Name of Entrepreneur : Mrs. Manjula Parthiban
Name of Village : Kolapalur
Block : Gobichettipalayam
District : Erode district (TN)
Contact No. : 09488022395, 09442171818
I am Manjula, age 35 hailing from farm family and am married to Mr.Parthiban who is working as a Bus Conductor in Tamilnadu Transport Corporation. Along with our agriculture crops, we have given importance to livestock to ensure sufficient manure as input for our natural farming system. Since the honey bee plays a major role in agriculture I got special interest in honey bees rearing.
We were introduced to Myrada Krishi Vigyan Kendra located in Gobichettipalaym town which is close to our village. In the year 2010, along with my family (husband and son) I attended a training programme organized by Myrada KVK in Bee keeping techniques. Then we started to rear a few boxes in the farm and later we gave few boxes to neighbours and friends. Since we got good support from Myrada KVK we have taken this activity as an enterprise and expanded to other parts of the district.
I got very good support from my husband and he encouraged me to expand the enterprise; during his free time he supports me in my enterprise. Due to my interest and enthusiasm, Myrada KVK has been engaging me over the last three years, as a resource person in their monthly training programmes at their centre. Our enterprise has 3 different approaches as given below
The economics of my bee keeping unit-1:
Expenditure:
1. 30 bee boxes (Rs.650/box) : Rs.19,500.00
2. 30 kgs. Sugar : Rs. 1,200.00
3. Packing and transport : Rs. 5,000.00
4. Honey extractor : Rs. 2,000.00
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Rs.27,700.00
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Income:
1. 7kgs from 1 box/year for 30 boxes : 210 kgs. of honey
2. 1 kg honey @ Rs.300 for 210 kgs. : Rs.63,000.00
3. Net Income : Rs.33,300.00
The economics of bee keeping unit-2:
The unit-2 is mobile in nature which has 150 bee boxes. We transport the boxes to various places where the flowering is in large scale like papaya, jack fruit, sapota, coriander and neem plantation areas. , We even go to state of Kerala to collect honey and brand them according to the taste of honey i.e. Jackfruit, Neem, Coriander, Sapota, Papaya honey etc. It is seasonal revenue for our enterprise. In a year we get an average honey yield 100kgs/box from 150 boxes over a 4 month period. Since the honey is of a special variety, we sell at premium price of Rs.260/kilo.
The third aspects our enterprise is sale of honey bees’ colony. We make honey boxes with chambers and supply to interested farmers on a cost basis. This activity brings us an average income of Rs.1 lakh per year. Apart from this, we supply stands for honey boxes and ant well to the farmers and entrepreneurs, through which we earn on an average Rs.2000 per month.
On the suggestion and advice of Myrada KVK, we have branded our honey as “Manjari Pure Honey” and obtained trade mark and also has FSSAI (Food Safety Standard Act) certificate and panchayat license for marketing of our honey products. Recently we have applied for Agmark certification to scale up our marketing.
In order to diversify our enterprise, we have been producing value added products like honey dipped amla, honey based biscuits and snacks with the support of SAGs and Joint Liability Groups. Our participation in exhibitions within and outside the state has helped us develop contacts to strengthen our enterprise in a sustainable manner.
My son Jawahar Raja who is studying 8th standard is involved in our enterprise. He designed and developed a “Solar Honey Wax Separator”; this innovation fetched him the “Young Scientist” award in the year 2013.
Now, we believe that our enterprise not only helps our own development but also supports sustainable agriculture development on a large scale.
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