Social Impact

Bee City along with Myvets Charitable Trust & Research Centre with extended support from KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission), & CBRTI (Central Beekeeping Research & Training Institute) is supporting the local communities and Tribals, who play an integral role in conserving 200 Hectares of microflora and fauna of Western Ghats by farmer outreach programs and by delivering organic Madhuvan^TM Honey up to the last mile. We are providing financial benefits to the farmer community along with promotion of Biodiversity Conservation in the Western Ghats. This initiative is providing skill development training to the Tribal Women on Bee Keeping, Production & Processing in our Madhuvan^TM Factory located at Dodamarg. Through best practices, we are integrating Bee Keeping with Cashew plantation, Tulsi, Ajwain, Mustard and other flowering plantations at various locations throughout India, thus increasing the yield by 25% to 30% and catering to the growing demand of Madhuvan’s^TM Raw Organic Unprocessed Honey all over India. Under Sustainable Livelihood Program, adoption of Bee City Honey Bee Boxes by Tribal Women is generating income for them through Self-Help Group — Madhamashi Palan Mahila Bachat Gat — under Microenterprise Development and providing employment to 250 Tribal Women in Sindhudurg & Kolhapur Districts creating a huge Social, Environmental, & Economic impact in the overall growth of the country.

We at Bee City also provided urban and rural employment opportunity to marginalised women and women self-help group, who thereby contributed to their family’s income during this COVID-19 pandemic situation by marketing and distributing our MADHUVAN™ immune booster raw organic honey in their society and social groups. This endeavour was named as Atmanirbhar Mahila Honey Group (AMHG) and it has been the way forward for more than 300 women. With this opportunity, we enabled women groups to be Atmanirbhar, financially independent, and earn a decent living in these current testing times for mankind by contributing to their household’s income and even exceed their household income and prosper with our MADHUVAN™ brand.

URBAN BEE KEEPING

Creating Bee Cities in the urban jungle and bringing about a green revolution to our landscape.
Bee Keeping communities support collaboration, and establish and maintain healthy pollinator habitat.
Harvesting our very own pure organic natural honey in the comfort of our homes.
Helps to protect our urban environment.

BEE FARM

Setting up a bee farm in a controlled environment and thereby enriching the flora and fauna of the surroundings.
Harvesting organic natural unique tasting honey.
Providing employment to the marginalised famers and women’s self-help group and providing them with a sustainable livelihood.

ASIAN ELEPHANT BEE PROJECT

Beehive Fences as a Multi-Dimensional Conflict Mitigation Tool for farmers to co-exist with elephants and reducing invasive elephant crop raids that cause trauma, injury, and crop and livelihood loss to the farmers.
Increase crop yield production through reduced damage, and potentially, increased pollination of crops.
Additional enhanced income generation by sale of Elephant-Friendly Honey and bee products.
Enhanced and peaceful quality of life with fewer conflict situations and fewer elephants being injured.

About Bee City

BEE CITY, along with MYVETS CHARITABLE TRUST & RESEARCH CENTRE, focuses on research, education, the grassroots conservation, monitoring and protection of biodiversity through their active involvement in projects across various states in India. We are at the forefront of developing technology to track and interpret elephant movements, providing vital information for land-use management plans aimed at reducing Elephant-Human conflicts while allowing the former’s continued access to their forest range at Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border). We recognise the need to find solutions to reconcile elephants with the communities with whom they share their land. Our Asian Elephants and Bees Project is core to our mission to come up with innovative and cost-effective methods to reduce conflict and thereby creating Environmental & Social Impact at a larger level.

