The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has distributed bee boxes, honey colonies, and toolkits to beekeepers under the ‘Honey Mission’ to spread the Sweet Revolution. 

• Honey Mission (2017): It is an initiative of KVIC that promotes beekeeping and honey production (apiculture), and integrates bee farming with agriculture for additional income. 
  • Apiculture products include honey, royal jelly, beeswax, pollens that are widely used in pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, beauty, and other industries. 
• KVIC: It is a statutory body established under the Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956 and functions under the Ministry of MSME. 
  • It plans, promotes, and implements programs for Khadi and village industries, coordinating with rural development agencies. 

Note: Like KVIC’s Honey Mission, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare implements the National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM), a Central Sector Scheme aimed at promoting scientific beekeeping to promote the Sweet Revolution in India. 

Sweet revolution promotes apiculture (beekeeping) to boost the production of high-quality honey and other bee-derived products.

What is Sweet Revolution?

• About:
  • 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 (a central sector scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme.
• Aim:
  • 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.
• Significance:
  • 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.