100 bee boxes beside mustard fields; Tk 13 lakh of honey sold last year

A farmer in Satoil village, Tetulia union, Manda upazila, Naogaon, trained with a beekeeper in Tanore, Rajshahi, and for six years has kept bee boxes beside his own mustard field to collect honey. According to Prothom Alo, last year he sold Tk 13 lakh of honey from 100 boxes. This year, with honey prices higher, he hopes for Tk 15 to 16 lakh. In season, six to seven workers labour on his farm, and honey is taken from the combs using an extractor. In the district this year mustard was grown on 60,100 hectares, 82 beekeepers placed 8,300 boxes, and the agriculture department expects about Tk 10.8 crore of honey at Tk 400 a kg. The Manda upazila agriculture officer says that with bees in the field, mustard yield rises 30 to 35 percent, so the farmer gets extra yield and the beekeeper gets honey. In the same area a travelling beekeeper from Thakurgaon placed 300 boxes and collected four times, seven to eight kg per box each time.