‘350 ton honey produced in valley this year’

Srinagar, Mar 14: To acquaint the farmers with modern techniques of bee-keeping and honey production one-day awareness cum training camp was held today here at Lalmandi.
The camp was organised by Assistant Entomologist Kashmir in collaboration with Potato Development Officer Kashmir.
Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi inaugurated the camp, which was attended by around 200 bee keepers of the valley.
Highlighting the potential of the trade, the Director Agriculture said that bee-keeping is a profitable agro based industry and department is taking various initiatives for increasing the production and marketing of the honey.
The Director instructed for increasing the number of bee colonies in the orchards on hire basis which is beneficial for both   fruit and honey production.
He said that presently there are 63000 bee-colonies in the Kashmir   and a production of 350 tonne was recorded the current  year.
The Director asked the beekeepers for testing their honey in the quality control lab at Lalmandi, and get a certificate for increasing their market value.
During the technical session, the scientists from SKUAST-K and experts from the department gave a detailed presentation on the modern techniques of honey production and its byproducts  .
Joint Director Agriculture Inputs Deepak Kumar Kuchroo, Mushroom Coordinator Avinash Chander Peer  Deputy Director Central Amir ud din Andrabi , Agriculture Chemist , Regional SMS Lalmandi, Potato Development Officer and other officers of the department were present on the occasion.