The Narendranagar forest division department has taken up apiculture (bee keeping) as an exercise to enrich the biodiversity of the region. Considering increasing the number of honey bees, the forest department has installed 35 boxes in a herbal garden. If this experiment is successful, the department plans to carry it forward in the entire division with the help of the Van Panchayat. It is expected that the new initiative will help in conserving the biodiversity that has been affected adversely in the last several years.
Soil, water, and sunlight are not enough for plants and trees to grow in the soil. It also requires the process of pollination. Many wild flora, especially those found in the forest, depend on bee pollination. The pollination helps in the growing of fruits on the trees that are eaten up by wild animals and birds.
Experts say that about 30 per cent of crops and about 80 per cent of the vegetation use pollination to produce fruits and seeds. Bees play an important role in this pollination process. When the bee sits on one flower, the pollen grains stick to its feet and wings, and when it flies to another plant, the pollen grains are deposited on the other plant which leads to the origin of fruits and seeds.
Over the years it has been seen that there is a crisis facing the existence of bees due to various reasons including human activities and disasters.
The Narendranagar forest division, determined to conserve biodiversity, has put 35 bee boxes in the herbal garden at Bhadrakali. The department is of the view that with bee keeping the forest vegetation will increase thus helping in biodiversity conservation.
The Narendranagar forest sub divisional officer MS Bisht said that in the last several decades, nature has suffered a lot due to various reasons. To save rare flora and biodiversity, 35 bee boxes have been installed in the herbal garden. If the experiment is successful, it would be carried forward through Van Panchayat.
The bee- environment’s true friend
The bee is a true friend of the environment. It can fly at a speed of upto 24 km per hour and beats the wings 200 times in a second. The bee goes from the hive and covers a distance of 10 to 12 kms in search of flowers. It can collect nectar from 50 to 100 flowers at a time. To make one kilogramme of honey, the whole hive must suck the nectar from about 40 lakh flowers and fly a total of 90,000 miles.
Thursday, 12 November 2020 | Vinod Chamoli | Chamba
