PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF
BEE NURSERIES-CUM-TRAINING CENTRE
UNDER RKVY
DURING YEAR 2013-14

Directorate of Horticulture,
Odisha, Bhubaneswar

PROJECT SUMMARY
Name of the project: ESTABLISHMENT OF BEE NURESERIES AND TRAING CENTRE

Project site for bee nursery cum Training centre:

Regional Coconut Research Station, Sakhigopal, Puri
Nursery sites:
1.

Regional Coconut Research Station, Sakhigopal, Puri

2.

Kerandia Farm, Bramhagiri, Puri

3.

Saptasajya Farm, Dhenkanal

4.

Nakchi Farm, Angul

5.

Deogarh Farm, Deogarh

6.

Deras Farm, Khordha

7.

Asanbani Farm, Mayurbhanj

8.

Kalinga Farm, Kandhamal

9.

Kuanr Farm, Keonjhar

10.

Ghodahad Farm, Ganjam

Project Cost:

Rs. 432.19 lakhs

RKVY assistance Rs.432.19 lakhs

Implementing agency: Directorate of Horticulture, Odisha, Bhubaneswar
Technical Support: AICRP on Honey Bees and Pollinators, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Year of Implementation: 2013-14

PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR

ESTABLISHMENT OF BEE NURSERIES-CUM-TRAINING CENTRE FOR
PRODUCTION OF BEE COLONIES UNDER RKVY-2013-14
Introduction
Beekeeping in India has now become a most fascinating occupation and subsidiary
source of income in rural sector. As an agro enterprise it can provides self employment to a
majority of unemployed youth both ladies and gents. It has a great scope to develop as a prime
Agro-Horticulture and Forest based Rural Industry too. Beekeeping helps to increase productivity
of Agricultural and Horticultural crops through bee pollination and can be well exploited for
managed bee pollination. The present thrust on bee keeping has shifted from honey mode to
pollination mode and the bee keepers are obviously benefited through honey production if their
colonies supported the crop pollination.
Honey bees are true social insects which live in colonies under well developed caste system
and require nectar and pollen from flowers of the plants essentially for nourishment of themselves
and their offspring. Odisha is blessed with over 37% of its geographical area covered with forest.
Thus abundance of bee foraging forest plants alongwith agricultural crops viz., oil seed crops like
Niger, Mustard, Sesame, Sunflower, Coriander; cultivated plants and trees of Guava, Mango,
Citrus fruits, Litchi, Coconut, Arjun, Bahada, Soap nut, Karanja, Neem, Jamun, Tamanind,
Simuli,and many known and unknown weeds and medicinal plant are also available in plenty to
support sustainable bee keeping in the state.
The bounties of Nature have endowed Odisha with varieties of bee fauna Consequently
the native honey bee colonies of (1) Apis cerana indica (Saptapheni) (2) Apis dorsata (Rock bee
or Baghua) (3) Apis florea (Little bee) and (4) Trigona irridipennis (Damer bee or Gundi bee) are
predominantly found throughout the state along with the introduced Italian honey bee, Apis
mellifera in some localised patches in different districts. Of these species, Apis cerana indica and
Apis mellifera for are amenable for hiving but the former species is most widely exploited for
commercial bee keeping in the state. Though limited success has been achieved with the later
species but there is also a great scope for A.mellifera in the state.
Traditionally the tribal people of Odisha are in habit of collecting honey from the forest for
their food, medicine and some money. But with the progress of technology, apiculture can be
taken up as avocation for the economic development of the poor tribals of the district.

As per the estimate there is a need of 14.6 lakh bee colonies in Odisha state but the
availability is only 64,637 out of which 64,127 nos of Indian and 510 of Italian bees. require about
for proper pollination of crops and
The farmers of the state are very much interested for apiculture. The Apis cerena indica
can be used profitably for apiculture. But non availability bee colonies and queen bee becomes a
setback for them.
Keeping this in view, it is envisaged under Rastriya Krishi Vikash Yojana to develop
apiculture through distribution of bee boxes at subsidized rate by establishing bee nursery for
production of bee colonies as a backward linkage of the programme.
Need:
There are no independent units in the Government sector which can sustain the apiculture
industry in the state to cater to the need of the bee keepers and persons interested for undertaking
beekeeping for self employment.. Some private beekeepers are running the enterprise but unable to
meet the demand of the bee colonies. Expertise in colony production in Apis cerana indica and queen
rearing in Apis mellifera is also very much lacking among the existing bee keepers .A divided colony of
Apis cerana indica or a queen of Apis mellifera are sold @ Rs 450-500 Government departments and
Universities have so far not tried to harness the huge demand of honey bee colonies. The proposed
commercial intervention will lead to adequate infrastructure for commercialization of beekeeping activities
like colony production in Apis cerana indica and queen rearing in Apis mellifera in addition to honey and
other hive products production leading to employment and revenue generation in the State.

