What is NBHM and which ministry runs it?

NBHM stands for National Beekeeping & Honey Mission. It is a centrally-sponsored scheme of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, implemented through the National Bee Board (NBB). It was announced as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package on 15 May 2020 with an initial allocation of ₹500 crore for the three-year period 2020-21 to 2022-23. The stated objective is to promote scientific beekeeping in a holistic manner — colloquially referred to as the 'Sweet Revolution' — by strengthening the production, post-harvest and R&D ends of the honey and bee-products value chain.

What are the three Mini Missions under NBHM?

NBHM is structured around three Mini Missions. Mini Mission-I (MM-I) focuses on production and productivity improvement through awareness, capacity building, scientific beekeeping training, supply of bee colonies, hives and equipment, and pollination support for crops. Mini Mission-II (MM-II) covers post-harvest management — honey processing units, storage, bottling, labelling, branding, marketing infrastructure and value addition for bee products (beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, pollen). Mini Mission-III (MM-III) underwrites research, development and technology — including World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories, mini honey testing labs, the Madhukranti national digital portal for traceability, and applied research at ICAR institutes and State Agricultural Universities.

Who implements NBHM on the ground?

The nodal implementing agency is the National Bee Board (NBB), a registered society under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. NBB issues operational guidelines, approves projects, releases central assistance and maintains the Madhukranti portal. On the field side, NBHM is delivered through State Departments of Horticulture / Agriculture, State Beekeeping Development Committees, ICAR institutes (notably the AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators), State Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and beekeeping FPOs / cooperatives. The scheme also empanels Integrated Beekeeping Development Centres (IBDCs / CoEs) at the state level to act as one-stop hubs for training, demonstrations, custom-hiring of equipment and quality control.

Which honey bee species are relevant to Indian beekeeping under NBHM?

Five species matter for Indian beekeeping. Apis cerana indica — the Indian hive bee — is the traditional domesticated species, well-adapted to local conditions and the backbone of small-holder beekeeping. Apis mellifera — the European honey bee — was successfully introduced in northern India in the 1980s and now dominates commercial honey production in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and increasingly the Deccan. Apis dorsata — the giant rock bee — and Apis florea — the little bee — are wild species not domesticated in box hives but contribute to wild-honey collection (especially in tribal belts) and pollination. The native stingless bees of genus Tetragonula / Trigona are increasingly promoted under NBHM for meliponiculture — a low-cost, low-risk option for small and marginal farmers, women SHGs and tribal communities, especially in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the North-East.

What is the pollination value of beekeeping, beyond honey?

Honey is the visible product; pollination is the much larger invisible one. ICAR studies and the global pollination literature consistently estimate that the value of crop pollination by bees is many times higher than the value of honey, beeswax and other hive products combined. About three-fourths of the world's leading food crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination. In India, managed honey-bee colonies materially improve yields and quality in mustard / rapeseed, sunflower, niger, sesame, litchi, apple, almond, mango, citrus, guava, coriander, fennel, onion seed, carrot seed, cucurbits, coffee, cardamom and many vegetable seed crops. NBHM funds pollination support — placing migratory colonies in farmer fields during bloom — under MM-I, and it converges with the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (see our /midh guide) which carries its own pollination-support norms.

What is the Madhukranti portal and why does honey traceability matter?

Madhukranti is the national digital portal launched by NBB to bring traceability and quality assurance to the Indian honey value chain. It registers beekeepers, beekeeping societies / FPOs and honey-handling companies, captures source-of-origin data for honey lots, and links to laboratory test results from the World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories established under MM-III. Traceability matters because adulteration — typically with rice syrup, sugar syrup, jaggery syrup or invert syrup — depresses farm-gate honey prices, hurts genuine beekeepers and damages India's reputation in export markets. NBB and FSSAI have progressively tightened honey standards and lab-method requirements (including SMR / TMR / NMR-style tests for syrup adulteration) and Madhukranti is the data backbone that ties producer registration to lot-level lab certificates.

How does NBHM converge with MIDH, RKVY, PMFME and MOVCDNER?

NBHM is the dedicated beekeeping mission; the surrounding schemes amplify it. MIDH (see our /midh guide) carries a bee-keeping for pollination component in horticulture clusters and funds bee colonies, hives and pollination support in fruit, vegetable and spice belts. RKVY (see our /rkvy guide) lets states fund state-specific beekeeping infrastructure, IBDCs and honey-FPO incubation. PMFME (see our /pmfme guide) supports micro food processing enterprises — including honey processing units — with credit-linked back-end subsidy, ODOP recognition for honey in identified districts, and SHG / FPO grants for branding and marketing. MOVCDNER underwrites organic honey value chains in the North-East. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (see our /aif guide) provides 3% interest-subvention loans for honey processing and cold-chain infrastructure. State NABARD producer-organisation programmes have promoted dedicated honey FPOs through NAFED and TRIFED.

