Constraints in production and marketing of honey in Haryana

Abstract

Beekeeping plays an important role in the sustainable agriculture as it contributes significantly for diversification of agriculture. Beekeeping is an interesting hobby, an ideal agro-based subsidiary enterprise, providing supplementary and sometimes major source of income to the farmers, especially to the small farmers. The present study aims to deal with the constraints related to production and marketing of honey. For the present study, Haryana state was divided into two zones i.e. eastern and western zone. From eastern and western zone a random sample of 60 beekeepers was selected which constituted a total sample of 120 beekeepers. The beekeepers were categorized into small, medium and large categories by cumulative total method on the basis of number of boxes, i.e., small (up to 120), medium (121-250) and large (more than 250). As far as the constraints in production and marketing of honey are concerned, beekeepers were unaware about social, environmental, physical, economical and technological constraints in production. Low selling price of honey, higher expenditure on transportation and delay in payment were the major constraints in marketing of honey in both the zones.