Nagpur: Without pollination, in which honeybees play an important role, no plant can bear fully grown fruit. People need to understand the role of honeybees in maintaining the biodiversity , said SK Raina, retired chief scientist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Nairobi, Kenya, here on Sunday.Raina was delivering a talk on ‘Awareness of honeybee based value chain development in Vidarbha’ at national seminar on beekeeping on the occasion of World Honeybee Day.The programme was organized by Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Centre for Sericulture and Biological Pest Management Research, Science College Pauni and Tai Gowalkar Science College, Ramtek, at Academic Staff College.Sharing his experiences from Kenya, he said honey and its related products like pollen, wax and propolis should be sold directly by beekeepers without involving any middlemen so that they can enjoy profits of their own produce.Raina also spoke about the need to protect bees from harmful pesticides and various diseases. “Pesticides should be evaluated before use so that honeybees are unharmed and beekeepers should take proper care of the aviary. We need to understand the connection of honeybees with the ecosystem and work towards maintaining it,” said Raina while addressing students, farmers and beekeepers at the seminar.VK Biradkar, professor of entomology at Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, informed the attendants about the different types of bees and how to manage their colonies and their production.Raina also said that soon with the help of grant given by FAO, a training centre will be opened where he will train the students and farmers regarding beekeeping and other farming skills.Beekeepers Harshal Sontakke, Purushottam Gedam and Vikas Kshirsagar were honoured by KVIC on the occasion.(Reporting by Syed Aquib Ali)

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