Litchi farming bringing more profit to growers
Litchi farming in Pabna has flourished in the last few decades due to its luring profit.
Meanwhile, the flowering period is also considered as a prime time for honey collection from different orchards of the district.
While visiting different litchi orchards in Sadar and Ishwardi upazila this correspondent saw hundreds of bee boxes installed at many orchards for honey collection during this ongoing flowering period.
"Usually, litchi flowers are full of nectar that attract bees. If bee boxes are installed at a full-blooming litchi fields a beekeeper can collect more honey than from the other summer crops," said Tarikul Islam, a honey trader who come to Ishwardi from Satkhira.
They collect honey from different crop fields across the country round the year, but they get more honey from litchi orchards than from other crop fields, he said.
Usually honey collection from litchi fields continues for 21 to 30 days another bee farmer Mohammad Mohsin said.
"I had installed 170 bee boxes inside a litchi field at Awtapara village in early March and got 35 maunds of honey this year," added Mohsin.
Only a few years ago, litchi growers didn't have any interest in setting up bee boxes at their orchards, but now many invite them to collect honey from their litchi trees, he said.
Litchi grower Sheikh Mehedi Hasan of Shahpur village said litchi grows much better if bees are available around the trees.
While talking, Mohammad Shah Alam, development officer at Pabna Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said a total of 15,190 bee boxes have been installed in 1,680 hectares of litchi fields under different upazilas of the district this year.
"About 280 bee farmers set up their bee boxes at different litchi fields of the districts and produced nearly 27 tonnes of honey in the last one month," Shah Alam said. Beekeepers, however, claimed that about four to five hundred bee farmers from Satkhira, Jessore and Narail travelled to Pabna and collected nearly 50 tonnes of honey from different litchi fields this year. Contacted, Jesmin Nahar, DGM at BSCIC Headquarters, said around 10,000 tonnes of honey are collected from various crops, including litchi trees, every year.
Comments