CBRTI to train beekeepers across India

CBRTI to train beekeepers across India

Pune: The Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) will kickstart a project called ‘Preparation of royal jelly production and dissemination of collection and preservation technology’ from June 23.

Senior scientist Dr Lakshmi Rao, who is also Assistant Director, Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC), will be the project investigator. 

A fund of Rs 13.60 lakh was granted in April this year to complete this project by March 31, 2020.

“Till now, there was no mass production of royal jelly in India, as it was getting imported from Thailand and Taiwan. There used to be minimal production at the laboratory level. With this project, we hope that mass production of royal jelly will start and we will be able to provide good profitable income to the beekeepers, as the cost of royal jelly, is around Rs 13,000 to Rs 15,000 per kg in liquid form, while the powder cost is around Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per kg,” said Rao.

Under this project, beekeepers from all over the country will be given training of the methodology of collection and production of royal jelly (a gel type by-product of honey bees). 
CBRTI will provide them with the tool kit, which will help them in extracting royal jelly and also teach them about the preservation. 

This project will be conducted in five phases in Vijayrai in Andhra Pradesh, Narayangaon in Maharashtra, Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Haldwani in Uttranchal and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

“We will be conducting a five-day session in each phase with around 20 beekeepers and five hours of training each day. The first phase in Vijayrai will be from June 23 to 28,” Rao 
further added.

Rao (57), who has been doing research on royal jelly for the past three years, has also completed her training in Thailand and feels it requires extreme preciseness in the process of extraction. 

“It is a very systematic procedure and every three days, you need to extract from the larva and it should be done at the same time for the best results.”

“Under this project, CBRTI will also buy royal jelly from the beekeepers, which will be produced for the first time. Once the production is complete, we will also be collecting samples and conducting detailed research and analysis on them and will send the report to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for the standardisation of royal jelly in India by end of March 2020,” added Rao. 

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