🐝 From Collapse to Code: Why We Built Bwise – Friends of Bees

"It started with a box. Not an idea. Not a business plan. Just a bee box. Cracked at the corners, swollen from rain, and abandoned by the colony it was supposed to protect.

This wasn’t a one-off. It was the third failed hive in two weeks. At our apiaries in Meghalaya, we observed bees walking away from homes that were supposedly “standard.”They weren’t. And that’s where the story began".

The Problem Nobody Was Talking About

India frequently discusses pollinators, organic farming, and sustainable honey production. However, almost no one discusses where the bees are living.

Bee boxes — the very homes that house our pollinators — are often:

·         Made from low-grade ply

·         Treated with toxic paints or not treated at all

·         Unsuited for local climate conditions

·         Built with no design empathy for Apis cerana indica, our native bee

There was no audit. No feedback loop. Departments procured in bulk, vendors supplied fast and cheap, and field-level beekeepers were left with boxes that didn’t last a season, let alone nurture a colony.

We didn't read this in a report. We lived it.

What Le Organica Learned the Hard Way

At Le Organica, we weren’t just selling or harvesting honey — we were keeping bees. And it showed us things brochures won’t.

We saw how:

·         Colonies collapsed due to poor ventilation and structural gaps

·         Cracked frames led to comb damage and disease

·         Hive interiors grew mold in Meghalaya’s monsoon

·         Yield dropped, and so did bee health

This wasn't just bad design — it was a quiet, systemic failure. So we asked the obvious question:

What if we stopped patching the system and rebuilt it entirely?

Enter Bwise – Friends of Bees

Bwise isn’t a pivot. It’s a purpose. It's a scientific beekeeping system, designed from the ground up for real-world beekeepers, real weather, and real bees.

What we changed:

1. 🧱 The Box

·         Redesigned Langstroth hive specifically for Apis cerana

·         Materials: weather-treated marine ply, bamboo composites, beeswax-lined interiors, low-VOC plant based paints

·         Engineered to last, not just exist

2. ⚡ The Power Unit

·         A solar-powered smart core that functions in remote, power-deprived areas

·         Monitors and studies temperature, humidity, hive weight, and vibrations

·         Fully modular, field-repairable, and offline-ready

3. 📊 The Intelligence Layer

·         Infrared swarm detection

·         Behavior-based alerts

·         Data converted into simple, actionable insights for beekeepers

· AI trained on local patterns, not Western bee models

Why It Matters

When you fix the box, you fix the colony. When you fix the colony, you fix pollination. When you fix pollination, you stabilize the food chain.

Most “tech for good” projects forget this: True change begins with infrastructure.

Bwise isn’t about dashboards. It's about dependable homes for bees — and trustworthy tools for the people keeping them alive.

What Comes Next

We’re not stopping at hives. We’re building a new system:

·         Pollination programs tied to crop distress zones

·         A Material Science exploring biodegradable composites and locally sourced hive-grade materials

·         A Digital Bee School to train youth and farmers across the Northeast

·         Honey that’s fully traceable, from GPS-tagged hive to testing lab to shelf

✅ Crops That Rely on / Benefit from Bee Pollination

Category	Example Crops	Pollination Dependency	Yield/Quality Impact
Fruits	Apple, Citrus, Litchi, Mango, Guava	High -bees are essential	+30–90% fruit set & size
Vegetables	Pumpkin, Cucumber, Squash, Brinjal, Chilli	High – especially cucurbits	+50–85% yield improvement
Nuts/Seeds	Mustard, Sunflower, Sesame, Coriander	High–seed formation	+25–60% seed/oil yield
Legumes	Beans, Peas, Lentils (some varieties)	Medium – enhances pod set	+15–40% productivity
Cash Crops	Coffee, Cocoa, Cardamom	Medium–high – high-quality impact	+25–40% bean quality
Spices/Herbs	Ajwain, Fennel, Dill	High	+20–45% oil/seed content

❌ Crops That Do NOT Rely on Bee Pollination

Category	Example Crops	Pollination Type	Bee Role
Cereals	Rice, Wheat, Barley, Maize*	Wind (Maize partial)	❌ Minimal
Tubers	Potato, Yam, Sweet Potato, Cassava	Vegetative propagation	❌ None
Grasses	Millets, Sorghum	Wind/self-pollinated	❌ None
Sugar Crops	Sugarcane	Clonal + wind	❌ None

Takeaways for Bwise

Crop Type	Pollination Benefit	Bwise Deployment Potential	Revenue/Impact Potential
Fruits	HIGH	✅ High	🍯 + 🍊 Dual market value
Vegetables	HIGH	✅ High	🍯 + 🥬 Seasonal repeat
Nuts/Seeds	MED–HIGH	✅ Selectively	🌻 High-value oil segment
Tubers/Cereals	LOW–NONE	❌ Not recommended	–

📊 India-Specific Summary (2015–2025)

Factor	Evidential Trend in India	Impact Notes
Wild Colony Decline	~20% drop in Apis dorsata over 10 years	Chronic collapse in wild populations
Pesticides	Persistent use of neonics: global linkages	Likely contributor, local data lacking
Mites/Pathogens	Mentioned in regional facilities	Likely underreported
Climate Stress	Shifted rainfall → forage loss	Exacerbates CCD patterns
Air Pollution	Bangalore study: 80% bee death near highways	Pollution-related collapse trends
Mobile Tower EMF	Anecdotal experiments in Kerala	Unverified correlation

🐝 Final Thought

The bees aren’t asking for innovation. They’re asking for respect. And consistency.

Everything we’ve built with Bwise — the smart hive, the solar unit, the data layer — is our response to that request.

This isn't about creating “tech for bees. "It's about creating a system that earns their trust — and the trust of the humans who care for them.

Our first batch of Langstroth hives was procured in 2023 through a vendor appointed by the Nodal Agency for Beekeeping in Meghalaya.

The hive interiors revealed poor construction quality — cheap materials and scrap wood created hazardous conditions for drones and worker bees.

This is Bwise - Backed by IHFC- IITD & NSRCEL -IIMB

Friends of Bees. Not just keepers. Not just sellers. We’re here to fix the foundation — and build what should’ve always existed