On September 14th, a group of 16 people from Corinaga Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh visited our Sigur Center, located in the Mudumalai National Park for two-day beekeeping training. Among the 16, three of them are Forest Department personnel of Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. They accompanied 13 others (three women and ten men) based out of villages located inside the Wildlife Sanctuary.

On the first day, they theoretically learned about the types of bees and their nature; types of bee boxes, various techniques and methods of beekeeping and benefits they can reap from beekeeping.

On the second day, Justin (Subject Manager – Apiculture) gave them practical demonstrations on artificial queen rearing, colony characteristics and how to handle a bee box.

Those who attended the training expressed their interests to go back and try out beekeeping as a part-time livelihood and share their knowledge with other people from their community. Coringa is well known for the precious mangrove forests. It has the second largest stretch of mangrove forests in India with 24 mangrove tree species. Using bees to assist with pollination can be an effective way to preserve the mangrove forests of Coringa.