Honeybees are an amazing insects on earth which pollinate over 80% of all flowering plants including 70 of the top 100 human food crops. One third of total diet is directly or indirectly dependent on honeybee pollinated plants. It reflect that without bees people could struggle to sustain the global human population of 9 billion by 2050. Presently, we are losing bees world-over at an alarming rate. If honeybee disappears from surface of the earth, we may loss all plants that bees pollinates, all of the animals that eat those plants and ultimately man would have no more than four years to live. Therefore, it is an urgent need to love these valuable mini-creatures, raise voice everywhere to protect them and enhance their population through beekeeping. Beekeeping is widely recognized economically sustainable occupation which offer an attractive avenues for livelihood, employment generation, holistic development of rural societies and survival of human through ensured food security. This book deals different issues of commercial beekeeping and provide scientific, authentic and very useful information on various aspects. The subject matter is presented in a comprehensive lucid style which make this book very useful. Moreover, international demand, import-export, market-outlook, producers suppliers of value-added bee-hive products, role of different agencies in beekeeping development and model project reports appended add great values. This book, thus, has enormous scope and opportunities to address food health security problems, upliftment of Farm-output, promotion of food industries and employment generation. This manuscript will also be more useful to assist Agri-business Planners, policy makers, Researchers, industrialists, teachers, students farmers world-over who are interested in beekeeping-based commercial enterprises for their livelihood and income generation.

Sanjay Agarwal 

(Secretary)

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma

(Secretary)

Dr Arvind Kumar

Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Gwalior Road, Jhansi 284 003 (U. P.) India

Phone : 0510-2730777 E-mail : vcribcau@gmail.com Web.   :  www.ribcau.ac.in

PART - A
BACKGROUND OF BEEKEEPING, ANATOMY AND LIFE CYCLE OF HONEYBEES

1. Background of Beekeeping

2 Origin, Evolution and History of Beekeeping Development

3 Classification, Species and Castes of Honeybees

4 Anatomy of Honeybees

5 Life cycle of honeybees

6 Division of labour and sex determination

7 Behaviour and senses of honeybees

PART - B
MANAGEMENT OF HONEYBEES

8 Climate and resource needs for commercial beekeeping

9 Equipments and appliances for beekeeping

10 Role of Honeybees in Pollination and Crop Productivity Improvement

11 Scientific management operations

12 Migratory beekeeping - Problems and prospects

13 Division of colonies and commercial queen rearing

14 Genetically modified crops and beekeeping

15 Insect-pest of honeybees and their management

16 Diseases of honeybees and their management

17 Insectisidal Poisioning in honeybees and its control measures

PART - C
PRODUCTS FROM BEEKEEPING

18 The Honey

19 The Bee Wax

20 The Royal Jelly

21 The Pollen

22 The Propolis

23 The Bee Venom

24 Value added products from beekeeping

25 Adult and larval honeybees

26 Marketing potential and prospects of behive products

PART - D
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, PROJECTS AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR BEE-KEEPING DEVELOPMENT

27 Important Agencies Involved in Bee Keeping Development

28 Central Sector Schemes of Beekeeping Deveopment in India

29 Economics and Cost-Benefit analysis of Beekeeping units