Beekeeping
We have established beekeeping “Apiary Unit” in 2017-2018 at Eternal University Baru Sahib, Tehsil Pachhad, and District Sirmour of Himachal Pradesh with 10 bee hives boxes of European honey bee (Apis mellifera) especially to meet the SDGs as it is mainly focused on socio-economic upliftment of rural farmers as well as maintained the environmental sustainability. Due to quality production, our honey is in huge demand but production cannot meet the demand thus we expanded this unit.
The main products of beekeeping are honey, bees wax, propolis, royal jelly and pollen. Bee products, especially honey is an important source of nutrition, medicine and additional enterprise to the farmers to generate extra income.Small farmers consider honey as a cash crop instead of a product for home consumption. The nearby areas of Eternal University have large proportion of unapproachable lands for agriculture and are covered with various types of medicinal plants and wild flowers that make this part of the region a high potential area for beekeeping. During on campus beekeeping training programmes, local farmers were made aware about the production of high quality wax and honey using local technology. When beekeepers were taught about the value of ' bee-loving' trees and the bees’ pollination activities, they were more willing to preserve forest habitat intact thus reducing erosion and landslides which are common in this steeply mountainous area. Beekeeping is a sustainable resource-based farming system without negative impact on ecology, agricultural activities and resource conservation programs.
