Introduction:

World Honey Bee Day (16 August 2025) served as a reminder of the invaluable role played by honey bees in our lives. While most of us consume honey from neatly packaged bottles, we often forget the tremendous effort behind every drop. Thousands of honey bee workers collectively store food for their young ones and to sustain their colony Humans, however, harvest this honey, benefitting from the collective action of the honey bees.

Honey bees are social insects which live in colonies, each individual contributing to the survival of the group. A single worker bee spends an entire day collecting nectar and pollen, which are later processed into honey, royal jelly and other hive products. Known for their efficiency, honey bees are faster nectar collectors compared to many other pollinators.

Besides honey production, bees are indispensable to agriculture. Nearly 75% of the global crops depend on pollinators like bees for fruit and seed production (FAO). Cross-pollinated crops, especially those with separate male and female flowers, such as cucurbits (pumpkin, cucumber), rely heavily on the pollinators with bees functioning as mediators of fertilization.

Diversity of Honey Bees in India:

In India, three commonly recognized species of honey bees are:

Apis dorsata (Rock bee)

Apis cerana indica (Indian Honey Bee)

Apis florea (Dwarf or Garden bee)

However, another lesser known group of bees plays a silent but significant role in pollination and ecosystem services – Stingless (Tetragonula iridipennis)

Stingless Bees: Small but significant:  Stingless bees often mistaken for small flies, live in small colonies within wall crevices, hollow tree trunks, and logs. Though tiny, they are powerful pollinators of crops such as brinjal (egg plant), tomato, ash gourd, beans and various wild shrubs, herbs and trees. They also produce honey, stored in small resinous pots.  This honey is highly valued in Ayurvedic medicine for its medicinal properties.   

Conservation of Stingless bees for Sustainable Agroecological System

In Sabbanhalli village near Bilikere, in Hunsur block of Karnataka, more than 50 stingless bee colonies were documented in the village, inside the farmhouse – a pump house made up of mud bricks. These colonies supported pollination of local crops and surrounding vegetation. However, a challenge emerged with the transition from mud brick farmhouses to cement brick construction. Unlike mud, cement brick walls do not provide suitable nesting cavities, thereby threatening the natural habitat of stingless bees due to harmful chemical pesticides used in commercial crops like cabbage.

Conservation efforts:

To address this issue, awareness programmes were initiated with the farmers through the following measures:

Colony rescue and Transfer: Natural colonies were carefully harvested and transferred to wooden bee boxes, enabling easier management and honey collection.

Training Programmes: Farmers were trained in stingless bee rearing, hive management and sustainable honey harvesting.

Habitat Conservation: Observations revealed that colonies thrived near jackfruit and coconut plantations, as these plants provided resin essential for building nests. Thus, promoting these crops indirectly and by introducing intercropping, stripe cropping, niger, sunflower and other nectar source crops, the survival of stingless bees is supported.

Ecological and Agricultural Significance: Stingless bees (T. iridipennis) are highly organized, with a social structure comprising of a queen, drones (males), workers and soldier bees. Workers not only forage but also clean and maintain the colony. Their ability to pollinate a wide variety of crops makes them vital for food security and biodiversity.

By conserving stingless bees, multiple benefits can be secured such as

1. Enhanced Crop yields through pollination
2. Preservation of biodiversity in agroecosystems
3. Production of high-value medicinal honey
4. Community–based income generation opportunities.

Reference:

https://www.fao.org/pollination/about/en#

Vinod Borse, Sadashiv Nimbalkar, Deepak Patil, and Sagar Jadhav

Agroecological Conservationists

BAIF Development Research Foundation, India

Why bees matter?

Bees are the most efficient pollinators in the natural world. They help in fertilising over 75% of the world’s crops, making them essential not just to biodiversity but to our plates as well. In recent years, however, changes in land use, chemical farming and habitat loss have placed enormous pressure on wild pollinators.

This survey was designed to collect baseline data which can provide information on conservation strategies and sustainable farming practices.

​The survey: what we saw?

Between mid-2024 and early 2025, I visited 19 rural locations across Maharashtra. These included farmlands, forest fringes, and agroforestry zones – habitats where both domesticated and wild bees forage and nest.

