Beekeeping for sustaining livelihood and horticulture productivity

Beekeeping is an asset ensuring nutritional, financial and ecological security to the rural India. In present scenario not only honey but also other bee products propolis, pollen, royal jelly, wax and bee venom are well-known to supplement the rural community with nutritional and financial security. Furthermore, plenty of horticulture crops like apple, peach, plum, citrus, strawberry, litchi, apricot, almond, cucumber, carrot, pumpkin, coriander, cabbage, cauliflower, melon, onion, radish, turnip and many more are effectively cross pollinated by honey bees. It is thus reasonable to say that Honey bee pollination is thus critical for the supply of vegetable proteins, dietary fibers, vitamin A and C and balanced diet. Commercially, beekeeping is the most profitable business that can give rapid income to beekeepers in a diminutive time by increasing yield and quality of the crops and producing valuable bee products. Different sectors and trades are also benefited from a strong beekeeping industry by making hives and equipment, and from using and selling the bee products. The effective use of honey bees in horticulture crop production is still in its infancy. thus there is need to boost the awareness among the farming rural community about the magnitude of the economic necessity of bee keeping to cross pollinate their fruit crops.