Apiculture is the commercial production of Honey. Honey is mentioned in ancient books like Vedas, purana and epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. It has been an important element in the sweet diet of man. Before knowing the manufacture of sugar, man depended largely on honey as sweetener. Honey is produced by honey bees.

Honey bees have been very closely associated with humans since ancient times and have reached highest degree of domestication. The first evidence of this association between man and bees came to light from the rock paintings made by primitive human. Thousands of years ago, Egyptians were well acquainted with bee keeping before the Christian era.

Apiculture is breeding honey bees for the production of honey and bees wax using modern scientific and commercial methods. The name apiculture is due to the scientific (generic) name of the honeybees which is ‘Apis’. Bee culture or apiculture is practices throughout the world. In India it is practiced in South as well as North India as cottage industry providing employment to lakhs of people. Two institutes namely, Khadi and Village Industries Commission and Indian Council of Agriculture research are making an effort to the raise the industrial status of apiculture in India.

Selection of surrounding flora

The place where the honey bees are kept is called as Apiary. The local surrounding flora is very important for selecting the location of the apiary. It is best practice to choose more nectar-yielding plants like neem, jamun, soapnut etc. in the surroundings. Plants like cherry, sheesham, coconut and guava serve both for nectar and pollen. Best choice of pollen yielding plants is maize, rose and sorghum.

Selection of honey bees

Selection of a good variety of honey bees is an important step before starting apiculture. In general the honey bees for the apiculture must have,

1. High honey yielding capacity

2. Must be able to form the hive anywhere

3. Worker bees must be smart and energetic

4. Must be able to protect themselves from the enemies

5. Must possess colonial habit

The following is the description of are four common species of honey bee found in India. Out of these four Apis indica is best suited for Indian apiculture industry.

Apis dorsata (The rock-bee or Giant honey-bee)

This is the largest honeybee.
Builds single large open comb on high branches of trees and rocks.
Produces large quantity of honey, but this bee is difficult to domesticate.
This bee is ferocious, stings severely causing fever and sometimes even death.
Apis indica (The small Indian bee)

Medium - sized
Hive consists of several parallel combs in dark places such as cavities of tree
Trunks, mud walls, earthen posts, etc.
This bee is not so ferocious and can be domesticated
Apis florea (The little bee)

small - sized
Builds single small combs in bushes, hedges, etc.
Honey yield is poor.
Apis mellifera (The European bee)

This species has been introduced in many parts of the world including India.
It is easily domesticated.
Importance of bee keeping

There are three main advantages of bee-keeping:
Provides honey- a valuable nutritional food
Provides bees wax- which has many uses in industry
Honey bees are excellent pollinating agents, thus increasing agricultural yields. In terms of actual value this advantage exceeds the other two.

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