'Mowalis' busy collecting honey in Pabna, Khulna, Manikganj

OUR CORRESPONDENT
'Mowalis' (honey collectors) are passing busy time to collect honey from yellow mustard flowers in Pabna, Khulna and Manikganj districts as the oil plants are now in full bloom, report agencies.
Our Correspondent from Pabna reports, Agriculture officers said some 55 honey collectors have set beehive boxes on mustard croplands at Chalan Beel in Bhangura area of the district. The bee population is increasing day by day.
They also said the honey collection also increases mustard production through pollination.
Over 05 tonnes of honey will be collected from these beehive boxes in the upazila this year, agriculture officers and honey collectors expect.
During a visit to Magura village, this correspondent has found that rows of beehive boxes have been installed on the mustard croplands.
Jahidul Islam, a honey farmer failing from Boalia village of nearby Chatmohar upazila, is collecting honey by setting 140 boxes in the mustard fields at Sreepur village.
"I've come here about two weeks ago. So far, I've collected 05 maunds of honey. If the weather prevails well, the honey production will increase," he said.
According to sources at the Bhangura upazila agriculture office, honey farmers are also cultivating honey in different unions of the upazila.
As beekeepers are benefitting from cultivating honey, bees indirectly help pollinate mustard. As a result, mustard yield will also increase by about 20 per cent, they said.
Ranjit Kumar Barman, deputy assistant agriculture officer at the upazila agriculture department, said every year 'mowalis' come here to collect honey.
They collect a huge quantity of honey and earn a huge amount of money. A large number of people become self-dependent.
In Khulna, honey collection in mustard fields has become blessings for many grassroots farmers in Khulna division as it has changed their fortunes, helping them to earn more money to lead a happy and prosperous life.
Many farmers were seen passing busy times with honey harvesting during the flowering stage of the mustard plants.
Talking to the news agency, Additional Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Khulna Zone, Mohon Kumar Ghosh said, in FY of 2023-24, a total of 35,825 hectares of land have been cultivated for mustard farming in four districts of Khulna agricultural region during this Robi season.
He said the honey collectors got huge honey as the farmers of the district cultivated mustard on extensive land this year. As a result, the target of honey production has already been exceeded though the collection of honey has not been completed yet.
He, however, said, that a production target of 59,759 kilograms (KGs) of honey has been fixed from this mustard field. Due to favourable weather production of honey has already exceeded the target as 67,265 KGs of honey has been collected.
A total of 9,626 bee boxes were supposed to be set up for honey collection whereas 10,746 have been set up by 146 beekeepers in four districts of the Khulna agricultural zone this season, Mohon Kumar Ghosh said, adding that the highest 63,930 kgs of honey was collected from Satkhira which was followed by 3,335 kgs from Narail in the division.
In Manikganj, the honey collectors are rushing from one yellow mustard field to another with their bee boxes in all the seven upazilas of Manikganj district.
Abdul Khalek, 58, honey collector 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 that 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 Tk 8,000 to Tk 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."
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), bees help pollination while collecting honey flying from flowers to flowers of mustard which can help increase about 15 per cent production.
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