Where can a farmer or FPO apply, and what are the official sources for NBHM updates?

Individual beekeepers register on the Madhukranti portal at nbb.gov.in. Project proposals for IBDCs, honey processing units, honey testing labs and bulk inputs are routed through the State Department of Horticulture / Agriculture, the State Beekeeping Development Committee or an empanelled implementing agency, which forwards approved DPRs to NBB for central release. Farmer-level training and demonstrations are accessible through the nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra (see our /krishi-vigyan-kendras directory) and State Agricultural University (see our /universities-research-institutes directory). The authoritative sources are the National Bee Board portal at nbb.gov.in, the DA&FW NBHM operational guidelines available on agriwelfare.gov.in, ICAR's AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators at IARI, New Delhi, and the FSSAI honey-quality standards published in the Food Safety and Standards Regulations.

NBHM Guide — National Beekeeping & Honey Mission: ₹500 Crore Sweet Revolution Scheme, Three Mini Missions, Honey Testing Labs and How Farmers Apply

The National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM)is the Government of India's flagship scheme to promote scientific beekeeping as both a standalone enterprise and a critical pollination service for Indian agriculture and horticulture. It was announced as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package on 15 May 2020 with an initial outlay of ₹500 crore for 2020-21 to 2022-23, and it is implemented by the National Bee Board (NBB)under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The mission is structured around three Mini Missions — production, post-harvest and R&D — and is the backbone of what the Government of India calls the Sweet Revolution. For the wider scheme portfolio see our India government schemes for farmers reference.

At a glance

Scheme type: centrally-sponsored scheme of DA&FW, implemented by the National Bee Board (NBB).
Launched: announced 15 May 2020 under Atmanirbhar Bharat; operational guidelines issued by NBB / DA&FW.
Initial outlay: ₹500 crore for the three-year period 2020-21 to 2022-23.
Structure: three Mini Missions — MM-I production, MM-II post-harvest, MM-III R&D.
Digital backbone: the Madhukranti portal at nbb.gov.in for beekeeper registration, traceability and honey lot tracking.
Quality infrastructure: World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories and a network of mini honey testing labs.
Convergence: reinforces MIDH, RKVY, PMFME, AIF and MOVCDNER.

Why beekeeping — and why a national mission

Honey is the visible product of beekeeping; the much larger invisible product is crop pollination. About three-fourths of the world's leading food crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination, and ICAR's All India Coordinated Research Project on Honey Bees & Pollinators has consistently documented sizeable yield and quality gains in mustard / rapeseed, sunflower, litchi, apple, almond, mango, citrus, coriander, fennel, cucurbits, onion seed, carrot seed and many vegetable seed crops when managed colonies are placed in fields during bloom. The economic value of crop pollination by bees is widely estimated to be many multiples of the value of honey, beeswax and other hive products combined. NBHM is built on this insight: it treats beekeeping as rural enterprise + ecosystem service, not just as a honey-production line.

The three Mini Missions

MM-I — Production & productivity improvement

MM-I funds the upstream end of the value chain: farmer / SHG / FPO awareness and capacity building; structured training in scientific beekeeping (apiary site selection, hive management, swarm control, queen rearing, disease and pest management); supply of bee colonies, bee boxes, honey extractors, queen excluders, smokers, suits and other essential equipment; and migratory pollination support for crop bloom windows in horticulture and oilseed belts. Implementation goes through State Beekeeping Development Committees, ICAR institutes, State Agricultural Universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras — see our KVK directory and universities and research institutes directory for the field network that delivers MM-I on the ground.

MM-II — Post-harvest management & value addition

MM-II underwrites the midstream and downstream: honey processing units (heating, filtration, moisture reduction, packing), bottling and labelling lines, storage drums and cold rooms, branding and marketing for cooperative and FPO honey brands, and value addition for the rest of the hive — beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom and bee pollen. MM-II is the entry point for SHGs, cooperatives, FPOs and ODOP (One District One Product) honey clusters to graduate from selling raw, un-tested honey to bulk buyers, to producing certified, branded, traceable retail honey. The interest-subvention loans under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and the credit-linked back-end subsidy under PMFME stack with MM-II to reduce the effective cost of a honey processing unit for a small FPO.

