Beekeeping Scheme (Horticulture Department Uttarakhand)

What is the Beekeeping Scheme of the Uttarakhand Horticulture Department?

Beekeeping Scheme; Madhumakkhi Palan in the department's own listing: is a state-sector scheme of the Department of Horticulture and Food Processing, Government of Uttarakhand, implemented by the State Horticulture Mission. It appears at serial number 5 of the department's State DBT Mission list with scheme code 2401001191000, so all assistance under it is released as a Direct Benefit Transfer.

The scheme has two purposes, and they are stated in that order in the department's norms. The first is pollination; placing four bee boxes on one hectare so that fruit trees set better and yield more. The second is honey production as an income stream in its own right. In a state whose horticulture economy runs on apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot and malta, all of which are insect-pollinated, the department treats bees as an orchard input in the same category as planting material or irrigation.

What benefits does the beekeeping scheme give?

According to the subsidy schedule published by the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing at Chaubattia-Ranikhet, Almora, the state-sector scheme has three components:

The training arithmetic is the same as in the department's mushroom and fruit preservation courses, and it is worth reading twice. The state does not merely waive a fee. It spends Rs 350 per trainee conducting the seven-day course and transfers the remaining Rs 700 straight into the trainee's own bank account. A person who completes the course therefore finishes with training and with money credited, at a total booked cost to the state of Rs 1,050 per trainee.

Larger beekeeping operations under the Horticulture Mission

A beekeeper who wants to build a real apiary rather than pollinate a single hectare should apply under the centrally sponsored Horticulture Mission beekeeping component instead. Its published norm is:

• Bee colonies and hives: 40 per cent of cost, or a maximum of Rs 800 per hive and per colony, for up to 50 colonies per beneficiary.

Fifty colonies is a commercial-scale unit. That component is the route for migratory beekeepers who move boxes between the Terai mustard and litchi flows and the hill fruit bloom.

Who is eligible for the beekeeping scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Uttarakhand and farm or keep bees in the state.
• You hold land, an orchard, field or homestead, in your own name or under a registered lease, where the boxes will stand.
• You have an Aadhaar number and a bank account in your own name that can take a DBT credit.
• Your claim is within the ceilings: four boxes under the per-box component, or the per-person limit under the colony distribution component.

You cannot apply, or will not be eligible, if:

• You are not a resident of Uttarakhand or the boxes will be kept outside the state.
• You cannot show any land record or lease for the site. A site with no recorded holder is not eligible.
• You have already drawn the same component up to its ceiling in the same financial year.
• The bank account offered is in another person's name: DBT will not credit a third-party account.
• You are seeking 50 colonies under the state-sector head; that scale falls under the Horticulture Mission component and needs a separate application.

What documents are required?

The file needs the "Pollination support through beekeeping" application format, your Aadhaar card, the first page of your bank passbook, and the khasra / khatauni or lease for the site where the boxes will be kept. At settlement you must produce the bill or quotation for the boxes and colonies bought. A training certificate is not compulsory, but the department prefers trained applicants, and it runs the seven-day course itself, free.

How to apply for the Beekeeping Scheme in Uttarakhand

1. Download the application format. Open shm.uk.gov.in/application-formats/ and download the "Pollination support through beekeeping" form, or collect a printed copy from the District Horticulture Office.
2. Fill in the form with your name exactly as on Aadhaar, your village, block and district, the khasra number of the site, the number of boxes or colonies sought, and the orchard area to be pollinated.
3. Attach the papers; Aadhaar, the bank passbook page and the land record or lease deed.
4. Submit the file at the District Horticulture Office to the District Horticulture Officer or Chief Horticulture Officer, or through your block horticulture inspector, and take a dated acknowledgement.
5. Allow the site inspection. A horticulture inspector confirms the site is suitable — a bee site needs forage in flying range, shade and water, and records the number of boxes recommended.
6. Receive the sanction against the district's annual target.
7. Take delivery of the boxes and colonies or buy them against approved quotations, keeping every bill.
8. Receive the assistance by DBT into your Aadhaar-seeded account under DBT scheme code 2401001191000.

How to join the free seven-day beekeeping training

1. Ask your District Horticulture Office, or the State Apiarist at Nainital, for the current training calendar.
2. Submit a written request with a copy of Aadhaar and your bank passbook page.
3. Attend all seven days. The Rs 700 balance is paid against full attendance into the account you gave at enrolment.

How to check the status of your application

Uttarakhand does not publish a self-service tracker for the state-sector horticulture schemes. Quote your acknowledgement number and date at the District Horticulture Office and ask whether the file is at inspection, sanction or payment stage. Where sanction has issued but no credit has arrived, ask the office to check the DBT failure reason, which is usually an Aadhaar-seeding problem at the bank rather than a defect in the sanction.

Why beekeeping applications get rejected

• No land record or lease for the site where the boxes will stand.
• Site unsuitable: no forage within flying range, or no water source, as recorded by the inspector.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the application form.
• Claim above the ceiling: more than four boxes under the per-box component, or a second claim in the same year.
• District target exhausted, in which case ask for the file to be carried into the next year's list.
• No purchase bills at settlement.

Related schemes for beekeepers in Uttarakhand

• Madhugram Scheme of the same department develops selected model honey villages with a higher rate of subsidy on bee boxes plus free training, but is limited to the Gram Panchayats selected as honey villages.
• Horticulture Mission beekeeping component to 40 per cent or Rs 800 per hive and colony, up to 50 colonies, for commercial-scale apiaries.
• Fruit area expansion components, which raise the forage base around an apiary to 50 per cent of the cost of new orchards, spread over three years in a 60:20:20 pattern.

Who to contact for help

• State Apiarist, Nainital to 05942-224113. This is the state's dedicated beekeeping officer.
• Director, Horticulture and Food Processing to 05966-222792, Udyan Bhawan, Chaubattia-Ranikhet, Almora.
• State Horticulture Mission, Government Garden, Circuit House, Dehradun

• Joint Director, Garhwal Region, Pauri to 01368-222227.
• Joint Director, Kumaon Region, Nainital to 05942-221288.
• District Horticulture Officer of your own district, listed under "Who's Who" on shm.uk.gov.in.

There is no fee for applying, and the assistance is credited only to the beneficiary's own account.