CBL and NADeP to help bee honey producers in Uva

Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL) with the National Agribusiness Development Program (NADeP), renewed its support to bee honey producers in some selected villages in the Uva Province, by launching a mega project recently at the Economic Centre in Keppetipola, Bandarawela.

The project, will continue over two years and is one of the biggest honey production development projects to increase honey production to over 25,000 kg per year within the next two years, which will be around 25 percent of country’s bee honey needs.

CBL launched the bee honey project in 2006 as a CSR initiative following a request to the company by the then Director of Agriculture in the Uva Province.

Honey production in the Uva Province, which flourished during the time of the Mahaweli upper catchment area development project had suffered a natural decline when the project ended due to a variety of reasons, such as lack of marketing facilities and technical support.

CBL gave an undertaking to the bee keepers, agreeing to purchase the entire quantity of honey produced by them at an attractive guaranteed price and in addition offered the benefits of company’s sales and marketing network. The company has also recruited a special team to run the project smoothly and ensure its sustainability, said Special Projects Manager, CBL, Aruna Lokupothagama.

This resulted in confidence building for the farmers and led to an increase in production yields. The efforts were further reinforced, with the intervention of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which provided financial assistance to purchase bee keeping equipment and enhanced training facilities.

As a result of CBL’s contribution the production yield of bee’s honey in Uva increased from 350 kgs to 6,000 kgs. per season during the past eight years.