Objectives
i)

To increase the crop production by pollination support of honey bees.

ii)

Provide bee colonies to the farmers at premium price and educate/train them for utilisation of
bee colonies for managed bee pollination

iii) Educate the bee farmers on production of bee colonies and their management through skill
training.
iv) Produce quality queens avoiding inbreeding and enhance honey yield producing populous colony.
v)

Employment generation and increase the subsidiary income of farmers without much investment.

vi) To increase honey production and crop production of the state as a whole through adoption of
modern technologies on keeping.

Scope of the Project

The demand for bee colonies can be visualized from the following aspects.
i)

Day by day farmers are interested to take up apiculture.

ii)

Every year, bee boxes and colonies are supplied under various Government programmes
procuring from outside state.

iii)

Due to absconding replacements of bee colonies are required.

iv) With a little training, the bee farmers can produce bee colonies and by selling these colonies
they can earn a lot of money.
v)

Apiculture can be a sustained venture in the state with assured supply of bee colonies.

vi) Vast stretch of forest and agri-horticultural crops in the state can sustain more than 60,000
number of bee colonies under economic venture.

Implementing Agency
The Director of Horticulture will implement the programme through the Deputy Director of
Horticulture of the respective farms.

Technical Support
All India Coordinated Research Project on Honey Bees and Pollinators, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Life cycle of bees

There are 3 types of bees in a colony viz: (i) Queen bee (ii) Drone or Male (iii) Workers. It is
very important to know the life cycle of these bees for production of bee colonies.
(i)

Queen Bee
Only one queen bee is found in a bee colony. The colour of the queen bee is coppery

red, about 2 times bigger than the worker bee, smaller wings in comparison with the body, long
legs, without hair, round head with two big eyes. It is produced from fertilized egg. It can lay eggs
within 20 days of its birth. It lives for 2 to 3 years. It lays about 1500 eggs per day and one queen
bee lays about one to two lakhs of eggs per year. The laying of eggs depends on the feeding of
royal jelly. It lays eggs but the offspring are reared by nurse of worker bees.

(ii) Drone or Male Bee

Male bees are black in colour and a little bigger than workers. These are produced from
unfertilized eggs. They do not do any work for the colony except reproduction. But drones are
required to increase the population of the colony. They can copulate after 13days from the date
of their birth. They die soon after copulation. Normally they die outside the colony so it is difficult
to know their live span. However, they live for 100 to 120days in flowering season. In one colony
about 100 to 500 drones are present. In order to produce cross bred queens, drones from other
colonies are introduced avoiding brother drones of the same colony by using drone traps.
(iii) Workers
In a bee colony, the population of workers are maximum. In each colony one queen
bee, some drones and the rest are workers. In a big bee colony, worker bees constitute about
15000 to 30000 nos whose weight is about one to two kilos. They do all the work for the colony.
They are produced from fertilized eggs. They are females but their ovary is small and as such
they are not able to copulate. But in queen less colony, they lay unfertilized eggs from where only
drones are produced.
Workers are treated as the work force of the colony and practically do all the works of the colony
other than reproduction.

Technique for multiplication of bee colonies.

The main factor for production of bee colonies depends on the production of quality queen
bees having prolific egg laying capacity. The procedure to be followed is as follows:

Colony multiplication of Apis cerana indica through standard colony division

techniques developed at OUAT and adopted in the state.

Colony production of Apis mellifera through standard procedure of mass queen

rearing developed in PAU, Ludhiana. The procedure has to be modified,
standardised and utilised under agro climatic conditions of the state.

Project Activity Plan and Management

Sr.
No.
1

Period

Activity

Location

1st year

Establishment of bee nurseries

with 100 colonies

Selected 10 different apiary sites in different

districts.
(8 Locations for Apis cerana indica and
2 locations for Apis mellifera )

Income generation
2
2-5 year Honey production and Colony
production in Apis cerana indica
nd
3
2 year
Honey production and
standardization of Queen rearing
in Apis mellifera under Odisha
conditions.
4
2-5 year Bee colony, Honey & bee wax
production and sale
5
2-5 year Renting honey bee colonies for
pollination support.

