A total of 4,050 hectares of land have been brought under Mustard cultivation and 465 hectares under Coriander cultivation in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria district during the current season. Honey collectors are now busy to collect honey by setting Honey Bee Boxes beside the Mustard and the Coriander fields.
Anis of Rasullabad village of the upazila collects Honey by setting Honey bee boxes beside the fields of spice plants and wishes to earn money by selling the collected honey. Anis informed, he received training from an NGO about collecting honey using Bee boxes from various flowers including the Mustard, Coriander, Kalojira( Nigella ssed), Mango, Litchi and other flowering plants.
It is seen, the Bee Boxes have been set up in lines beside the Mustard and Coriander flowering plant fields in various villages of Kaitola(south) union, Natghar union and Rasullabad union.
Faisal Abbas, a farmer of village Kalghora under Rasullabad union informed he received five Honey Bee boxes with colonies from the Upazila Agriculture Office. This is for the first time he is cultivating Honey alongwith the Mustard and Coriander fields. He said, already he has collected nearly 100 kilogrammes of Honey and sold that. He further said, honey can be collected two times a month from a box. Now, nearly 250 honey boxes have been set up in various fields of Nabinagar and at least 10 metric tonnes of honey is expected to produce from those boxes. The estimated cost of all those collected honey would surpass Tk 35 lakh.
Jahangir Alam Liton, Upazila Agriculture Officer of Nabinagar informed- Honey bee not only collect spec of honey from the flowers but also helps pollinating flowers by carrying pollen grains from one flower to another.
As a result, the production of the spices crops like Mustard and the Coriander is increased and the farmers can earn an extra money by collecting and selling honey from the Bee Boxes set up beside the fields.