Although this year's honey season is over, beekeepers in Dinajpur see a new opportunity in cucumber flowers during the off-season. Young beekeeper Rakib Hasan Rifat has succeeded in collecting honey from cucumber flowers and has already begun selling it.

After harvesting honey from mustard, litchi, black cumin and other flowers, beekeepers usually sit idle at this time of year. They keep their bees alive and breeding by feeding them from outside. This year has been different.

Rakib Hasan Rifat has been working with honey for three years. This off-season, for the first time, he set up his 26 bee boxes in cucumber fields on the char land of Ghughudanga village in No. 6 Auliapur union of Sadar upazila, after seeing the cucumbers in flower. Last Monday he harvested the boxes and got about 45 kg of honey from the 26 boxes.

Seeing his success, beekeepers in Dinajpur's 13 upazilas have set out rows of bee boxes in fields of mixed flowers, including cucumber, bitter gourd and sweet pumpkin. Beekeepers and their bees will no longer have to sit idle.

Rakib Hasan Rifat said rabi crops are grown widely in his area. After mustard, litchi and black cumin, he placed bee boxes in cucumber fields on a trial basis when he saw the flowers. He was able to harvest 15 days after setting up the boxes and got good honey, with a pleasant aroma and sweetness. He has sold the cucumber flower honey at Tk 500 a kg. He no longer has to feed the bees separately and is making a profit from selling the honey. Following his example, many are now placing bee boxes in mixed rabi crop fields.

Md Ruhul Amin, bee division extension officer of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Dinajpur, said Dinajpur is a promising region for the bee industry, with both mustard fields and extensive litchi orchards. This year, besides mustard and litchi flowers, collecting honey from vegetable flowers has opened a new door. Young entrepreneur Rakib Hasan Rifat has succeeded in producing cucumber flower honey, which is unique in taste, quality and standard.

Jahedul Islam, deputy general manager of BSCIC in Dinajpur, said they give various beekeeping training in the district and have created many entrepreneurs, who migrate their farms to produce honey. In that continuity a new opportunity has arisen this year. Cucumber has been grown widely in Dinajpur's rural areas and honey has been produced from its flowers. Because of this, beekeepers will no longer have to sit idle, nor even worry about their bees.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.