterprise is low capital investment and quick and high returns. Since 2006, more than one hundred rural youths have been trained in bee-keeping enterprise through seven vocational training courses conducted by KVK, Muktsar. Out of total 120 trainees, 28 trainees were continuing the bee-keeping enterprise with great success. Present case study was conducted to know the impact of bee-keeping enterprise on the income of 28 successful bee-keepers. Findings of the study revealed that bee-keepers were in the age group of 26–42 yrs of age. Majority of them (35.7%) were having education up to middle followed by matriculation (32.1%). Four bee-keepers (14.3%) were landless, more than half (53.6%) of these bee-keepers were small and marginal farmers and nine (32.1%) were medium farmers. It was found that 16 bee-keepers (57.1%) were having small scale of enterprise (10–50 colonies), while five (17.9%) were having medium scale of enterprise (51–100 colonies) and 7 (25.0%) were having large scale of enterprise (>100 colonies). The average income range in small scale of enterprise varied from 0.20 to 1.28 lac. In medium scale of bee-keeping enterprise, average income varied between 1.30 to 1.92 lac. It was found that seven farmers were having more than one hundred bee colonies (up to 350 bee colonies) and their average income varied from 1.95 to 6.20 lac per annum. The bee-keepers were earning income from the sale of honey, bee colonies and bee wax.