Gujarat man quits film industry for beekeeping; clocks Rs40 lakh turnover from organic honey

After completing his bachelor’s in computer applications from Rajkot in Gujarat, Brijesh B Kalaria went to Pune for a two-year course in animation and movie-making. After its completion, Brijesh got a job in a global media and entertainment services company in Mumbai.

“It is a dream job for anyone fresh out of college. After working for a year, I realised that I enjoyed being on the farm, where my father grew cotton and groundnuts, more than editing movies sitting within four walls. I decided to quit and returned home,” Brijesh tells 30Stades.

Once back at his Gundala village in Rajkot, he realised his father worked hard but did not earn much through traditional farming. “I began thinking of new ways to make more out of our land. One part was switching to better-paying crops, and the second was beekeeping,” Brijesh says.

Also Read: From Rs17,000 salary to Rs17 lakh annual turnover, how beekeeping changed the fortunes of this Odisha man

Why beekeeping?

“Beekeeping (apiculture) uses movable hives (bee boxes) placed in fields or forests. It is an almost landless activity that doesn't require vast amounts of land. This, I felt, was a good way to earn extra income,” he says.

“In 2016, I started beekeeping to get a side income from farming. Without any training, I bought 10 bee boxes from a beekeeper in a neighbouring village at Rs 4,000 per box. As an experiment, I kept them in my field where I had planted toor dal (pigeon pea),” Brijesh says.

From a bee box, honey can be harvested in less than two months under ideal conditions.

“A consistent nectar flow from abundant flowers leads to faster honey production. I harvested 18 kg in just 40 days and sold it at Rs 500 per kg in the local market,” he recollects.

That was a quick income of Rs 9,000, and Brijesh not only earned more in subsequent cycles, but he also used the 10 hives to multiply the bee boxes.

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“A colony multiplies in population as the queen continuously lays eggs. I grew 10 boxes to 50 boxes of honeybees in six months and began harvesting honey from them also,” he adds.

From experiment to expansion

He again purchased 50 boxes, on which he received a 50 percent subsidy from the government. By then, Brijesh had learned about the medicinal values of honey. He began keeping bee boxes in ajwain (carom) fields. 

Bees collect nectar from the ajwain flowers to produce a dark-colored honey with an intense flavour and medicinal properties. “Ajwain honey is valued for anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and antioxidant properties. This leads to high demand and profitability,” Brijesh says.

He carries the bee boxes in trucks to ajwain fields around the time of flowering. “We keep them in fields for two months as bees produce ajwain-flavoured honey,” he adds. 

He also places the boxes in fields of saunf (fennel seeds), which is used to make multi-floral honey. Farmers benefit as bees improve crop yields and quality by pollinating flowering plants, says Brijesh. 

For him, the turning point was participation in an expo in Rajkot in 2016. “People liked our honey, and we started selling at exhibitions regularly. We were flooded with repeat orders,” the agripreneur says. 

Today, Brijesh has around 500 boxes and sells nearly 5,000 kg of honey annually at Rs800 per kg. This leads to an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh.

“It was ten years back that I decided to shift from films to farming. When I look back, I can proudly say that I made the right decision,” says Brijesh, who also cultivates black turmeric, pulses and other crops.

Processing and sale of honey

“We don’t sell our honey online. We have around 2500 regular customers in Rajkot, Mumbai, Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad. We take orders on WhatsApp,” he adds.

Also Read: Architect turned beekeeper sets up organic honey business; turnover at Rs1.15 crore

“After harvesting honey, we process it organically by filtering through a fine cloth. We don’t sell it the same year, allowing it to improve in aroma and medicinal properties. If stored well, honey has an indefinite shelf life,” Brijesh points out.

Bees also make royal jelly, wax, bee propolis (with natural anti-bacterial properties) and bee venom. “Though we can generate income from them, we are currently focused on honey as it has high market demand. We store wax and use it for putting up new hives in bee boxes,” he explains.

The peak honey production season is from October to March. The period from July to August is typically a lean season due to the monsoon season, and in the summer, bees mostly consume their stored honey, he adds.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting)

Also Read: Maharashtra woman builds organic honey business; earns Rs25 lakh annually 

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