What happens when you are friends with a swarm of bees and they want to hang out with you? You end up with a bee beard!

Final-year B.Sc. (Agri.) student Bakiyalakshmi fascinated participants of World Honey Bee Day celebrations held at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) on Thursday by demonstrating a beard formation of honey bees on her face.

During the event, agriculture students like her exhibited various value-added honey infused/flavoured products, including lip balm, honey soap, crack cream and coloured candles as part of an experiential learning course.

Organised by the Department of Agricultural Entomology, the celebrations drew participants from across the State and aimed at promoting the revival of honey bee population, which, according to M. Shanthi, Director, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, TNAU, has declined by nearly 40%.

The decline affects crop productivity, Prof. Shanthi added, emphasising the need to conserve honey bees by growing flowering plants around farms and homes and by avoiding use of insecticide during bee foraging periods.

Paying tributes to Anton Jansa, a Slovenia-based pioneer of modern apiculture, K. Subrahmaniyan, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of TNAU, explained the importance of honey bees in crop pollination.

Per capita consumption of honey in India remains very low, he observed, and elaborated on the medicinal properties of bee venom. N. Venkatesa Palanichamy, Dean, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, explained the importance of honey in Ayurveda.

C. Babu, Dean, School of Post Graduate Studies, pointed out that environmental pollution has affected honey exports from India and many other countries.

Beekeepers Anand and Santhosh, successful entrepreneurs of value-added bee products, shared their experiences and the importance of purchase of honey from locally known beekeepers for mutual benefit.