Beekeeping might just become the next big thing for Arunachal’s unemployed youth — and a visit to Rajiv Gandhi University last Tuesday made that future look a lot closer to reality.
A Delegation With a Mission
A high-level team from the Directorate of Agriculture, led by Director (Marketing) Nokliam Sumnyan, arrived at RGU in Rono Hills and spent the day assessing the university’s advanced honey testing facilities, set up within its agricultural sciences department. The group wasn’t just bureaucrats ticking boxes — it also included progressive honeybee farmers who know firsthand what’s at stake in the field. Mission Director of the Arunachal Pradesh Bee and Honey Mission (ABHM), TD Neckom, was also part of the delegation. When the people who grow the honey and the people who set policy sit in the same room, that’s when real change tends to happen.
What’s Powering the Lab at RGU
The honey testing centre at RGU is funded through a National Bee and Honey Mission (NBHM) project, executed via NECTAR — the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach — an autonomous body under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The project isn’t just about testing honey. It runs on four pillars: a honey testing centre, a honey processing unit, a nucleus centre, and a beekeeping training programme. The testing centre is already fully operational, while the remaining three components are slated for the next two phases. Faculty members walked the visiting officials through established testing protocols and showcased other food processing technologies available at the campus — a session that, by all accounts, left quite an impression.
Catch Them Young 2.0 — A Budget Push for Bees
The visit ties directly into the state government’s ‘Catch Them Young 2.0’ programme, announced in the 2026-2027 state budget, which focuses on creating sustainable self-employment opportunities for educated but unemployed youth in Arunachal’s growing apiculture sector. Apiculture, or beekeeping, has quietly been one of the state’s most promising agri-sectors for years. With a structured policy framework finally taking shape, the timing of this visit feels deliberate and well thought-out.
A Policy, an MoU, and Sea Buckthorn Too
During a high-level joint meeting with the RGU Vice-Chancellor and registrar, the delegation briefed university authorities on the state Cabinet’s recent approval of the Arunachal Pradesh Apiculture & Honey Policy (AAHP), with the Agriculture Department named as the nodal agency for its statewide rollout. Sea buckthorn — another crop gaining serious attention under the Agriculture Department — also found its way into discussions, with RGU expected to provide institutional and technological support. To make all of this collaboration official, the RGU VC recommended signing a comprehensive MoU to enable technology sharing, field expertise exchange, and joint training for the farming community. The visiting team assured the university of swift administrative action to secure state government approval for the proposed agreement.
Honey from Arunachal has always been special. With science, policy and university expertise finally aligning behind it, the question isn’t whether this sector will boom — it’s how soon.
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