Knowledge gained during bee keeping training and its impact on farmers of Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh

The present study was conducted during 2018 and 2019 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Chamba with the objective to study the impact of trainings on the gain in knowledge of the farmers. Male participants outnumbered the female participants as out of 2,441 trainees only 775 were women and others were men (1,666). About half of the trainees (48.30%) belonged to younger age group (18-35 yr) including both male (215) and females (27). Least number of respondents belonged to the age group above 50 yr. The data regarding their education levels revealed that majority of the participants were up to senior secondary (61.08%) followed by graduates (21.36%). Majority of the participants were farmers (72.65%) either small, marginal or large farmers and most satisfied that the training was need based and helped to sort out the problems and questions which were in their minds before the start of the training. Majority of the participants were most satisfied with the practical (92.87%) and exposure visits to the apiary (84.26%). The data revealed that 70.26per cent trainees gained knowledge on the importance of bees for pollination of crops and conservation of biodiversity and hence showed their eagerness to adopt bee keeping for pollination services whereas 28.14per cent were interested in honey production and its sale. The gain in knowledge ranged between 42.12 to 72.46 per cent .