Sweet treat: Nation's first honey museum to come up soon in Kerala

New Indian Express

8 hours ago

ALAPPUZHA: The first honey museum in the country will soon come up at Kallimel Beekeeping Centre at Thazhakkara panchayat in Mavelikkara. M S Arunkumar MLA said the state government has accorded sanction to set up the museum as part of the development of the beekeeping centre, which was established in 2018. 'The centre has also received permission to set up a lab for farmers to test the quality of honey, and the construction work will begin within two months,' Arunkumar said.
The Horticorp constructed the centre in the three acres of land allotted by the Thazhakara panchayat as the country's first beekeeping park, which has a turnover to Rs 25,000 per day. 'More than 50,000 kg of honey has been collected from farmers, processed and sold as 'Amrit Honey' in this period. The project began with the reconstruction of the building at a cost of Rs 1 crore to create awareness about the benefits of bees. Later, more than Rs 2 crore was spent on the development activities of the centre in various phases,' the MLA said.
The centre operates in three main ways: raising bees to produce honey, collecting honey from farmers, scientifically processing it and marketing it, and providing training to farmers. 'The beekeeping centre has about 200 beehives. Small bees and Indian bees are mainly bred in it. Two tonnes of honey are produced from these alone every year,' said Sunil B, regional manager Horticorp.