The fifth edition of The State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI), initiated by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), in association with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), to evaluate the annual progress of energy efficiency implementation in the states. The State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) identifies and addresses gaps concerning …
Cell phone technology has revolutionized the telecommunication scenario in India. Due to its several advantages, cell phone technology has grown exponentially in the last decade. Currently, there are more than 50 crore cell phone users and nearly 4.4 lakh cell phone towers to meet the communication demand. The numbers of …
The National Bee Board and Forest Research Institute will work jointly to promote honey culture programmes in forestry sectors, which will be very useful for poverty alleviation and for improvement and social upliftment of the poor villagers, who will participate in beekeeping and honey culture. This decision was taken following …
In the US, the cultivated area (hectares) and production (tonnes) of crops that require or benefit from insect pollination (directly dependent crops: apples, almonds, blueberries, cucurbits, etc.) increased from 1992, the first year in this study, through 1999 and continued near those levels through 2009; aggregate yield (tonnes/hectare) remained unchanged. …
Pollination is a concern for cardamom farmers as it is difficult to maintain pollinator populations in plantations between years. The innovative solution that is gaining popularity for ensuring quality pollination services to cardamom in South West India, is the use of managed forestry to create "sequential blooms" in mixed coffee …
Promotion and growth of the pollination enterprise can help improve livelihoods for several mountain farming families by generating employment and income as well as boosting the production and quality of crop. Managed pollination of apples as practiced in Himachal Pradesh, India is an excellent example of enhancing income and food …
It represents a serious threat to agriculture because bees are pollination agents for the majority of crops. WORLDWIDE declines in bee colonies, threatening much of global agriculture, may be caused by a new generation of nerve-agent pesticides, two new scientific studies strongly suggest. The findings place a massive question mark …
The first study conducted in a natural environment has shown that systemic pesticides damage bees' ability to navigate. Common crop pesticides have been shown for the first time to seriously harm bees by damaging their renowned ability to navigate home. The new research strongly links the pesticides to the serious …
India started exporting a small amount of honey in 1991-1992 and has now established itself as an important honey exporter to the world market. The quantity exported has increased substantially, and today India exports honey to 62 countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This …
Populations of honey bees and other pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years. A variety of stressors have been implicated as potential causes, including agricultural pesticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are widely used and highly toxic to honey bees, have been found in previous analyses of honey bee pollen and comb …
Agricultural universities across the country are trying to study the impact of radiation from mobile phone towers on honeybees. Sixteen of the State agriculture universities have initiated studies to assess the impact of the radiation from the towers on honeybees as part of an all-India co-ordinated research project on honeybees …
Apiculture has developed in to an important industry in India as honey and beewax have become common products. Recently a sharp decline in population of honey bees has been observed in Kerala. Although the bees are susceptible to diseases and attacked by natural enemies like wasps, ants and wax moth, …
Increase in the usage of electronic gadgets has led to electropollution of the environment. Honeybee behaviour and biology has been affected by electrosmog since these insects have magnetite in their bodies which helps them in navigation. There are reports of sudden disappearance of bee populations from honeybee colonies. The reason …
To maximize the potential of agricultural scale up, NGOs need to act as facilitators of multi-stakeholder processes that establish new types of farmer organizations, alliances to influence policy and investment, new business models, and innovative ways of delivery market services. Small Farmers, Big Change will help NGOs to build their …
The union health ministry is finalising the national antibiotics policy to check indiscriminate use of drugs. The move comes close on the heels of the detection of multi-drug resistant bacteria, dubbed superbug, in foreign patients who underwent treatment in India and Pakistan; it was reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases …
European foulbrood disease is a broad disease in honey bees caused by a bacterium, Melissococcus plutonius. By now, various herbal and chemical drugs have been tried to control it. In the present study, the effects of different organic extracts of three different bryophytes and a standard drug (positive control) have …
Global warming has led to many plants blooming ever earlier and also before honey bees emerge from hibernation, leading to fears of a long-term decline in pollination. A combined research group centred at Munich's Technical University (TU) has carried out a study into how bees are dealing with the change …
Beekeeping and breeding animals such as cane rats for food are needed to help tackle the unsustainable trade in bush meat in central Africa, conservation experts said on Friday. Local populations rely on birds, reptiles and mammals including apes in the vast Congo Basin for food, but overhunting for so-called …
Why are bees important to humans? The 20,000 or so species of bees are the principal pollinators of plants, both in gardens and in the wild. If you like having flowering plants around, for the most part you need to have bees around. There is a need to create awareness …
This new UNEP report shows that bee colonies worldwide are under threat, with serious consequences for biodiversity and food security. It analyses possible answers to why the bee group, the most important pollinator worldwide, is declining and what are the possible mitigating measures and recommendations to avert such decline. The …
