“Vindhya”, “Chittar”, “Makaranda”, “Moupalak” and “Sundarini Naturals” are some of the new “monofloral honey” brands belonging to 26 Honey FPOs or Farmer Producer Organisations, through which over 6000 farmers market and sell their produce. Litchi, Ajwain, Jeera, Musard and Mangrove are some naturally flavoured honey sold by these brands. “We have started 26 FPOs that are dedicated to honey production. So the FPO in Muzaffarpur in Bihar which is famous for Litchi, produces Litchi honey. Similarly, we have a Sundarban FPO which produces mangrove honey. Similarly, farmers in Gujarat also produce Ajwain, Til and Jeera honey which has already been launched in the market by Amul,” Meenesh Shah, chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) told the businessline.

“These are called monofloral honey. Such honey is rare and has the flavour of one type of flower. This is different from the mixed honey available in the market,” said Shah while explaining how monofloral honey is sourced predominantly from a single nectar source making it unique in taste and colour. 

Tirhut Madhu Utpadak Sahakari Samiti Ltd is the Litchi Honey producing FPO in Muzaffarpur and is also one of the three Honey FPOs in Bihar — the others being in Begusarai and Vaishali.

Similarly, Basanti Sundarban Honey Collectors’ and Producers’ Cooperative Society Ltd is the FPO in South 24 Parganas in West Bengal which produces Mangrove honey under the “Sundarini Naturals” brand. In close proximity in Nadia (West Bengal) where Moupalak Farmers Producer Company Ltd produces honey under the “Moupalak” brand.

“Since the value chain for milk and honey would be the same, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted us to help farmers source honey and reduce the adulteration. We started working with the National Bee Board and we set up a honey testing laboratory at Anand in Gujarat. Then we started working with the farmers and supported them with bee boxes and encouraged them to store honey. We started working with farmers in Banaskantha where farmers grow a lot of mustard, cumin (jeera) and carom seed (ajwain). We started training them and providing some funds. Now a value chain has developed. Now the honey production has taken off and more and more honey is being produced and sold. Amul is one such brand. Other FPOs have also started their own honey brands,” Shah added.

While “Vausdhara” and “Sagar” are honey brands from Valsad and Mehsana districts of Gujarat, “Vindhya” is from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, “Vennai” from Satara, Maharashtra, “Grama Villa” and “Chittar” from Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala, “Makaranda” from Bagaikot in Karnataka, “Purabi” from Kamrup in Assam and “Aanchal” from Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

According to the annual report from Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, India produced about 1.42 lakh metric tonnes of honey in 2022-23 of which 79000 MT worth ₹1622 crore was exported the same year. Last week, the Gujarat government pointed out that under the “Mission Bee” programme in Gujarat, 284 milk producers associated with Amul Dairy in three districts —Anand, Kheda and Mahisagar — have produced about 16000 kilograms of honey.