Home ›› 11 Jan 2022 ›› Nation
Apiculture has got huge commercial potentiali in five districts of Rangpur division that have vast tracts of croplands and fruits orchards.
Agriculture experts say there is a huge prospect of beekeeping and its economic benefit for the farmers as there are vast swathes of mustard fields and mango orchard in the region.
Additional Director, DAE, Rangpur region, Mahabubar Rahman said, farmers have a vast prospect of earning huge sum of money through beekeeping in the mustard field, litchi and mango orchards in the five districts of Rangpur region.
The farmers in the districts, with the technical assistance of Department of Agricultural Extension office, have started the apiculture programme aiming to get extra income besides the mainstream crop farming.
The DAE offered apiculture training to the interested farmers and supplied a number of honey boxes among the farmers to promote the cropping patterns.
Mahabubar Rahman also said the beekeeing has been increasing in the crop fields and fruit orchards in Rangpur division gradually.
The department has been conducting experiments and research on the farming and developed master trainers on bee culture.
Apiculture contributes significantly to improving the socio-economic condition of the farmers in the region. So, a keen interest was growing among the farmers for bee culture in the crop fields and fruit orchards. But the lack of professional farmhands hindered the farming growth in the region, he noted.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer at DAE in Rangpur, said the department targeted to yield some 24,155 kgs of honey from the projected mustard fields in five districts- Rangpur , Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilpharmari under Rangpur division this season while the achievement is some 25,148 kgs .
A total of 5,575 bee boxes were set up in the mustard fields in the region. Around 3-5 kg honey can be extracted from a bee box. Honey can be collected at least two times from the bee boxes in the crop fields. The professional beekeepers usually coming from outside of the districts set up the boxes in the farmers’ mustard field on a shared profit basis. The mustard farmers get additional economic benefit from the same crop field.
Moreover, the crop production in the projected mustard field will increase at least 20-25 per cent and the fruit trees in the locality are filled with huge budding for massive pollination due to the setting up bee boxes in the mustard fields and the honey extraction. As a result, the crop and fruit production in the lands and the gardens of the area have been increased much.
Bee farmer and honey collector Chand Mian, who hailed from Sirajganj district, said they go to Rangpur every winter to collect honey. They extract honey on shared–cropping basis.
The absence of marketing policy for the product has also hindered the farming. The farmers in Rangpur region could be economically benefitted and become self-reliant practicing the planned apiculture in the crop fields and fruit orchards, he also said.
A farmer at Moyenpur village under Mithapukur upazilla of the district, Mostafizur Rhaman said, he got extra benefit from apiculture farming in his mustard field this season.
He has a mango orchard on two acres of lands. He is planning to set up bee-boxes in the orchard for honey collection in the summer season.