The Work of Wildlife Conservation

We installed Apis Cerana Indica beehive fences for 2 consecutive years in the Western Ghats of Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border) using the most basic type of beehive made from hollowed-out wood, and found that it very successfully deterred the elephants. Today, we maintain many beehive fences in various affected villages spanning across 200 hectares of Western Ghats of Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border) that are most affected by elephant crop raiding. These fences have been provided to the people, who desperately needed help, as their banana, pineapple and cashew plantations were being raided by elephants every year. Individual farmers, who benefit from the fences are our greatest ambassadors, who have now socially and financially benefitted from the initiative and now are also involved in aggressively selling the MADHUVAN^TM brand forest honey. This method exploits a relationship that elephants have long shared with the bees in their natural environment, and it has been proven to be quite effective. Most importantly, this strategy also offers farmers an alternative to farming through the harvest and sale of natural/organic honey. It may also encourage local communities to plant and even reforest areas, as an increased abundance of plants would increase the bee population in Western Ghats of Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border).

“One of the most effective strategies we use to prevent Asian Elephant crop-raiding behaviour is to enclose crops and plantations with natural “beehive fences.”

Crop-raiding by Asian elephants devastated marginalised farmers leading to food insecurity, loss of income, and even death, as well as developed a negative attitude towards elephants.

Repeated farm-level trials of using beehive fences in the Western Ghats of Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border) have benefitted Tribal Rural Farmers with fewer elephants approaching their fields. As for communities willing to manage the bees, production of “elephant-friendly” honey is an extra benefit they are reaping through this initiative.

Surrounding crop plantations and fields with beehives attached to fence posts and strung together with wires served as a humane and eco-friendly way to protect crops from Asian Elephants.

The biggest threat to forest and wildlife is climate change; and this initiative to conserve both Asian Elephants & Bees have a tremendous potential to be a game-changer in preserving ecology in the Western Ghats of Tilari jungle, Dodamarg (Goa border).

The Tilari jungles in the Sindhudurg district – that is home to tigers, leopards, elephants and much more and has got the status of conservation reserve. Myvets Trust along with BEE CITY is conserving the ecosystem of the Western Ghats through Elephants & Bees Project and providing employment to hundreds of Tribal Women living in the protected area and making them self reliant through production of organic forest honey Madhuvan^TM and adding on to the conservation of rich wildlife of the area especially Elephants , Tigers & Leopards.

OUR IMPACT MISSION

Our mission is to provide Sustainable Livelihood to Tribal Women from marginalized communities living near forests of Sindhudurg
Land Restoration, promotion of Bio-Pollination & Agroforestry in the Western Ghats
Boosting Agriculture-based Rural Economy
To increase income generation of farmers involved in agriculture and ecology enhancement through beekeeping with indigenous bees.

Prevent poverty through beekeeping and organic Madhuvan^TM Honey Sale along with Bee Wax & Allied Byproducts
Educate farmers in beekeeping, increasing their skills, and creating a mutual ecosystem of livelihoods.
Giving beekeeping farmers free market access.

Women’s Empowerment through Honey Bee Farming at Bee City. We are committed to empower Tribal Women, Create Awareness, and Save the Bees from Extinction in Rural India by expanding employment opportunities and generating a stable source of income through beekeeping. We started Bee City in 2018 to turn challenges of these women into opportunities and to create direct impact on their lives by generating stable income source for them with a few Honey Bee Boxes, we had no idea that locally harvested honey from the Bee City Apiculture Project would grow this big and we would be a successful brand MADHUVAN^TM. The types of honey available depends on the season and availability of flowers. The MADHUVAN^TM Honey varieties include Tulsi honey, Ajwain honey, Mustard honey, Sunflower honey, Multiflora honey, Jungle honey, etc., which are very popular in the European Markets. Today, we are promoting United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by sustainable enterprise by training more than 500 Farmers/Women from Rural Maharashtra, enabling & empowering communities to be independent by facilitating equitable access to opportunities through various Skill Development Programs, which transform into Economic Development, Social Protection & Environmental Conservation. Our aim is to create countrywide network of Women Bee Keepers to work together to scientifically harvest Organic Honey & Bee Hive Products for Export. Our dedication towards development of the Rural Economy and the society has been commendable and professionalism in this project has been much lauded by the Government under Women Transforming India & MSME Sector.