Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches Nafed’s Honey FPO Programme

30-Nov-20

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Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched five Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for producing honey which will be set up with the help of NAFED in East Champaran (Bihar), Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).
These FPOs will be one of the first sets of 2,200 FPOs approved by the government for the current financial year. The task of creating these FPOs has been entrusted mainly to Nabard (600 FPOs), Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (500), National Cooperative Development Corporation (500) and NAFED which will support 50 commodity specific FPOs.
The government has also roped in many State level organisations too for setting up FPOs. Among them are Watershed Development Department of Karnataka (100 FPOs), SFAC-Haryana (50), SFAC- Tamil Nadu (50), North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (50)), 100 FPOs and National Rural Livelihood Mission of Ministry of Rural Development (100). Besides, Agriculture Ministry directly spearhead constitution of 100 organic farming and 100 oilseeds FPOs.
According to NAFED, 4,000 to 5,000 bee-keepers and honey collectors would benefit directly through these five FPOs. NAFED would help them in branding and collective marketing of the honey as well as explore overseas markets for them.
The Beekeeping Development Committee was formed under the leadership of Bibek Debroy in 2019. The committee worked under the Economic Advisory Council of Prime Minister of India.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, India ranks 8th in the world in terms of honey production. It produces 64.9 thousand tonnes of honey per year. On other hand, China stands first in Honey production. It produces 550 thousand tonnes of honey per year.
The Government of India has allocated 500 crores under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to increase Honey production in the country.