It’s a busy bee operation. The Forest department, with the UNDP-GEF-EGREE (United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility-East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem) Foundation, has launched a multi-purpose operation to increase honeybee population in the Coringa mangroves here. It will train women in villages abutting the mangroves in bee keeping, ensuring their livelihood and reducing dependency on the mangrove forest in a phased manner.Bee bustersUnlike the Sundarbans in West Bengal and Bhitarkanika mangroves in Odisha, Coringa has been lagging in terms of honey production owing to deforestation coupled with the use of pesticides in the abutting farms and fish tanks.Money in honeyAccording to statistics, the largest mangrove Sundarbans produce about 1.1 lakh kg of honey every year, while the third largest