Commercial honey collectors are passing busy time to amass honey from the blooming flowers of mustard in Manikganj district.
They 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 maunds 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 for the last 10 years.
The honey collectors comes to the district from different districts of the country, including Jamalpur, Gazipur, Pabna, Satkhira, Narayanganj, Kushtia and Sirajganj and they have already started 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 Taka 8,000 to Taka 10,000 per mound.
Sheikh Fazal, a mustard cultivator, said, "We welcome the honey collectors as it helps to increase mustard production and we also get some honey from the collectors as a gift."
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said while collecting honey, bee helps pollination flying from flowers to flowers of mustard which can help increase about 15 percent production.
DAE sources expected about 2.00 tones of honey may be collected from district in the current season.
They said at least 25 honey collectors from different district are collecting honey with their 2891 boxes in the district.
The honey collection started in last week of November and it will continue up to the second week of January.
A total of Taka 5 lakh may be earned from the seven Upazilas of the district this year through collecting honey.