There is something unique about these little apiculturists from Poomangalam UP School in Kurumathur panchayat in Taliparamba, Kannur. Their mastery over beekeeping and the innovative techniques they have developed are indeed laudable. The ease with which they explain things draws many visitors to their pavilion at the exhibition happening on the sidelines of the Honey Fest ‘12, jointly organised by the State Horticulture Mission and Federation of Indigenous Apiculturists at Kanakakkunnu Palace. It has been five years since the school became involved in this activity.
Five students representing the school - Abhishek T V, Vishnu E N, Adwaith P, Jibin Babu C K and Aswin Ram - accompanied by their teacher C Sathyanarayanan and office assistant Manoj Kumar C, are taking part in the exhibition. They have put on display a set of beehive boxes and allied equipment developed from their own ideas.
“When we arrive at an idea for making innovative bee-boxes, our next step is to implement it at the earliest. For technical assistance, we seek the advice of bee-keeper P T Thampi,” says Sathyanarayanan.
One among the many bee-boxes exhibited here stands testimony to their effort. The box is designed to make the transferring of honey bees easier. A PVC pipe of small diameter and hardly an inch long is attached to the tiny hole on one of the sides of the box through which the honey bees are transferred. This keeps the box intact when the bees are collected into the bottle. In the usual method, when a slight thud is made on top of the box to move the bees out, the bottle would be shaken, providing them an easy escape.
A device made using a funnel to keep away ants from the bee-boxes and a bee-box made of large PVC pipes are also among their innovations, says the team. It is the students who spend time for the upkeep of the bees. “We find time for maintaining the activity after the lunch break and school hours. The honey extraction usually happens after the school time. Some of us, who reside nearby stay for long, sometimes till 6 pm,” says Vishnu.
The extracted honey is supplied to people in the neighbourhood and the students do not even ask money from the needy. Yet they turn sad while speaking about the flood that hit the school two years back which wiped out 21 bee-colonies of theirs.
On the other hand the icing on the cake came in the form of an LCD projector in the school in March this year. “It was our long-cherished dream to have an LCD projector for the school. Seeing our beekeeping activities, Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan offered to make our dream come true,” says Sathyanarayanan with pride. Yet the school does not wish to bask in the glory of their sweet success.
“We already have made plans to percolate this initiative to more schools in our panchayat under the auspices of National Haritha Sena. If interested schools approach us, we are happy to provide them full support,” he says.
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