Selected apiary sites for Apis cerana indica

Selected apiary sites for Apis mellifera

All 10 selected apiary sites in different districts.

Migrating part of the colonies from Apiary sites
to Orchards or pesticide free crop ecosystem
necessitating bee pollination with in a radius of
5-10 Kms.

Layout of the Nursery

(i)

Fencing
The plot will be cleaned, levelled as per requirement and fenced with locally available brush wood

with barbed wire to protect the boxes from stray animals and trespassers. Within the fenced area bee
boxes will be installed scatteredly maintaining isolation distance of 8-10 ft in case of Apis cerana indica.
(ii) Construction of sheds
Temperature and rainfall plays an important role in growth and development and foraging activities
of the bees. To facilitate bees for maintaining external temperature, sheds will be constructed with the
locally available materials to protect the bees from hot summer .This will also protect the bees at the
time of excess rain fall.

(iii) Hive stand

The boxes will be kept on permanent cemented hive stands with provision to make it ant proof.
This will help in easy handling of the colonies and protect the bees from ant and other predators.
However, for Apis mellifera the hives will be kept on iron stands.

Training centre
Location
The training centre will be established at Regional Coconut Research Station, Sakhigopal, Puri.
The existing buildings will be renovated and well furnished to build up the training hall, laboratories,
small knowledge museum, store rooms, Office room and amenities. This will be developed as a Centre
of Excellence for Apiculture which will be the first of its kind in the state.

Bee Nurseries
Location
The bee nurseries will be established in selected departmental farms having adequate forage
plants in and around to support the honey bees, well communicated and suitable enough for bee
keeping. Modification of site may be made as per suitability. The proposed sites are as follows:

Selected locations for establishment of bee Nursery

Sl.No

Farms/Locations

Regional Coconut Research

Station, Sakhigopal, Puri

Kerandia Farm, Puri

Saptasajya Farm, Dhenkanal

Nakchi Farm, Angul

Deogarh Farm, Deogarh

Deras Farm, Khordha

Asanbani Farm, Mayurbhanj

Kalinga Farm, Kandhamal

Kuanr Farm, Keonjhar

10

Ghodahad Farm, Ganjam

Suitability of the location

The farm is on the National High way from Bhubaneswar to Puri
and having more than 6000 adult coconut palms inside the farm
and many more other palms and plants in the nearby villages.
It is situated at Bramhagiri in Puri district and having more than
3600 adult coconut palms and mother plants of various fruit
crops.
It is situated 12 kms from Dhenkanal town and having more than
5000 adult mother plants of various fruit crops and situated
inside dense forest. The site will be suitable for the production of
organic honey
The farm is situated on the NH No. 42 and having more than
4000 adult mother plants of various fruit crops and situated
inside dense forest.
It is situated 2 kms from Deogarh town and having more than
5500 adult mother plants of various fruit crops and situated near
Kuradkote water fall and Pradhanpat reserve forest. The site
will be suitable for the production of organic honey.
It is situated 20 kms from Bhubaneswar with more than 4000
adult mother plants of various fruit crops and situated in the
proximity of Chandaka reserve forest
It is situated 12 kms from Jashipur and having more than 3000
adult mother plants of various fruit crops and many more forest
plants.
It is situated 50 kms from Phulbani town and having more than
5000 adult mother plants of various fruit crops and many more
forest plants. The site will be suitable for the production of
organic honey.
The farm is situated at 60 kms from Keonjhar town and having
more than 6000 adult mother plants of various fruit crops and
situated inside dense forest. The site will be suitable for the
production of organic honey.
It is situated 40 kms from Berhampur town and having more
than 3000 adult dwarf and tall coconut palms and mother plants
of various fruit crops.

Cost estimates
Cost estimate for Training centre and nurseries

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Establishment of Bee Nurseries

Grand total for 8 units of Apis cerana indica nurseries
Grand total for 2 units of Apis mellifera nurseries
Works & trainings
Civil construction
Training aids
Trainings
Vehicle Trully auto/Tata ace
Administrative charges (1%)

Unit cost in
Unit Rs.

Total cost in
Rs.