MM-III — R&D and technology

MM-III funds the research and quality-assurance backbone. The most visible MM-III deliverables are the World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories and the network of mini honey testing labs that allow lot-level certification of honey before it reaches the retail shelf or an export consignment. MM-III also funds applied research — at ICAR institutes (notably IARI's AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators), State Agricultural Universities and accredited private labs — on bee genetics, queen breeding, colony health (varroa, sacbrood, European foulbrood), Indian flora honey characterisation, and adulteration-detection methods.

Bee species and what each is good for

Apis cerana indica (Indian hive bee) — the traditional domesticated species, well-adapted to monsoon climates and small-holder apiaries. Backbone of low-cost rural beekeeping in southern, central and eastern India.
Apis mellifera (European honey bee) — introduced successfully in northern India in the 1980s. Dominates commercial honey production today, especially the migratory mustard-litchi-sunflower-eucalyptus circuit across Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar and West Bengal.
Apis dorsata (giant rock bee) and Apis florea (little bee) — wild species not domesticated in box hives. They contribute to wild-honey collection (significant in tribal belts) and to pollination of forest, fruit and oilseed crops.
Tetragonula / Trigona (stingless bees) — increasingly promoted under MM-I and MM-II as a low-cost, low-risk option for women SHGs, tribal communities and home-garden meliponiculture, especially in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the North-East. Yields per colony are modest but honey commands a premium and operations are gentle and safe.

Honey value chain — production, quality and exports

India is among the world's leading natural-honey producers and exporters, with the United States as the single largest export market followed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Germany, Bangladesh and a long tail of smaller buyers. The recurring policy challenge is adulteration: detection of rice syrup, sugar syrup, jaggery syrup and invert syrup added to dilute genuine honey. NBB, FSSAI and APEDA have progressively tightened honey-quality standards — including syrup-detection methods such as Specific Marker for Rice syrup (SMR), Trace Marker for Rice syrup (TMR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) profiling — and MM-III testing labs plus the Madhukranti portal together form the source-to-shelf traceability stack the export market increasingly demands.

Who should apply, and how

Individual beekeepers and SHGs: register on the Madhukranti portal at nbb.gov.in and access training and bee-colony / equipment support through the nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra (see our KVK directory) or State Agricultural University extension wing.
FPOs, cooperatives and micro food processors: route DPRs for honey processing units, packaging lines and IBDC / CoE facilities through the State Department of Horticulture / Agriculture or the State Beekeeping Development Committee to NBB for central assistance, and stack with PMFME back-end subsidy and AIF interest-subvention loans.
State Agricultural Universities and ICAR institutes:apply for MM-III research grants, World-class / mini honey testing labs and the AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators network — see our universities and research institutes directory for the institutional network involved.

