Madhumakkhi Palan Evam Madhu Utpadan Yojana (Beekeeping and Honey Production Scheme)

What is Madhumakkhi Palan Evam Madhu Utpadan Yojana?

Madhumakkhi Palan Evam Madhu Utpadan Yojana is the beekeeping and honey production scheme of the Directorate of Horticulture, Agriculture Department, Government of Bihar. The scheme puts subsidised bee boxes with live colonies, and the equipment needed to extract and pack honey, in the hands of trained beekeepers so that honey becomes a cash income alongside farming.

According to the Directorate of Horticulture, the scheme pays 75 percent of the notified unit cost to general-category applicants and 90 percent to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants. The notified unit cost of a bee box with a live colony is about Rs 3,800, and a set of honey extraction equipment with food-grade storage containers is about Rs 19,000. Assistance is capped at 50 boxes per beneficiary.

Bihar has a genuine reason to run this scheme. The state's litchi, mustard, sunflower and jamun belts across Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, East and West Champaran and the Kosi districts are among India's better honey-producing zones, and Bihar contributes a significant share of national honey output. The department runs the component partly on its own state plan and partly through the National Horticulture Mission and the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission. The HortMIS portal carries separate application links for each, which is why applicants sometimes see two forms with similar names.

What the scheme funds

• Wooden bee boxes conforming to the standard Indian pattern, each supplied with a live Apis mellifera or Apis cerana indica colony.
• Honey extractors, uncapping knives, bee veils, smokers, gloves and hive tools.
• Food-grade containers for storing and transporting extracted honey.
• Training linkage, since a training certificate is a precondition for sanction.

Who is eligible for the beekeeping subsidy in Bihar?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Bihar.
• You hold a 13-digit DBT Agriculture registration number from dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in.
• You have completed a beekeeping training course at a recognised institution and can upload the certificate.
• You have an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in your own name.
• You are a new entrant to the component, farmers, self-help group members, rural youth and small entrepreneurs all qualify.

You cannot apply if:

• You have already drawn assistance under the beekeeping component in the last three years. Repeat sanctions to the same beneficiary are not eligible.
• You have no training certificate. This is the most common hard disqualification, and it cannot be waived at the district office.
• You are not a resident of Bihar, or your DBT registration shows an out-of-state address.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, since no DBT release is possible.
• You are applying as an institution rather than an individual beneficiary without the department having notified an institutional window.

How to apply for the Bihar beekeeping scheme

1. Complete your farmer registration at dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in and keep the 13-digit registration number safe. This step is free.
2. Complete a beekeeping training course at a Krishi Vigyan Kendra, the state horticulture training centre, or another recognised body, and collect the signed certificate.
3. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in and go to the Scheme Dashboard. Select the beekeeping and honey production component for the current financial year.
4. Choose the correct application link. The state scheme link or the National Horticulture Mission / Honey Mission link, as notified for the year.
5. Enter your DBT registration number so the form pulls your verified name, address and bank details.
6. Enter the number of bee boxes you are applying for, up to the ceiling of 50, and tick the honey extraction equipment component if you need it.
7. Upload your Aadhaar, training certificate, bank passbook, photograph and, if claiming 90 percent, your caste certificate.
8. Submit and save the application number. Print the acknowledgement.
9. After selection, procure the boxes, colonies and equipment from the empanelled or approved supplier, keep every bill, and request physical verification.

How to apply with help at a district office

1. Visit the Assistant Director (Horticulture) at your district agriculture office, or your block agriculture coordinator.
2. Carry Aadhaar, the training certificate, bank passbook, caste certificate if applicable, and your DBT registration number.
3. Ask the office to file the online application for you, there is no separate paper route, only assisted online filing.
4. Collect the printed acknowledgement carrying your application number.

A Vasudha Kendra (Common Service Centre) can do the same job, including creating your DBT registration in the same sitting.

How much money does a beekeeper actually receive?

The arithmetic is straightforward once the unit cost is known. A general-category beekeeper taking 50 boxes at a notified unit cost of about Rs 3,800 per box is looking at a notional project of roughly Rs 1.9 lakh on the box component alone, of which 75 percent is the government share and 25 percent the beneficiary contribution. An SC or ST beekeeper's share falls to 10 percent. Add the honey extraction and container set at about Rs 19,000 notified cost, subsidised at the same rate.

Two cautions. First, these are notified unit costs, not market prices, if you buy a costlier box, the extra is yours to bear, because subsidy is calculated on the notified figure. Second, the subsidy is reimbursed after verification, so a beekeeper needs working capital up front, and should never pay a supplier without a proper GST bill in the beneficiary's own name.

How to check your application and payment status

1. Open horticulture.bihar.gov.in and go to the scheme dashboard.
2. Use the application status link for the beekeeping component.
3. Enter your DBT registration number or application number.
4. The screen shows the stage — submitted, forwarded to district, selected, verified, or payment released.

If the status shows verified but no money has arrived after several weeks, the usual culprit is the bank account: an account not seeded with Aadhaar, a closed account, or a name mismatch between Aadhaar and the passbook. Fix it on the DBT Agriculture portal, not on the horticulture portal.

Why beekeeping applications get rejected

• No recognised training certificate, or a certificate from a body the department does not recognise.
• Repeat beneficiary within the three-year bar.
• Name mismatch across Aadhaar, DBT registration and bank passbook.
• Caste certificate missing where 90 percent subsidy was claimed, the claim is then either reduced to 75 percent or rejected.
• Bills not in the beneficiary's name, or bills for boxes bought before sanction.
• Physical verification failed: boxes present but colonies absent, or fewer boxes on site than claimed. This is treated seriously and can lead to recovery.
• District target exhausted for the year, in which case the application is carried forward or must be refiled in the next window.

Key dates and windows

The Directorate of Horticulture opens the beekeeping component for a defined window each financial year rather than keeping it open all year. Past windows have opened in the winter months, which suits the migratory beekeeping calendar in Bihar, colonies are moved to mustard in December and January and to litchi around March. Announcements come through the department's Scheme Dashboard, the Bihar Krishi mobile app and the Directorate's social media handles. Apply in the first days of a window; district targets fill quickly.

Help, grievance and honest warnings

• Directorate of Horticulture, Bihar: 0612-2521772
• Email: dir-bhds-bih@nic.in
• District level: Assistant Director (Horticulture), district agriculture office
• Kisan Call Centre: 1800-180-1551 for general agricultural advice

Applying is free. No agent can guarantee selection, and any person asking for money to "confirm" your bee box sanction is defrauding you. Buy colonies only against a proper bill, and insist on seeing the brood before you accept a hive, an empty or weak colony is the commonest way new beekeepers in Bihar lose their own 25 percent contribution.