A total of 12 species of bees was recorded, each with its unique ecological role and behaviour.

Bee Species Recorded

What the data tells us?

Top spot goes to Apis florea – a wild honey bee that builds open nests. It was seen most often and in the highest numbers (19 individuals), showing its adaptability to rural landscapes. Apis cerana indica the domesticated Indian honey bee, also showed good presence. Its coexistence with wild bees is crucial for both ecology and livelihoods. Carpenter bees like Xylocopa tenuiscapa (8 individuals) suggest that some natural nesting habitats still persist, possibly in wooden structures or hollow stems. Solitary bees like Amegilla, Nomia and Pseudapis appeared in small numbers. their low visibility may point to reduced nesting spaces or competition for floral resources.

Rare Bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis (a stingless bee) and Ceratina smargdula highlight the fact that the hidden world of tiny pollinators is often overlooked in agricultural landscapes.

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Ecological Reflections

This Survey confirms that despite growing development pressures, many native bee species are still present in Maharashtra’s rural ecosystem. However, the relatively low numbers of several species raise red flags about their long-term survival.

What can we do?

• Plant more native flowers to support year-round foraging.
• Reduce pesticide use, especially during the flowering season.
• Preserve nesting habitats – mud walls, tree hollows, hedgerows, and open soil.
• Raise awareness among farmers about pollinators and role in crop yields.

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Bees and the future of farming

Bees are natures tiny farmers. Supporting them support us. As. Climate change disrupts weather patterns and crop cycles fostering a rich pollinators community in a no regret investment for resilience, based on the bee diversity data collected from 19 locations in Maharashtra, several key observations emerge; species like Apis florea, Apis cerana indica and Xylocopa tenuiscapa are relatively common while others such as Tetragonula iridipennis and Ceratina samaragdula are rare. Solitary and less visible species are under-represented possibly due to habitat degradation, competition, or lack of nesting and floral resources.

​Bee Conservations Solutions and Activities

1.Enhance Floral Diversity

Why: Diverse Flowering Plants provide food year-round for a variety of bee species.

Activities: Establish Pollinator Garden using native flowering species in school grounds, community spaces and farm bunds. Promote intercropping and border planting with flowering plants like marigold, sunflower, niger, coriander and basil. introduce seasonal flowering trees and shrubs.

2.Create nesting habitats.

Why: Solitary and carpenter bees need specific habitats like open soil, wood cavities, and wall. crevices.

Activities: Install bee hotels using bamboo, wood blocks, and drilled logs. Leave patches of bare ground in farms and gardens for ground nesting bees like lasioglossum and Nomia. Avoid excessive tillage and land levelling in the off season. preserve mud walls, old trees and natural hedgerows.

3.Minimise pesticide Use

Why: pesticides are a major threat to both managed and wild bee populations.

Activities: Promote Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and use bio-pesticides like neem oil. Educate farmers on safe spraying times (early morning or evening when bees are less active) conduct farmer training on the impact of systematic insecticides like neonicotinoids.

 4.Farmer and Community Awareness

Why: Long term conservation depends on local participation and understanding.

Activities: Conduct village-level awareness campaigns using posters, wall paintings. Street plays and short films. Train SHGs, Youth and School children on the importance of bees celebrate World Bee Day (May 20) through community events bee walks.

5.Monitoring and Citizen science

Why: Local Monitoring helps track trends and fosters a sense of ownership.

Activities: Encourage citizen science by training local youth to document bee sights (e.g. using platforms). Develop a seasonal monitoring protocol to track species diversity and abundance. Collaborate with local institutions for research and data validation.

6.Policy and convergence

Why: Integrating bee Conservation into existing rural programs ensures scale and sustainability

Activities: Integrate pollinator-friendly practices into MGNREGEA, Watershed Programmes and Agroforestry schemes, partner with FPOs and cooperatives to  promote bee-friendly labelling and practices.

7.Promote Beekeeping and stingless Bee culture

Why: Beekeeping and Livelihoods and improve pollination.

Activities: Promote Apis cerana indica and Tetragonula iridipennis as an income-generating activity, especially for SHG and Youth; train framers in bee box maintenance, hive management, and honey processing; link bee products to local markets or agritourism initiatives. These activities together create a resilient, pollinator-friendly landscape that supports not just biodiversity, but also better crop productivity, climate resilience, and ecological balance.

