File photo

MANIKGANJ, Jan 30, 2024 (BSS) - Commercial honey collectors are passing their busy time to collect honey from the blooming flowers of mustard in the district as the season is going to end soon.
 
The honey collectors are rushing from one yellow mustard field to another with their bee boxes in all the seven upazilas of the district.
 
Abdul Khalek, 58, who has come from Sirajganj district with his young son, said they have a target of collecting at least 20 mounds of honey in the current winter season.
 
He said collecting honey is their seasonal profession and they have been doing the job in Manikganj district in the last 10 years.
 
All of the honey collectors from different districts, including Jamalpur, Gazipur, Pabna, Satkhira, Narayanganj, Kushtia and Sirajganj, are collecting honey from the mustard fields.
 
Rashed Ali, another honey collector hailing from Kushtia, said after collecting honey they sell it in different parts of Dhaka at the rate of Taka 8,000 to Taka 10,000 per mound.
 
Sheikh Fazal, one of the mustard cultivators, said, "We welcome the honey collectors as it helps to increase our agriculture production and we get some honey from the collectors as a gift."
 
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said bees help pollination while collecting honey flying from flowers to flowers of mustard which can help increase about 15 percent production.
 
The persons concerned expected that about 1,65,000 kilograms of honey may be collected from Manikganj district in the current season.
 
The collection of honey started in the last week of November and will continue up to the second week of February.
 
A total of Taka 5,77,50,00 may be earned collecting 1,65,000 kilograms of honey according to their fixed target from the seven upazilas of the district this year, the Department of Agriculture Extension sources said.
 
This correspondent while visiting some areas of the district, including both the sides of Dhaka-Aricha HighWay, found that some of the honey collectors set a lot of honey collecting boxes with bees.
 
Abu Mohammad Enayet Ullah, Deputy Director of the DAE, said the farming of mustard started in due time as there was no water stagnancy anywhere in the district during the current season and the mustard plants grew properly, adding that the production of mustard might be exceeded as the cultivation target exceeded and the government supplied high quality of seeds and necessary fertilizers among 3,850 poor and marginal farmers free of cost in due time.
 
Collecting honey from the mustard field is positive as the bees help pollination to increase production of mustard, the Deputy Director added.