[India International Trade Fair (IITF 2022)] Organics from Himalaya - Himalaya Tree

My name is Sandeep Surira.
I came here from Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand.
And we have started a small initiative after COVID with the name Himalaya Tree.

And we have formed a society, Vishwanath Ghati.
Basically, our work is how to preserve the Himalayan Vegetation.

We have started this with our honey, which is raw forest honey,

which comes mainly from Badrinath, Kedarnath valley.
And it is from the native Indian bee, a small honey bee.

This is that honey.
It is the honey of the small honey bee, that is Cerana Indica.

Basically, we have done this as the native Indian bee will be extinct by 12-15 years as per study,

Basically, we are working for their survival.
Everyone is working on the imported bee, Malachra bee,

by which our native Indian bee, small honey bee, desi honey bee is going to be extinct.

Basically we are working for their survival. I’ll tell you how unique this is.

It is coming from the almost Alpine height – the Badrinath Kedarnath valley.

And the difference is that there is no normal vegetation above 300m altitude.
There are more herbs and all.

And bees feed on those herbs and make honey from them.
That’s why it is different.
Other than those, we have green tea, and all, which comes from Chamoli.

It has the Tulsi from Badrinathji. And our green tea is coming from Langasu.

Moreover, we have our Jangli Haldi, pulses from mountains, and spices and all.
The best of all is our initiative to keep the Himalayan vegetation preserved.

If that native Indian bee goes missing, then all our Himalayan flora will be extinct, for that we have made a society of 300 farmers.

And all the farmers in this are above 60 years of age.

The reason behind that is the Apis Cerana Bee is a little aggressive and young people don’t know how to deal with them.

They usually sting and don’t like to be in contact with humans.

Therefore all our farmers are experienced, and are above 60 years of age.
They have the experience on how to deal with them.

Basically, our bees do not stay in boxes.
For them mud houses are made in farms with 6” mud walls and holes are made in those.

The reason behind that is, there is a lot of fluctuation of temperature on hills.

During the day it is 40° and at night it is minus.
The mud walls act as an insulator.

The temperature there does not fluctuate and is very good for bees.

And as I can tell you an example, like our Grandparents,
around 40-50 years back, they used to generate 200-300 kg of wheat from farms, as there is terrace farming and farms are not big as such.

And that is now down to 30-40 kg, it is because our native Indian bee is steadily going extinct.

And that is the reason for migration from the hilly areas.
And our villages are becoming ghost villages in Uttarakhand.

So basically, we want our native Indian bees to survive and their population to increase.
And by that our Himalayan vegetation will be enriched.

By this there will be reverse migration, people will go back to villages.
And by that our Himalaya and Uttarakhand will grow.

Thank you!