Community health is crucial for ensuring longer, healthier lives, addressing health disparities, and increasing access to care, education and engagement. Communities which respond to critical health initiatives such as hygiene, nutrition, chronic diseases and mental well-being enjoys higher life expectancies with better health indicators.

India’s tribal population which is 104 million or 8.6% of the total population, faces significant health challenges, including higher rates of infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, malnutrition, and non-communicable diseases like diabetes and heart disease with lower life expectancy. Key factors affecting community health include access to healthcare, affordable housing, nutritious food, social support and a healthy environment.

In tribal areas, inadequate access to comprehensive primary health care services, hygiene, sanitation and lack of awareness, are the primary reasons for poor health status of the community. In view of this, there is an urgent need to develop suitable mechanisms to bring low-cost, affordable and accessible healthcare systems to rural and tribal areas for ensuring access to health by everyone.

Herbal traditional systems led by traditional healers and well accepted by the community can be integrated into the system to take care of the primary health needs in villages at a nominal cost. Their knowledge needs to be systematically documented, promoting cultivation and propagation of medicinal herbs which can ensure sustainability. There is a need to harness the traditional healthcare system to supplement the mainstream healthcare mechanism in the country.

Need for Empowerment of Traditional Health Practitioner (THP)

1. Lack of access to comprehensive primary health care services by the tribal community
2. THPs are the primary point of contact for health services without authentication.
3. Lack of modern knowledge and equipment for mainstreaming with the present health practices.

BAIF is addressing these challenges with livelihood generation and focussing on preventive health to improve the quality of life of tribal and rural communities through the following initiatives:

• Empower and enhance the quality, security of health care services to rural and tribal community through traditional healers.
• Authentication of THPs by Quality Council of India (QCI) Conserve, promote native medicines through Healers channel.

Tribal healers serve as essential connectors to bridge the healthcare gap and achieve these goals.

Community benefits

• Accessibility
• Availability of improved comprehensive primary health care services.
• Linkages with modern health care system.

Environmental benefits

• Conservation of Biodiversity
• Sustainable Resource Management

Individual benefits

• Increased income as supplementary livelihood
• Authentication
• Quality of life.

Conclusion

This health care model integrates traditional healing practices with modern healthcare with the goal of improved healthcare in tribal villages. Traditional medicine moves closer to culture and is available at an affordable cost thereby preventing exploitation. As Indians are accustomed to dietary restrictions, it becomes an integral part of traditional medicine and thereby increases acceptance among the community. The community are able to avail of primary health services in the village itself with the creation of a cadre of Traditional Health Practitioner (THPs) who remain an essential aspect of the complementary healthcare system in tribal areas. This system showcases a unique Health Delivery model for further scaling up and replication in other tribal regions of the country.

Case Story : A ray of hope for tribal families

Smt. Manjulaben Patel, a certified tribal healer from Amdha village in Valsad district of South Gujarat, has become a beacon of hope for her community. Prior to the certification through Vasundhara trust her skills and knowledge were unrecognized. However, her passion and dedication for healing, led her to assist other tribal healers and offer free healthcare to the tribal families. Despite a modest background, Manjulaben actively learnt and expanded her expertise in naturopathy through training received at the Nature Cure Ashram at Uruli Kanchan, Pune.

Her active participation in various forums such as Healers meet, Academic institute interactions and a Congress on “Ayurveda” helped strengthen trust among the community. As a result, her livelihood and quality of life improved significantly. Today, she earns an average of ₹70,000 per month and has established her own healthcare centre, “Charak Vanoushodhi Evam Kudarati Prathama Upchar Kendra,” where she provides treatment for various ailments such as paralysis, arthritis, joint pain, diabetes and women’s health issues. So far, she has treated around 11,200 patients.

Manjulaben also promotes traditional medicine and conservation of medicinal plants through the herbal garden established by her. As a mentor, she guides young healers and offers valuable knowledge on the use of herbs to local colleges.  Her journey is an inspiring example of how Women healers can make a significant impact on their communities and also enjoy improved quality of life.