Uva bee keeping farmers get CBL support to produce increased honey yield

CBL, the manufacturers of popular Munchee Biscuits initiated  a  special   project as  a  part  of  its  CSR  initiatives  to assist the bee keeping farmers of Welimada , keppetipola, Boralanda in the Bandarawela areas as far back in 2005 in response to a request made by the Provincial Director of Agriculture for the assistance of CBL to rehabilitate the declining Honey industry.
Since then CBL implemented an attractive guaranteed price scheme with a promise to purchase all the honey produced in the  Uva  province. This project was strongly supported by a multi pronged approached with the supply of bee keeping equipment, extension and training on bee keeping.CBL also  assisted  the  producers  in marketing  the  products  through  its  existing  distribution  channels. 
The project won the confidence of the ARTGOLD project of the UNDP, sponsored an assistance programme  twice ,during the period 2006 – 2010 . In  recognition  of the  contribution  made  by the  project  it was rewarded  with  the  best  sustainability  project  award   in 2015  at the  Best  Corporate  Citizen  Awards  organized  by  the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
In 2015, the honey project was supported by the National Agribusiness Development programme  (NADeP) under the state sponsored project to promote the public/private sector participation to enhance  agricultural production. Under this new programme  over 500 bee keepers were provided with all their hardware requirements , technical training supported by an attractive guaranteed price scheme.
Aruna  Lokupothagamage  Manager Special  Projects    who is   in charge mentioned that the project started with 350kg in 2005 has now grown up to 7,000kg in 2014 and their target is to increase the honey yield up to 25,000kg  (25 Mt.) by the year 2018.  He also mentioned that school leavers, unemployed youth and house wives have shown interest in joining this project under the new assistance scheme.
It was also revealed that Sri Lanka imports 70 – 80 Mt. annually while having all the favorable conditions to reach self sufficiency in honey if not  surplus  
for export.