Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
Honey collection is going on in the field. Field after field of golden grain mustard fields are decorated with winter nature in yellow hue. Looking at the beautiful field decorated with flowers, life is filled. Mustard fields are now full of honey. Bees are busy collecting honey from flowers. Rows of honey boxes next to mustard fields.
According to the local agriculture department, placing honey boxes next to cultivated mustard fields will increase the yield of mustard by increasing pollination as bees collect honey from mustard flowers. On the other hand, huge money will be earned by selling honey. Earlier there was no target for honey extraction but in the last few years it has given target for honey extraction.
All over the field, the mustard field where the eye can see the beauty of the yellow mustard flowers is mind blowing. The beekeepers who come to Pabna’s Ishwardi are busy collecting honey from mustard flowers. Pea farmers have come from different districts of the country. Thousands of maubaks are lined up next to mustard fields to collect honey from village to village. Inside these boxes is a queen bee. Attracted by the queen bee, thousands of worker bees collect honey from the mustard flowers and deposit the honey in the tea inside the box. And bee farmers collect honey from this chak every day.
Honey collection box specially made of wood and steel. The upper part is covered with black polythene and chaat. Inside the box are 6-7 beehive frames made of wax with a wooden frame. Honey collection boxes are lined up next to mustard fields. Such a picture was seen next to the mustard field in seven unions of Ishwardi.
Mau farmers said that every year they come to Ishwardi upazila to collect litchi and mustard honey. This honey is collected in the box system. They collect an average of 300 kg of honey per week from each box. Salam Sheikh of Sahapur said this time he has cultivated mustard on 10 bigha land.
It is expected to produce 6 to 7 maunds of mustard per bigha. Artificial honey collection is going on next to the mustard field. Beekeeper Siraj Pramanik collects honey from 70 honey boxes next to the mustard field. Siraj Pramanik said that each box contains bees’ maurani. Numerous bees under the queen cover the mustard flowers within three kilometers and collect honey and return to the queen in their home box. Beekeepers collect honey from there artificially. Through this process, farmer Siraj expressed hope that he will be able to collect about two tons of honey this year.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Agriculturist Mita Sarkar said that if bees are cultivated next to the mustard field, the yield of mustard increases by 10-20 percent. So mustard yield is also likely to be good. Free honey collection from mustard fields is profitable business.
On the one hand, bee traders are getting economic benefits by selling honey, on the other hand, the yield of mustard is also increasing due to cultivation of honey beside the fields.