Beekeepers flourish around mustard fields
Different areas near mustard fields in Faridpur Sadar upazila are now teeming with beekeepers from neighbouring districts.
In Charmadhabdia union, several beekeepers from Rajbari has set up their man-made hives on open land near mustard fields where the honeybees forage for nectar.
Beekeeper Arman Mandal, an 18-year-old from Goalanda upazila in Rajbari, told this correspondent that this year he came to Taltala village and set up bee colonies in 100 hives.
“My father has been doing this work for 16 years and I’ve been doing this for five years.”
He has been extracting eight to ten maunds of honey from the bee colonies every week and the prices he was getting for each maund ranged between Tk 14,000 to Tk 16,000.
Almost half of his earnings is spent on his daily expenses during the extraction period and feeding of the bees in the off-season, he added.
Mokter Mondal, another beekeeper this correspondent met in the village, said the weather condition this year has so far been favourable for harvesting honey and he was collecting about five to seven maunds of honey each week from 80 bee hives he set in the area.
“I’m getting good price for it too,” the man said happily.
Contacted, deputy director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Faridpur, Kartik Chandra Chakraborty, said mustard is being cultivated on 8,305 hectares of land in nine upazilas of the district this year.
He also said the department has been providing all sorts of support to the beekeepers and according to their estimation, about 14 tonnes of honey would be harvested in the district this year -- one tonne higher than that in last year.
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