India on Beekeeping

India Industry Insect

February 29, 1980

A commemorative postage stamp on the 2^nd International Conference on Tropical Apiculture (Bee-keeping) :

Issued by India

Issued on Feb 29, 1980

Issued for : Indian Posts & Telegraphs Department is happy to commemorate the Second International Conference on Apiculture in Tropical Climates by issuing a special postage stamp.

Description of the Design : The stamp in horizontal format shows bees with symbolic representation of a bee-hive.

The first day cover illustration is an artist’s impression of a bee on a flower.

The first day cancellation consists of a line drawing of the bee-hive alongwith the caption in Hindi and English.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Chestnut and Brown

Designed by : M.K. Bardhan

Denomination : 100 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper

Number printed : 20,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing process : Photogravure

Printed at : India Security Press

About :

Apiculture or bee-keeping is an industry in the developed countries. In the developing countries its full potential is yet to be realised. The untapped potential for bee-keeping in the tropical countries, with their rich flora and favourable climate, is high. Most of the developing countries in the tropical belt have an urgent need for increasing opportunities for gainful employment and income in the rural areas. Apiculture can make useful contribution in this respect as the research and developmental work already done suggests that it can be raised to the status of a viable economic proposition and a source for stable occupation for the rural masses. In order to achieve a widespread impact, there is need to develop an appropriate technological package supplemented and supported by adequate service and developmental efforts.
Realising the importance of apiculture for honey production as well as for crop pollination, an international conference was organised in London in 1976 by the ‘World Crops’ in collaboration with the International Bee Research Association. The recommendations flowing out of the first conference have intensified research and developmental activities relating to apiculture in tropical climates. The Second International Conference at New Delhi has been organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in collaboration with the Khadi & Village Industries Commission, the Department of Science & Technology and the Indian National Science Academy. The attention in this conference will be focussed on identification of the constraints responsible for the prevailing gap between the potential and actual productivity of apiculture systems in the tropics. The conference will also bend its energies in devising a master plan of action for making apiculture a source of gainful employment in the rural areas of the developing countries in the tropics.