Pune’s little-known bee museum: A hive of secrets hidden in Shivajinagar

Pune's Central Bee Research and Training Institute (CBRTI) houses a single-room museum on its Shivajinagar campus, a seemingly academic yet invaluable source of information for any bee enthusiast. As one ascends the staircase, they encounter intriguing bee facts, such as the queen bee's lifespan of less than two years and the detection of its absence within 15 minutes.

The museum's displays include photos, information boards, and various honey extractors, wasp traps, bee hives, and predator wasps. Notably, it showcases pests and predators of honey bees, offering a real-life perspective on their relationships. A guide explains that bees must consume 10 to 12 kg of honey to produce 1 kg of wax and highlights the importance of bee pollination in increasing fruit yield by 26-40 percent.

The museum also emphasizes the role of bees in the nutraceutical sector, with bee products like pollen and venom being used in various treatments. CBRTI's Training Coordinator, Rahul Kale, highlights the importance of bee pollination for crops that require cross-pollination and the need for bee boxes in high-priority inter-cultural farming operations.