Litchi trees of Ishwardi upazila of Pabna, which is famous all over the country, are full of litchi buds as of now. Bees are busy collecting honey from the flowers and buds of 2 lakh 52 thousand litchi trees in the region. The beekeepers are hoping to collect 26,000 kg of honey this time.
Litchi gardens in Ishwardi upazila are growing as the profit margin for this fruit has been attracting farmers for decades. This time, the number of flowers and buds on the tree is more than last year. The garden owners are paying more attention to the buds so that they do not fall.
After collecting the honey, in a special arrangement for the bees, the beekeepers have placed many small wooden boxes under the litchi trees in the garden. The bees come rushing to collect honey from the litchi flowers and put them in rows. The bees will continue to collect honey from the flowers until the litchi cocoons are formed. This information has been known by visiting the litchi orchards of the unions of the upazila.
According to the Ishwardi Upazila Agriculture Officer's Office, litchi is cultivated in 3,200 hectares of land in Ishwardi. The number of litchi gardens is 12,360. There are 2 lakh 52 thousand trees. Each tree holds 4 to 4 thousand litchis. Three species of litchi are cultivated in Ishwardi. These are Mozaffar or Desi, Bombay and China-3. Talking to the honey collectors, it is learned that the beekeepers have set up 6,500 honey boxes to collect honey under the litchi trees in the orchards. This time they said they would collect 26,000 kg of honey from 8,500 honey boxes.
Recently, a few gardens have been visited and beekeepers from different districts of the country have placed bee boxes in rows under the trees. Thousands of bees are coming and going in honey boxes collecting honey from flowers.
The beekeepers are equally busy collecting honey from the garden owner's trees. Hafizul Islam, who came to collect honey from Bhuapur in Tangail, said, "We come at the end of the month of Falgun, collect honey in the middle of Chaitra and leave." This time they are expecting to collect 26 thousand kg of honey from the litchi trees of Ishwardi.
Beekeeper Abdul Hai of Mymensingh said that 4 to 5 kg of honey is produced in each box. They will sell honey to different companies in the country at 300 Tk per kg.
Palash Ahmed, owner of a litchi orchard in Rooppur village, said, "Every tree has more buds this year than last year."
At the beginning of spring, the tree begins to bud after one month, a pea-like cocoon emerges from the bud. When the cocoons come out, you have to spray pesticides for better yield. However, if bees collect honey from buds, litchi grows well when pollinated. Insecticides are not needed for this. So the bees are allowed to put bee boxes in the garden for free.
Ishwardi Upazila Agriculture Officer Mita Sarkar said that pollination is better when bees sit on the buds of litchi and diseases are much less. It does not require much pesticide after litchi cocoon. The better the litchi, the more honey is produced.
