Queen in Honey bee rearing
- Besides her original name, Josephine Selvaraj is known by quite a few nicknames, and of the lot ‘Queen Bee’ is the one even she is proud to flaunt. Josephine Selvaraj is both an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur. Her family consists of four members “my husband and three children. Her husband earned Rs 2000 per month and things were difficult when children are going to school and to run a family to support,” explains Josephine. She has a degree in history and at some point she also toyed with the thought of being a teacher. But a three-day course in bee-keeping at Krishi Vigyan Kendra(KVK) at Madurai changed her life forever.
KVK support
- “I learnt bee-farming at KVK to support my family with some extra income. I started bee keeping in 2006 says Josephine. With an investment of Rs 5,000 and ten boxes to rear the bees, Josephine started her business. Today she earns about a lakh rupee per month, and rears bees in more than 8,000 boxes.
- Josephine sells her honey to 23 districts in Tamil Nadu and also participates in a number of exhibitions across the country as time permits her to. Her honey is also supplied to Bangalore, Kerala and Mumbai, and in all she sells about 6,000 boxes of honey every year. Despite the great quality and a good demand for her products, Josephine is sure she will not export her products. She says that there are so many places within India where her products have not yet reached. She wants to make sure that her honey products are available in every nook and corner of India.
- Josephine’s venture received a big boost when her loan for Rs 10 lakh was approved by Canara Bank and she could use the money to expand and grow her business. “Canara Bank is very supportive, but earlier when I she had approached them for a loan in 2009, they were very reluctant. But now, they recognized her as a am a good customer.
The queen bee bags the award
- Josephine Selvaraj from Tamil Nadu was conferred the 20th Jankidevi Bajaj Puruskar 2012 for her initiative in spreading awareness about advantages of honey and bee keeping.
- For more details: http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/success_stories/sstories_farm_enter_2015_bee_keeping.html
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