8
2

920000
1250000

7360000
2500000

1
1
20
1

29496000
1835000
80000
350000

29496000
1835000
1600000
0
428000

Total

4,32,19,000

N.B.: The detailed estimates of expenditure and return attached separately

Cost estimate for one nursery with 100 boxes

The details of cost for fencing, shed, instruments, medicine etc are given separately. It is
estimated that Rs. 8.25 lakhs would be required per a nursery of Apis cerana indica and Rs. 11.50
lakhs would be required per a nursery of Apis mellifera. Once established, annual requirements
of the nursery will be met out of sell proceeds in the subsequent years.

Outcome of the project

It is estimated that at least 1 colony will be produced per box in the first year and 4-5 colonies
in subsequent years with very nominal investment. Thus on an average 1000 colonies would be
produced per year from 1000 boxes amounting to Rs 76,000/- during 2013-14 and the numbers
will increase to 4000 colonies/year in subsequent years generating an income of Rs 30,40,000/from the production of colony alone. Further trained man power will be produced in honey bee
sector and an amount of Rs 10,000/annum will be generated from the trainees through
registration fees. Exploitation of other sources like production of honey and bee wax will add to
the income at least to the tune of Rs .13,00,000/- per annum in the first year and Rs .20,00,000/per annum in the subsequent years. The unforeseen benefit in enhanced crop production through
bee pollination has been estimated to be 15-20 times the value of hive products.

A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
B
1
2
3
4
C

Cost Estimate for One Bee Nursery with 100 Bee Boxes
for Apis cerana indica
Fixed capital
Item of work
Units
Rate
Wooden bee boxes
100
1680
Cemented hive stand
100
650
Queen gate
100
8
Drone trap box
10
170
Queen excluder
25
111
Bee Colony (4 frame)
100
600
Smoker
5
262
Nucleus hive
100
976
Capturing hive
10
636
Honey extractor
5
706
Feeding cup
100
15
Bee veil
10
97
Globes
10
60
Stainless knife
5
50
Swarm catch bag
2
100
TOTAL-A
Recurring Capital
Feeding sugar for 4 months @ 2kgs per month per
800
40
box for 100 boxes (in Kg)
Medicine @ Rs.50/- per box per year
100
50
Watch & ward, cleaning and supervision etc. One per
4
60000
25 boxes @ Rs.5000/-p.m.
Migration of boxes @ Rs.5000/-trip (4 trips/p.a.)
4
5000
TOTAL-B
Work component
Layout (lump sum)
1
15000
Fencing (rmt)
200
450
Bee shed
100
500
TOTAL-C
Miscellaneous expenses
TOTAL (A+B+C+D) PER NURSERY

GRAND TOTAL FOR 8 NURSERIES

920000

Amount
168000
65000
800
1700
2775
60000
1310
97600
6360
3530
1500
970
600
250
200
410595
32000
5000
240000
20000
297000
15000
90000
50000
155000
57405
920000

7360000

A
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
16
B
1
2
3
4
C

Cost Estimate for One Bee Nursery with 100 Bee Boxes
for Apis mellifera
Fixed capital
Item of work
Units
Rate
Wooden bee boxes
100
3405
Iron hive stand
100
200
Drone trap box
10
170
Queen excluder
25
111
Bee Colony
100
1450
Smoker
5
262
Nucleus hive
100
1500
Honey extractor
5
706
Frame feeder
100
80
Bee veil
10
97
Globes
10
60
Stainless knife
5
50
Mass queen rearing tools(Sets)
10
400
TOTAL-A
Recurring Capital
Feeding sugar for 4 months @ 4kgs per month per box 1600
40
for 100 boxes (in Kg)
Medicine @ Rs.50/- per box per year
100
50
Watch & ward, cleaning etc. One per 25 boxes @
4
60000
Rs.5000/-p.m.
Migration of boxes @ Rs.5000/-trip (10 trips/p.a.)
10
5000
TOTAL-B
Work component
Layout (lump sum)
1
15000
Fencing (rmt)
200
450
Bee shed
100
500
TOTAL-C
Miscellaneous expenses
TOTAL (A+B+C+D) PER NURSERY

GRAND TOTAL FOR 2 NURSERIES

1250000

Amount
340500
20000
1700
2775
145000
1310
150000
3530
8000
970
600
250
4000
678635
64000
5000
240000
50000
359000
15000
90000
50000
155000
57365
1250000

