Bhubaneswar, May 21 (KNN) Promoting Honeybee farming among the farmers in state, the Odisha Government has decided to promote one lakh farmers as bee farmers with the financial and technical support from banks and Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB).

Being profitable small investment and eco-friendly too, honeybee farming needs to be promoted, said Odisha MSME Minister Prafulla Samal on the occasion of the World Honeybee Day held on Sunday.

The event was jointly organized by MSME Department and KVIB.

Speaking on the occasion, Prafulla said “Odisha was among the rare states, which were producing honey and we have to bring back that glory.”

He pointed “one lakh farmers are to be enlisted from across the State in order to be promoted as bee farmers with the financial and technical support from banks and the KVIB.”

And for this purpose Women SHGs are also to be roped in, he added.

In this direction, KVIB Chairman Tejeswar Parida proposed to start a mission to be named after Late Chief Minister Biju Patnaik as "Biju Patnaik Madhu Makhi Yojana" to promote bee keeping.

He also proposed for fixing of minimum support price (MSP) for honey in order to motivate farmers. 

Further, the board is planning to open honey parlors in selected places of the state and promote honey gift packets, Parida added.

MSME Secretary LN Gupta emphasized on the need for achieving the target of providing bee boxes and other instruments to 10,000 farmers set by the Chief Minister within a short duration.

More than 100 farmers from coastal districts participated in the meeting and some selected farmers were provided with machines to support and promote the mission of honeybee farming.