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AyRojgar
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Mixed experienceA honey producer in Ullapara, Sirajganj, in a Prothom Alo report

Fog kept the bees in, and 2,000 taka came off every box

In a normal week 150 boxes give 10 maunds - about 800 kg - of honey worth 130,000 taka. Fog and a minimum of 9 degrees kept the bees inside, knocking about 2,000 taka off boxes normally worth 10,000 each.

This entrepreneur at Ali village in Ullapara, Sirajganj, sets 150 bee boxes for his firm beside the mustard fields, each holding 20,000 to 50,000 bees. In a normal week those boxes give 10 maunds - roughly 800 kg - of honey worth 130,000 taka. In the winter this report covers, heavy fog and a minimum temperature of 9 degrees kept the bees inside the boxes altogether. With no foraging there was also no breeding, so the colonies never built up and boxes normally worth 10,000 taka each lost about 2,000 taka of value - a loss of assets, not just of income. Across the upazila, 127 honey operations working 24,605 hectares of mustard had expected 200,000 kg worth 5-6 crore taka for the December-February season.

Lessons

  1. 1.Mustard-flower honey is a weather bet: in a foggy winter the bees do not leave the box and nothing can be done
  2. 2.A bad season costs more than income: the colonies lose value too, 2,000 taka off every 10,000-taka box

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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