Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar introduced the Haryana Bee Keeping Policy-2021 and Action Plan 2021-2030 on Thursday to encourage beekeeping in the state.
By 2030, Khattar instructed the officers to increase honey output by tenfold. He also instructed officials to encourage farmers to begin successful beekeeping and to recruit 5,000 additional farmers to join the project, which the state would support.
Farmers will be encouraged to grow alternative crops like sunflower and mustard as a result of beekeeping, he said. Farmers' income would be increased by selling honey and its byproducts, he added. He also told the officers to concentrate on small farmers in order to assist them in increasing their revenue through beekeeping.
Sumita Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, stated that focusing on the byproducts of beekeeping will result in a considerable increase in farmer revenue.
Haryana ranked eighth in honey production in the country, with 4,800 MT produced, according to Director General (Horticulture) Arjun Singh Saini. In 2019-20, the country produced around 1 lakh MT of honey. He claims that 60 percent of the honey, worth Rs 600 crore, is exported.
In addition, on Thursday itself, Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal ordered a'special girdawari' (revenue survey) to examine crop damage caused by severe rain in various regions of the state.
Also efforts have been made to engage the youth with businesses such as mushroom farming, milk processing, and fisheries.
Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal said horticulture crops cover 8-10% of the state's land, and there was no insurance plan in place for them previously. The 'Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima' scheme, which was authorized by the state cabinet on Wednesday, would cover a total of 21 vegetables, fruits, and spice crops.
Farmers that cultivate horticulture crops may experience significant financial losses as a result of a variety of circumstances. Farmers will be compensated for crop loss caused by unexpected outbreaks of crop diseases, insect-pest infestations, unseasonal rains, hailstorms, drought, and frost, among other things.
