By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 4 Mar: Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) was presented a progress report on research being conducted under the ‘One University-One Research’ programme by Vice-Chancellor of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Prof Manmohan Singh Chauhan, at Raj Bhawan, here, today. The university is conducting research on the topic “Honey Revolution through Women Empowerment in Uttarakhand”.
Prof Chauhan provided detailed insights into the research objectives and key findings. He highlighted the vast opportunities for prosperity through self-employment in beekeeping. He also stated that, apart from honey, other beekeeping products such as bee wax, royal jelly, bee venom, propolis, and pollen have high demand in both Indian and global markets. Prof Chauhan mentioned that the university’s Bee Research and Training Centre has trained more than 750 women as master trainers in beekeeping.
The VC further revealed that research indicates Uttarakhand has the potential to increase honey production tenfold. The university has selected Almora, Sitarganj, and Kotabagh as regional experimental centres. He emphasised that beekeeping not only generates employment, reverses migration, and provides additional income but also improves the quality of various fruit and vegetable crops through pollination.
Lt Gen Singh congratulated the university’s researchers for their significant work, stating that this study has the potential to revolutionise the field of beekeeping. He remarked that the combination of self-employment and women empowerment in beekeeping would benefit society as a whole. The Governor also acknowledged the uniqueness of honey produced in Uttarakhand due to its pristine environment, diverse flora, and natural resources, appreciating the promising outcomes of the research.
The Governor instructed the university to prepare a concise report on this research so that its final conclusions could be widely disseminated. Present at the occasion were Secretary to the Governor, Ravinath Raman; Research Director of GB Pant University, Dr AS Nain; Head of the Entomology Department, Dr Pramod Mall, and other dignitaries.
