Short Summary
My name is Ranjith Kumar Pandranki and I am working with Aga Khan Rural Support India (AKRSPI) NGO at Niwali Block of Barwani Dist, MP. I have joined this NGO as part of a 1year fellowship programme - SBI Youth for India. Prior to this I was working with Infosys at Bangalore. Currently I'm on a year long sabbatical.
AKRSPI been working with the tribal communities at Niwali block for the last 8 years. The NGO has a very strong hold with the community here since it has been working on different programmes like SHGs, Watershed, Agriculture etc.
I seek your help in a new programme that I intend to start at this block in the area of Rural Self Employment. In this regard I would want to identify few farmers who are interested in getting trained in 'Bee Keeping' and would want to assist them through the different phases of starting a project on bee keeping and honey processing unit. This I believe will be a new income generating activity for some households and help them improve their livelihood.
The Economics
To get this project started I would need somewhere close to INR 50,000. I have zeroed on this figure after discussing with other NGOs which have already started a similar project in their work locations.
I have realized that for mobilizing the community, conducting an exposure visit and to get them trained on beekeeping I need to spend about INR 6,000 to 8,000 per farmer on logistics and training.
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Agriculture is the principal
source of livelihood for more than 75% of the population in Niwali block.
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There is an urgent need to
uplift this sector and improve the socio-economic condition of the farmers.
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Beekeeping will help
increase the crop production anywhere between 30% -80% thereby putting more income in
small farmer households.
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Beekeeping products
(honey and beeswax) raise the income of beekeepers, contrary to non-beekeepers
who depend mainly on commercial/cash crops.
Challenges
The major challenges I face at this juncture are
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The community fear the wild bees(Apis Dorsata) which exist at some locations.
- The lack of awareness of the community about the benefits of beekeeping.
I am planning to conduct village level meeting where I will show some videos to the community which would first remove the fear for bees and also raise awareness about the benefits of beekeeping. In this regard I have visited a nearby place where the farmers have started beekeeping with the help of an NGO. I have created a documentary of an interview with one of those farmer at his farm with the beebox.
