Mustard farming has grown in Naogaon over the past few years because of rising edible oil prices, and it is also playing an important part in honey collection. More than a hundred beekeepers are collecting honey by placing bee boxes beside mustard fields in different parts of Naogaon. And they are not the only ones who benefit.

People involved say placing bee boxes beside the fields boosts pollination and raises the mustard yield, so farmers profit indirectly too. The agriculture department expects 150 tonnes of mustard honey to be collected in the district through bee boxes this season.

According to the agriculture office, the area under mustard in the district has more than doubled in the past five years. This year mustard has been grown on 68,450 hectares in Naogaon's 11 upazilas, 20,650 hectares more than last year. In 2022 the district grew mustard on 47,800 hectares, in 2021 on 36,250 hectares, in 2020 on 31,175 hectares and in 2019 on 30,750 hectares. On that count, the area has grown by 37,700 hectares in five years. A production target of 1 lakh 10 thousand tonnes of mustard has been set for this year.

Manda has the largest mustard area in the district this year, with farmers growing it on 7,800 hectares, so beekeepers are especially busy in its fields.

Jahid Hasan has set up bee boxes in a mango orchard beside a mustard field at Joy Bangla Mor in Manda upazila, on the Naogaon-Rajshahi highway. His home is in the Kesharhat area of Mohanpur upazila in Rajshahi. He said he has collected honey this way for nine years. He has set up 140 bee boxes here and has so far collected more than 200 kg of honey in three harvests. He collects Tk 10-12 lakh worth of honey a year, and after all costs Tk 2-3 lakh remains as profit.

"Farmers used not to want bee boxes beside their fields," Jahid Hasan said. "They wrongly believed the bees sucked out the nectar so the mustard grains would not fill, cutting production. But thanks to the agriculture department's campaign, that mistaken belief has changed. Farmers now know that bee boxes beside the field do not reduce the mustard yield but increase it."

Akkas Ali has grown mustard on 3 bighas next to Jahid Hasan's bee farm. He told Jagonews: "We used to think collecting honey like this harmed the crop, but we have understood that this was wrong. Now we know that keeping bees beside a mustard field increases pollination and production. So all the landowners around here together are encouraging the beekeepers."

Abul Kalam Azad, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Naogaon, told Jagonews: "This season 111 beekeepers are collecting honey by setting up bee boxes beside mustard fields in the district. By 4 January, 8,300 boxes had been set up at 61 sites, and beekeepers had collected 70,000 kg of honey. By the end of the season they will be able to collect 1.5 lakh kg (150 tonnes)."

"Collecting honey through bee boxes can raise farm production, especially of mustard, black cumin, mango and litchi," he added. "To raise awareness, the agriculture department is running campaigns and giving training to encourage beekeeping. The agricultural extension office is also distributing bee boxes to beekeepers free of charge."

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