Sweet Revolution

• 10 Jan 2022

For Prelims: Mobile Honey Processing Van, National Beekeeping and Honey Mission, Beekeeping, Sweet Revolution

For Mains: Doubling Farmers’ Income, Sweet Revolution, Promoting Apiculture

Why in News

Recently, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the country’s first Mobile Honey Processing Van at Village in Uttar Pradesh.

• Mobile Honey Processing Van that will process beekeepers’ honey at their doorsteps and thus save them the hassle and the cost of taking the honey to processing plants in far off cities for processing.
• This initiative is taken in pursuance of “Sweet Kranti” (Sweet Revolution).

Key Points

• Benefits of ‘Mobile Honey Processing Van’:
  • The transportation of honey to processing plants is an expensive affair for small farmers and beekeepers.
    • To avoid high transportation and processing costs, a majority of beekeepers would sell their raw honey to the agents at their farms themselves at a very low price.
    • The Processing Van will reduce the honey extraction and processing cost to the beekeepers.
    • This will also eliminate any scope for adulteration of honey as the processing will be done at the doorsteps of the beekeepers and farmers.
• About ‘Sweet Revolution’:
  • It is an ambitious initiative of the Government of India for promoting apiculture, popularly known as 'beekeeping'.
    • To provide a booster shot to Sweet Revolution, the government launched the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission in 2020 (under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare).
  • It aims to accelerate the production of quality honey and other related products.
    • The demand for good quality honey has grown over the years as it is considered a naturally nutritious product.
    • Other apiculture products such as royal jelly, beeswax, pollens, etc., are also used extensively in different sectors like pharmaceuticals, food, beverage, beauty, and others.
  • Under the Honey Mission, the KVIC provides the farmers or beekeepers –
    • Practical training about the examination of honeybee colonies,
    • Identification and management of bee enemies and diseases along with the management of bee colonies in all seasons.
    • Acquaintance with apicultural equipment’s and
    • Honey extraction and wax purification.
      • The Honey Mission programme was launched by KVIC during 2017-18.
  • Technology intervention through this mission will ensure bee conservation, prevent diseases or the loss of bee colonies and provide quality and quantity of apiculture products.
    • Farming practices will yield superior-quality honey and other products for the domestic as well as international market.
  • Beekeeping is a low investment and highly skilled enterprise model, in which technology application has emerged as a great enabler for socio-economic growth.
    • Scaling up beekeeping will double farmers' income, generate employment, ensure food security and bee conservation, and increase crop productivity.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

• KVIC is a statutory body established under the Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956.
• The KVIC is charged with the planning, promotion, organisation and implementation of programmes for the development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.
• It functions under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Source: PIB