Nagaland Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) bagged national award for “Best innovative and creative product ideas” under Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojna Scheme (PMVDY), on the occasion of 34th foundation day of Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
A press release by project coordinator, NBHM, Mhathung T Tsopoe, stated that the occasion was celebrated in presence of Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda as chief guest and Union Minister for State, Renuka as guest of honour.
NBHM bagged the National award for best innovative and creative ideas for “Mushroom cultivation”, in addition, a Self-Help Group clusters (VDVKC), under NBHM received highest number of State awards in four categories, bagging 9 awards in aggregate.
On the event, the managing director TRIFED asserted that Nagaland Honey was the best honey in India and stressed on demand of Nagaland honey in the country.
Commissioner & Secretary to Governor and team leader, NBHM, T. Mhabemo Yanthan, in a release said that NBHM, being the designated nodal agency for promotion of overall beekeeping and honey in the State. Yanthan added that it has been implementing PMVDY programme solely for beekeeping activity, as the only Minor Forest Produce (MFP), which was implemented in seven districts, namely Wokha, Mokokchung, Zunheboto Phek,Tuensang, Kiphire and Noklak.
The release stated that since honey production is a seasonal activity and during off season, the beekeepers remain idle. Therefore, inorder to operationalise the activity throughout the year, the State Implementing Agency (NBHM) envisaged to venture for other minor forest produces such as hill broom, oyster mushroom, ginger and nut gall.
It stated that NBHM had registered 5700 tribal beneficiaries in the tribes of India portal and in the process of registering the SHG clusters to cooperative society under the Cooperation department, Government of Nagaland.
Yanthan further acknowledged TRIFED (Ministry of Tribal Affairs) for implementation of PMVDY scheme in the State, which had substantially impacted lives of tribal people in the state paving way for employment opportunities and income generation from grassroot level.