The Honey FPO Programme of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd was inaugurated by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today. The inauguration programme was hosted online and attended by the new Honey FPOs, farmers and FPOs from various parts of the country.
 
Inaugurating the programme, the Minister stated that beekeeping in India is highly predominant in the unorganized sector among the rural and tribal population. Despite having a huge potential of honey production in the country, the beekeeping industry is still underdeveloped. The Minister said, the adoption level of beekeeping is also quite less due to various constraints.
 
He assured that NAFED will address these issues by acting as an intermediary and filling up the gaps between the elements of the beekeeping supply chain and also ensure price remuneration to the beekeeping farmers.

Through these Honey FPOs, NAFED will also work for promotion of beekeeping as an occupation for unemployed women and tribal populations and uplift their livelihood. Mr Tomar also said that honey beekeeping will change the lifestyle of small and marginal farmers and help in achieving the goal of increasing farmer’s income.