Kachikul man earns Rs 3 lakh yearly from beekeeping
Source: Chronicle News Service / Sagolsem Bigyan

Imphal, March 29 2023: Rather than just waiting for white collar jobs, self-employment or entrepreneurship has been a great option for employed youth and very often, it not only brings good income to the individual but also generates jobs for others.

Heisnam Subaschandra of Kachikul Mayai Leikai is one such successful entrepreneur, who is now earning over Rs 3 lakh per annum from his beekeeping business.

Interestingly, he is not even a youth but a 53 year old married man with a family to provide for.

Eldest of four children born to Heisnam Ibomcha and Memcha-tomb, Subaschandra is also a mas ter in Kung-Fu.

During an interview with The People's Chronicle, Subaschandra said that he grew up as an ardent lover of martial arts and he pursued Kung-Fu in which he has become a master.

Honey has been an integral part of his diet in order to keep him healthy as a martial art practitioner and master.

In 2019, he participated in a training programme on beekeeping at the Pune-based Bee Research Centre, which was sponsored by the horticulture department.

The 15-day training programme taught him a great lesson as he got the idea of taking up the profession to make his living.

Consequently, he joined several other training programmes on beekeeping after returning from Pune.

He started beekeeping in between late 2019 and early 2020 with five bee boxes in the surrounding of his house on trial basis.

Later, he expanded the venture in his farm at Sangaithel, where he installed 130 bee boxes.

He also planted different types of vegetables, flowers and fruit bearing trees in his farm to aid in beekeeping.

That way, the bees in his farm do not need to foray into other places to search of nectar.

At the same time, they helped in the pollination of his plants.

Subaschandra sells the honey he collected at Rs 400 to Rs 500 per kg and wax at Rs 700 to 800 per kg.

Harvesting 100 kg of honey yields 1 kg of wax.

Sometimes, he gets customers, who want to buy both the bees and the bee boxes which he sell at Rs 3500 per box.

He can easily earn over Rs 3 lakh per year from beekeeping, Subaschandra confided and informed that he harvests honey 20 times a year from each box, especially during last week of January to first week of April during which he harvests each box once a week.

After that, he stops harvesting for about two months and then harvest twice a month, Subaschandra said.

The beekeeper also revealed that he is able to provide jobs to others as he hires labourers to maintain his farm, make bee boxes and gather honey.

He gives Rs 700 per bee box as labour charge and a person can make two to three boxes in a day through which they can earn Rs 1400 to Rs 2100 in a day.

He also expressed confi-dence that beekeeping can be adopted as a major profession.

However, the major problem that beekeepers face in the state is market linkage.

The government can take up certain initiatives to help the farmers in this regard as this has potential to provide income opportunity to many unemployed youths, he said and further maintained that most interesting thing about beekeeping that differentiates from other professions like poultry and livestock farming is that it does not require manual feeding.

Besides, it can be taken up with a small investment with assurance of a handsome return, he added.

(This article has been published under media fellow ship programme of Central Agricultural University, Imphal's Public Relation and Media Management (PRMM) Cell.

For further information related with the report, one may contact Dr Indira Thounaojam, Information and Publicity Officer, head of PRMM Cell through [email protected]) .

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