PSMO College chosen as bee-breeding centre

[sajiv]

PSMO College chosen as bee-breeding centre

MALAPPURAM: The Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) took the message of beekeeping to college campuses in the State on Friday. Horticorp has chosen Pocker Sahib Memorial Orphanage

(PSMO) College, Tirurangadi, as a nodal centre for breeding of bees.

Granting the status of breeding centre to PSMO College, Horticorp chairman E.A. Rajendran offered to set up a permanent unit of the Horticorp if the college provided land for it.

Mr. Rajendran launched the distribution of bee colonies to 250-odd people on the PSMO College campus at Tirurangadi on Friday. The function marked the finale of five days of training in beekeeping offered by the Horticorp.

PSMO College became the first academic institution in the State to equip the students with expertise in beekeeping. Mr. Rajendran, who is also a film and television actor, said the beekeeping experiment would be introduced on other campuses in the State as well.

He advised the students to resort to horticulture and floriculture because "it helps us to reduce mental tension greatly."

Mr. Rajendran said Horticorp would open a regional centre in Malappuram. Fifteen mini-trade units of Horticorp would be opened in different places in the district, he said, calling upon the 12 MLAs from the district to cooperate and promote the work of the Horticorp in the district.

B. Sunil, regional manager of Bee Breeding Centre, Mavelikara, who led the training camp at PSMO College, said the Horticorps experiment would help stabilise the relations between students and farmers.