Sirajul Islam Shishir

Honey collectors of nine upazilas in Sirajganj district covering greater Chalan Beel are expecting to collect over 382 metric tonnes of honey worth about Tk 11 crore from mustard fields this year.

With the hope to earn good profit, honey collectors are passing busy time at different mustard fields in the region.

Concerned people seem that, honey collection has become momentum this year due to good yield of mustard centering the favourable weather.

Several hundreds of honey collectors from different parts of the country have gathered in the Chalan Beel rich Sirajganj district along with thousands of bee boxes. They have set up beehives with artificial wooden boxes in the mustard fields and are collecting several tonnes of tasty honey day after day. Crores of bee from the boxes roam in the fields with the pleasure of their minds and return to the boxes after collecting honey from yellowish mustard flowers.

During a spot visit to different areas including Mohisluti, Mannan Nagor, Nadosyedpur, Hamkuria, Ghorgram and Dobila in the greater Chalan Beel region, The Daily Sky correspondent found that, bee farmers were busy in collecting honey from their artificial boxes. Of them, many are youths.

While talking, some youths said, “We have started bee farming and honey collecting work after becoming failure to get government job. After starting this profession, many of us have already become self-sufficient within short time. Now, we have no need to search any other new job. In contrary, a good number of unemployed people have got job facilities to the bee farms. Watching our success, many more youth entrepreneurs in and outside of the district are now showing interest to start such as business for their future solvency.

Bappy Rahman, a bee farmer and honey collector hailed from Satkhira to Tarash upazila said, “I come to Chalan Beel region each season to collect honey from mustard fields. The demand of honey collected from mustard flowers is high in the market. Wholesalers from different parts of the country collect per kg of honey from field level cultivators at a cost between Tk 300 and Tk 400. Later, they sell the same product (honey) to different areas in the country including Dhaka with high prices. As a result, new entrepreneurs in the country are leaning into the profession as there is no more hazards. Besides, it is easily possible to start such as bee farming with a little investment. There is no need to invest a lot of money as well as long-term training.”

Abdus Samad, another bee farmer said, “I have set up 180 boxes in mustard field. Meanwhile, I have gathered over five maunds of honey in the last few days. I am expecting that, I shall be able to collect over 100 maunds of honey this season. It may open my fate.”

Rafiqul Islam, a honey trader, who came to Chalan Beel region to collect honey of mustard field, said, “There is no possibility of adulteration because of we collect the honey directly from field after attending there physically. So, we get cent percent genuine honey and the customers, who collect these from us, become cent percent satisfied. This process also helps to strengthen our business foundation.”

Ahsan Shaheed Sarker, Deputy Director (DD) of Agriculture Extension Department (AED) in Sirajganj told TDS that, “This year, we have set a target to generate 382 metric tonnes of honey from this district. The measure of honey collection is likely to exceed due to surplus production of mustard.”

“At least 86,460 hectares of land in the district has been brought under mustard cultivation this year, which is indicated 1,290 hectares of land higher than the last year. Due to rising of arable land and prevailing favourable weather, the production target of mustard has been fixed at 1.44 metric tonnes,” the DD added.