Devendra Jani’s association with bees was actually through tomato plants. In view of the use of pesticides and other chemicals in the vegetables grown in the farm, Devendra Jani had tried to grow vegetables on the roof of his house as well. But he could not grow tomatoes as the tomato plant was losing flowers too soon. The lack of bees made pollination difficult for these tomato plants.
It was during this time that Devendra realized that bees are the most suitable for pollinating the tomato plant. He then visited the Central Bee Research Institute in Pune, where he learned some surprising things about bees. According to Devendra, like everyone, he too was afraid of bees. But the training changed his attitude towards bees.
Started this special initiative
Devendra started an initiative named ‘Bee-The Lead’ in the year 2015 to save bees. Through this initiative, Devendra not only creates awareness about bees among farmers, children and others, but also explains how people can learn leadership from bees.
Bees can multiply farmer’s crops through pollination, although pesticides are reducing their population. Devendra is also giving training to farmers in beekeeping to promote natural farming practices.
According to Devendra, the more farmers know about the importance of bees, the more chemical free agricultural production can increase.