Under The Mango Tree Society (UTMT Society)

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Under The Mango Tree Society(UTMTS) is a non-profit organisation that promotes beekeeping to increase agricultural productivity and provides market access to enhance income and improve livelihoods of marginal farmers in India.
When Vijaya Pastala founded the organization in 2009, she had in mind Indian villages, especially those located in dry, semi-arid regions. A mango tree often stands out in the open space. Under its inviting shade, farmers rest after a morning’s harvest, children catch their breath after playing under the sun’s rays and women share stories on their return from the local well. A community bonds. Wandering traders eyeing a potential sale stop by to offer their wares, villagers learn about the changes in the world outside their own, traders discover the needs of the rural producer. Each group–-rested and more learned–-moves on. Yet, each individual will remember the respite offered by the mango tree’s shade.
Thus, “Under The Mango Tree” is a metaphor calling to mind the areas we work in and the people we work for.
Vijaya set up two entities as part of the hybrid back in 2009 - Under The Mango Tree Society – UTMTS to train farmers in beekeeping with indigenous bees and UTMT Company that provides market access to different kinds of delicious honey from across India.

Under The Mango Tree Society: a not-for profit that trains farmers to beekeep with the Apis cerana indica and stingless bees – Trigona on their farms to addresses livelihood diversification, agricultural productivity and improved income. Broadly, our work encompasses the following:
• Train and equip smallholding farmers to use bees to increase their incomes by as much as threefold.
• Implement a buy back arrangement for honey produced, which increases farmers’ income by another 40% from the sale of their own honey.
• Realize the goals of our Bees for Poverty Reduction (www.utmtsociety.org) and our Urban Beekeeping Programmes.
• Engage in research and policy advocacy to advance sustainable community-based beekeeping with the indigenous bee, the Apis cerana indica and Trigona.

Our programme:
• Gujarat: While beekeeping is the core of our Bees for Poverty Reduction programme, a number of related ecosystem services also play an important role: Awareness Program; Bee Flora; Beekeeping Resource Centre (BRC); Carpentry and other Beekeeping Inputs; Developing local Master Trainers; Honey supply chain; Organic fertilizers and pesticides; Queen Rearing and Apiaries
• Madhya Pradesh: We work in two districts – Chhindwara and Mandla.Trigona Beekeeping has taken off in a big way in both districts with several innovations in propagating Trigona bee colonies; A Beekeeping Resource Centre (BRC) in Jamai block, Chhindwara district serves as a focal point for farmer trainings and meetings.
• Maharashtra: The area now has about 400+ beekeepers and a well developed ecosystem of beekeeping services including a cadre of Master Trainers (MTs), women beekeepers, Self-help Groups making inputs and village based Beekeeping Resource Centers for awareness generation and training.
Kitchen Garden + Grey Water + Bees – A Drought Proofing Measure: Kitchen gardens using grey water (water used for washing vessels etc.) in combination with pollination support from bee boxes enabled households to grow vegetables for home consumption but local sales.

Sujana Krishnamoorthy is the Executive Director of Under The Mango Tree (UTMTS).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.