Father-son duo in D’gere village increase income through apiculture

Davanagere: In Katlagere village in Channagiri taluk, Davanagere, a father-son duo has been supplementing income from agriculture through apiculture. For the past 13 years, 71-year-old K Parameshwarappa, and his son, Rudresh KP, 35, have been engaged in beekeeping on his eight-acre areca farm. The tale of their growing prosperity, owing to beekeeping, has inspired many other farmers to approach Parameshwarappa and Rudresh, and learn apiculture from the duo.
Highlighting the indispensability of bees to human existence, Parameshwarappa said that, in addition to the money he has earned through the sale of honey, apiculture has helped increase the fertility of the soil, which has, in turn increased the yield of mango, watermelon, banana and areca. “Apiculture in Karnataka is yet to grow as popular as it is in Kerala, which has bagged the first rank in production in honey,” Parameshwarappa said.
The father-son duo has been supplying 500 to 800 boxes of honey culture with bee colonies to the horticulture department for the past eight years. “We sell each box for Rs 4,500. We fabricate each box on our farm, which we supply to Bidar, VIjayapura, Bagalkot and Chitradurga,” Parameshwarappa added.
The father-son duo has organised several training programmes to help farmers from across the state augment their income through apiculture. These camps are held at the Taralabalu Krishi Vignana Kendra. “In addition to farmers, MSc students from Davanagere University approach us, and learn about apiculture on our farm,” the duo said.
Rudresh said that they could procure honey naturally for eight months of the year. “We cannot procure honey during the rainy season, but we feed them with a sugar solution to ensure the survival of the bees,” he said.
Rudresh said that they had managed to extract more than one tonne of honey in 2013. “I kept more than 100 honey boxes in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district, and we have plans to collect honey by keeping more than 150 boxes in and around Jog Falls and Sagar in 2023,” he said.
Taralabalu Krishi Vignana Kendra horticulture officer Basavanagowda stressed the need to protect queen bees, since they were crucial for increasing crop yield through pollination.