Indian honey industry comes together to form India Honey Alliance

• Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Hamdard Laboratories, Brij Honey, Kashmir Honey, Hitkary Honey, and Consocia Advisory are the founding members of India Honey Alliance.

• The alliance to focus on ensuring pure and safe honey for consumers along with the growth of all the stakeholders in the value chain

Leading brands of the Indian honey industry announced the formation of the India Honey Alliance (IHA). IHA aims to provide a unified voice to every stakeholder operating in the entire honey ecosystem from ‘Hive to Home’. The all-inclusive alliance comprises honey companies, exporters, beekeepers, farmers, processors, and science experts from across the country. It is one of its kind and has made beekeepers one of the key stakeholders. In addition, the alliance intends to give equal visibility to all people involved in the honey business.

IHA has already initiated dialogue with the central government and is working closely with the consumers and scientific bodies to take modern, easy-to-use, affordable, and scalable technology to farmers and apiarists. In addition, IHA has been promoting science-based quality standards for Indian honey to improve sourcing, testing, and packaging practices.

IHA said that it had organized a highly successful series of webinars in May. Various eminent experts discussed the importance of putting in place ‘fit for purpose’ technology for testing; how to improve beekeeping and collection of honey at the grass-root level. A separate panel aimed to create consumer awareness and clear myths surrounding honey by bringing renowned doctors (Ayurveda and Unani) and nutritionists to discuss the palliative, preventive, and curative properties of honey.

Shahrukh Khan, chairperson, IHA, said, “There are many myths and misconceptions about honey and its purity. Also, there were many concerns expressed about the increasing instances of honey adulteration. So, we felt the need to create a neutral and objective platform for people from the sector to clear all the ambiguity and give honey the place of pride in our homes that it deserves. So, we are bringing together every player ranging from the smallest beekeeper to the biggest marketer and experts, researchers, and scientists to reinforce consumers’ trust globally that Indian honey is adulteration-free.”

The new office bearers are - Surender Sharma of Patanjali is the vice-chairperson; Dr B K Shrikhande of Baidyanath is the deputy chairperson, Vinit Singh of Brij Honey is the treasurer; Deepak Jolly is secretary-general, and Namrata Khanna is the director.

India Honey Alliance has been formed to voice all stakeholders in the honey sector to identify issues and their probable long-term solutions, ranging from technology, training, beekeeping, and consumer awareness programs.