Frequently asked questions

What is NBHM and which ministry runs it?: NBHM stands for National Beekeeping & Honey Mission. It is a centrally-sponsored scheme of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, implemented through the National Bee Board (NBB). It was announced as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package on 15 May 2020 with an initial allocation of ₹500 crore for the three-year period 2020-21 to 2022-23. The stated objective is to promote scientific beekeeping in a holistic manner — colloquially referred to as the 'Sweet Revolution' — by strengthening the production, post-harvest and R&D ends of the honey and bee-products value chain.
What are the three Mini Missions under NBHM?: NBHM is structured around three Mini Missions. Mini Mission-I (MM-I) focuses on production and productivity improvement through awareness, capacity building, scientific beekeeping training, supply of bee colonies, hives and equipment, and pollination support for crops. Mini Mission-II (MM-II) covers post-harvest management — honey processing units, storage, bottling, labelling, branding, marketing infrastructure and value addition for bee products (beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, pollen). Mini Mission-III (MM-III) underwrites research, development and technology — including World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories, mini honey testing labs, the Madhukranti national digital portal for traceability, and applied research at ICAR institutes and State Agricultural Universities.
Who implements NBHM on the ground?: The nodal implementing agency is the National Bee Board (NBB), a registered society under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. NBB issues operational guidelines, approves projects, releases central assistance and maintains the Madhukranti portal. On the field side, NBHM is delivered through State Departments of Horticulture / Agriculture, State Beekeeping Development Committees, ICAR institutes (notably the AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators), State Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and beekeeping FPOs / cooperatives. The scheme also empanels Integrated Beekeeping Development Centres (IBDCs / CoEs) at the state level to act as one-stop hubs for training, demonstrations, custom-hiring of equipment and quality control.
Which honey bee species are relevant to Indian beekeeping under NBHM?: Five species matter for Indian beekeeping. Apis cerana indica — the Indian hive bee — is the traditional domesticated species, well-adapted to local conditions and the backbone of small-holder beekeeping. Apis mellifera — the European honey bee — was successfully introduced in northern India in the 1980s and now dominates commercial honey production in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and increasingly the Deccan. Apis dorsata — the giant rock bee — and Apis florea — the little bee — are wild species not domesticated in box hives but contribute to wild-honey collection (especially in tribal belts) and pollination. The native stingless bees of genus Tetragonula / Trigona are increasingly promoted under NBHM for meliponiculture — a low-cost, low-risk option for small and marginal farmers, women SHGs and tribal communities, especially in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the North-East.
What is the pollination value of beekeeping, beyond honey?: Honey is the visible product; pollination is the much larger invisible one. ICAR studies and the global pollination literature consistently estimate that the value of crop pollination by bees is many times higher than the value of honey, beeswax and other hive products combined. About three-fourths of the world's leading food crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination. In India, managed honey-bee colonies materially improve yields and quality in mustard / rapeseed, sunflower, niger, sesame, litchi, apple, almond, mango, citrus, guava, coriander, fennel, onion seed, carrot seed, cucurbits, coffee, cardamom and many vegetable seed crops. NBHM funds pollination support — placing migratory colonies in farmer fields during bloom — under MM-I, and it converges with the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (see our /midh guide) which carries its own pollination-support norms.
What is the Madhukranti portal and why does honey traceability matter?: Madhukranti is the national digital portal launched by NBB to bring traceability and quality assurance to the Indian honey value chain. It registers beekeepers, beekeeping societies / FPOs and honey-handling companies, captures source-of-origin data for honey lots, and links to laboratory test results from the World-class State-of-the-Art Honey Testing Laboratories established under MM-III. Traceability matters because adulteration — typically with rice syrup, sugar syrup, jaggery syrup or invert syrup — depresses farm-gate honey prices, hurts genuine beekeepers and damages India's reputation in export markets. NBB and FSSAI have progressively tightened honey standards and lab-method requirements (including SMR / TMR / NMR-style tests for syrup adulteration) and Madhukranti is the data backbone that ties producer registration to lot-level lab certificates.
How does NBHM converge with MIDH, RKVY, PMFME and MOVCDNER?: NBHM is the dedicated beekeeping mission; the surrounding schemes amplify it. MIDH (see our /midh guide) carries a bee-keeping for pollination component in horticulture clusters and funds bee colonies, hives and pollination support in fruit, vegetable and spice belts. RKVY (see our /rkvy guide) lets states fund state-specific beekeeping infrastructure, IBDCs and honey-FPO incubation. PMFME (see our /pmfme guide) supports micro food processing enterprises — including honey processing units — with credit-linked back-end subsidy, ODOP recognition for honey in identified districts, and SHG / FPO grants for branding and marketing. MOVCDNER underwrites organic honey value chains in the North-East. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (see our /aif guide) provides 3% interest-subvention loans for honey processing and cold-chain infrastructure. State NABARD producer-organisation programmes have promoted dedicated honey FPOs through NAFED and TRIFED.
Where can a farmer or FPO apply, and what are the official sources for NBHM updates?: Individual beekeepers register on the Madhukranti portal at nbb.gov.in. Project proposals for IBDCs, honey processing units, honey testing labs and bulk inputs are routed through the State Department of Horticulture / Agriculture, the State Beekeeping Development Committee or an empanelled implementing agency, which forwards approved DPRs to NBB for central release. Farmer-level training and demonstrations are accessible through the nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra (see our /krishi-vigyan-kendras directory) and State Agricultural University (see our /universities-research-institutes directory). The authoritative sources are the National Bee Board portal at nbb.gov.in, the DA&FW NBHM operational guidelines available on agriwelfare.gov.in, ICAR's AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators at IARI, New Delhi, and the FSSAI honey-quality standards published in the Food Safety and Standards Regulations.

Official sources

National Bee Board — nbb.gov.in (Madhukranti portal, beekeeper registration, NBHM operational guidelines).
Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare — agriwelfare.gov.in (NBHM scheme circulars and Office Memoranda).
ICAR — AICRP on Honey Bees & Pollinators at iari.res.in (research and demonstrations).
FSSAI honey standards — fssai.gov.in (Food Safety and Standards Regulations on honey quality, syrup-detection methods).
APEDA — apeda.gov.in (honey export statistics, traceability requirements).

This page is for general guidance. Always confirm the latest operational guidelines, scale-of-finance and project-cost ceilings with the National Bee Board (nbb.gov.in) and the relevant State Department of Horticulture / Agriculture before submitting a proposal.