Young Entrepreneur Transforms Family Beekeeping into Modern Honey Empire in Udhampur

The initiative aligns with the Indian government's push to encourage farmers and small entrepreneurs to move up the value chain. By adopting improved techniques and standardised processing methods, Sharma's unit aims to enhance the marketability and shelf life of honey produced locally, while also creating employment opportunities in the region. "With this venture, I aim to generate employment. This aligns with the mission to increase the GDP of the region by 2047," Sharma said.

Speaking about the venture to ANI here, Nitish Sharma said, "My father started this family business of honeybee keeping. Just as the Indian government is promoting value addition of products, similarly, we established a homestead processing unit under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP)." He added that the total cost of setting up the unit was Rs 5 lakh, of which Rs 2.5 lakh was provided as a subsidy by the Udhampur Department of Agriculture.

"We also work toward women's empowerment," he said, adding that the unit currently provides employment to seven to eight women, contributing to local livelihood generation. Sharma further said, "We have about 1,500 honeybee colonies," noting that around five to seven people are employed there. Apart from this, they have formed a cooperative society named "Dasumadev Honey Producers Cooperative Limited." At least 18 people are associated with the society and are involved in marketing, sales, and packaging of the products.

"We don't work only on honey; we focus on value-added products such as bee pollen, bee propolis, and beeswax. We have also launched new products like honey drink and honey mead," Sharma added.

- ANI