In an attempt to rehabilitate the displaced Brus in their newly formed cluster villages initiatives are afoot to engage them in bee keeping in large scale. A proposal in this regard has already been sent to the state government by Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Board.
The Brus who had come from Mizoram in 1997 October following massive ethnic conflict and were recently resettled in several cluster villages as series of talks over the decades with Mizoram government for their repatriation came a cropper, will now be trained by the Board in bee keeping. After completion of the training they will be provided with boxes, bee colonies, Queen bee and other essential items free of cost, said Board chairman Rajib Bhattacharjee.
Apart from that the Brus will also be given financial assistance ( as loan) under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Srijan Yojana. The Board will also help in marketing the honey produced and also in getting official paraphernalia like licensing and permission etc .
According to a conservative estimate and also from the inputs derived from the already established bee keepers of the state, the honey farming can fetch Rs 5000-Rs 6000 per month easily.
“Bee farming does not require huge infrastructure. It is easy to run and there are supports available from the Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Board, which include training”, said Bhattacharjee adding that already 171 persons were being imparted training in 2020-21 financial year despite pandemic. So far, as many as 430 persons were given training and bee keeping materials free of cost with the joint initiative of Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Board and Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
He said, more 2000 persons have applied for training from all over the state. Applications are being taken online.
According to the Board officials closed down Honey Processing Centre in Dhaleswar has been revived.
Proposal has been sent to state and central government recently for cluster formation. Plans are to sell honey in khadi brand.
The key idea to produce honey in bigger way has also strong connection with rubber plantations in the state. It was found in research that ideal environment for bee keeping is in and around rubber plantations. The honey collected from the nectar of auxiliary bud of rubber plant is of high quality and expensive. This honey also has many medicinal properties. Following the research results Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb asked the concerned authorities to strengthen the bee keeping infrastructures in the state so as to give an impetus in the self-employment generation efforts of the government.
Now at the initiative of the Board, clusters with 25 persons in each are to be set up around the rubber plantation so that rubber labourers can ern some extra money. Each of the cluster members will be given five boxes, bee colonies and other required materials.
