Bengaluru, Jan 20: GITAM University, a premier institution driving innovation through multidisciplinary education and impactful research, in collaboration with Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under SEED (Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development) Division, organized a community outreach and training programme at HD Kotte, Mysore. The initiative focused on empowering rural communities by promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities through scientific beekeeping and technology-enabled agricultural practices. The programme was facilitated by Mr. Sulaiman Raj, Public Development Officer; Mr. Kalinge Gowdaru, Member, Grama Panchayat; Mr. Bhaskara, Jenu Kuruba community leader; and Smt. Geetha, Vice President of the Sahakara Sanga.
The programme was organized with a special focus on the Jenu Kuruba community beneficiaries. As part of the intervention, 500 honey bee boxes along with related apiculture equipment were distributed to the beneficiaries to encourage scientific honey bee farming. Adding to this drive, two honey processing centers are established with necessary equipment to facilitate value addition and improve the quality and market readiness of honey products.
The technical training sessions were conducted by Dr. Vijayakumar K.T, Scientist, Department of Apiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru (UASB), along with his team. The sessions emphasized practical training in honey bee farming, hive management, disease control, honey processing, and marketing, enabling farmers to gain end-to-end knowledge from production to commercialization. Dr.Vijayakumar K.T, Scientist, Department of Apiculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru (UASB).
The project is led by Prof. I. Jeena Jacob, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, GITAM, as the Principal Investigator, with Dr. T. Prasanna Venkatesan, Dr. A. Viswa Bharathy, Dr. Geetha K (Department of CSE), Dr. Vijaykumar K.T (UASB), Dr. Sujit Basak (Department of Biochemistry), and Dr. Nirmala Devi D (Department of Food Science and Technology) serving as Co-Principal Investigators. The programme was executed under the guidance of Prof.Vamsidhar Yendapalli, Director-GITAM School of Computer Science and Engineering and Prof.K.G.Mohan, Department Research Committee Chair. The initiative highlighted a strong interdisciplinary collaboration that reinforces GITAM’s commitment to applying science and technology for equitable rural development and sustainable agriculture.