2500000

ESTIMATE FOR TRAINING PROGRAMMES

(FOR EACH BATCH)
No. of participants: 20 per batch
Duration: 7 days
Sl. No.Item of expenditure
Unit
Rate Amount (Rs.)
Lodging and boarding of the
20
300
42000
participants
Lodging
1 @Rs.100/bed/day and Boarding
@Rs.200/day
For 7 days
Training materials
2

3
4

Training bag
Writing pad
Pen
Total
On farm demonstration & hiring
of machinaries / materials/
equipments

20
20
20
1

170
25
10
205
2000

3400
500
200
4100
2000

Honorarium to out side expert (2

classes per day)
TE & DA for the trainees as
applicable (To and Fro journey
reimbursement on production of
Railway / Bus ticket) as per actual

600

14

8400

20

600

12000

Hiring of vehicle / P.O.L.

expences for exposure visit
Misc. expences including reading
materials, photography, banner,
telephone, electricity,
documentation etc and support to
Institution.

6000

6000

5500

5500

Total

80000

N.B.: Intercomponental changes permissible during implementation.

ESTIMATE FOR BUILDINGS, ROAD AND TRAINING AIDS

A. Civil constructions at Sakhigopal, Puri
Sl. No.
1

Type of
Building
Administrative block (2 storied RCC
of 2000 sqft each)
Purpose

Guest house & Hostel / RCC

Dormitory (2 stories of 4000 sq ft
each)
Total cost of building
Area Development @ 2% of cost
of building
Drainage @ 10% of cost of
building
Water supply @ 15% of cost of
building
Electrical @ 15% of cost of
building
Prorata (17%)
Total (Civil constructions)
Brick wall with
RCC posts (400
3
Boundary wall
rmt)
4.0m wide
4
Road
P.C.C road (200
rmt)
Total
B. Teaching aids, utensils, furniture, Books, etc
Sl No Name of the aid

Area in sq
Rate (Rs.)
ft./length in rmt
4000
1200
8000

1200

Estimated cost
(Rs.)
4800000
9600000

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Computers and consumables

LCD projector
White boards
Photo Copier
Laboratory equipments
Laboratory chemicals
Library racks, books &
periodicals
Furniture for office, class rooms,
guest house, hostel / Dormitory
Generator (5 KV)
Inverter (Office)
Telephone & internet
Air Conditioner
Water Purifier
Utensils for hostel, guest house
Total

14400000
288000
1440000
2160000
2160000

400

5500 per
Rmt.

200

5500 per
Sqmt.

2448000
22896000
2200000

4400000

29496000
Units

Rate (Rs.) Estimated cost (Rs.)

3
1
1
1
LS
LS
LS

45000
100000
5000
100000
200000
50000
200000

135000
100000
5000
100000
200000
50000
200000

LS

500000

500000

LS
LS
LS
4
2
LS

70000
50000
25000
40000
20000
200000

70000
50000
25000
160000
40000
200000
1835000

ABSTRACT OF EXPENDITURE AND RETURN

Budget estimate
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Establishment of Bee Nurseries

Grand total for 8 units of Apis cerana indica nurseries
Grand total for 2 units of Apis mellifera nurseries
Works & trainings
Civil construction
Training aids
Trainings
Vehicle Trully auto/Tata ace
Administrative charges (1%)

Unit

Unit cost in Rs. Total cost in Rs.

8
2

920000
1250000

1
1
20
1

29496000
1835000
80000
350000

Total

7360000
2500000
0
29496000
1835000
1600000
0
428000

4,32,19,000

Expected return/Annum
First year
Sl.No
1
2
3
4
5

Items

Bee colonies from 8 units of A.c.indica nurseries

Honey @4 kg/hive

Bee colonies from 2 units of A.mellifera nurseries

Honey @10 kg/hive
Other source

Unit
Unit Cost in Rs. Total amount in Rs.
800
600
480000
3200
250
800000
200
1400
280000
2000
250
500000

10000

Total
NB
1
2
3
4
5

Unforsene return through pollination 15-20 times

Second year onwards
Bee colonies from 8 units of A.c.indica nurseries
Honey @5 kg/hive

Bee colonies from 2 units of A.mellifera nurseries

Honey @20 kg/hive
Other source

Total
NB

Unforsene return through pollination 15-20 times

2070000

3200
4000
800
4000

600
250
1400
250

1920000
1000000
1120000
1000000
10000

5050000