The Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) will open honey parks in all the 14 districts.
Managing director J.Sajeev said the project envisaged opening holistic refreshment stalls and sales outlets of ethnic as well as value-added products of honey.
The State’s first comprehensive honey park would start functioning at a three-acre premises of Horticorp at Kochalummoodu, near Mavelikara, in two months and the second one at Kakkanad in Ernakulam later this year. The project to set up the honey park at Kochalummoodu would be implemented by Horticorp regional manager B.Sunil, an expert in beekeeping and holistic use of honey.
Mr. Sajeev said the project would be implemented in association with vana samrakshana samitis (VSS) attached to the Forest Department.
Forest Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar would launch Amrit Achenkovil Forest Honey, an ethnic honey brand of Horticorp soon.
Horticorp, in association with the VSS, had distributed 400 beehives to 40 tribal families at a settlement at Achenkovil and the corporation would procure honey from them at competitive prices.
Mr. Sunil said the honey park would have an ethnic cafeteria, a sales outlet for different types of honey, value-added products, and ethnic products such as bamboo rice, wild nutmeg, ragi, foxtail millet, and horse gram.
Uplift of tribes
Mr. Sajeev said the honey park also aimed at uplift of the tribes as it would offer better prices for forest produces brought by the tribespeople.
He said Horticorp had already started production of value-added honey products at its plant at Kochalummoodu.
