Mahibullah Sohel of Chuadanga municipal area collects honey from bee in different seasons. He has been cultivating honey for 14 years since 2008. And now he is a millionaire by temporary beekeeping.
Mahibullah Sohel is a resident of Hajipara in Belgachhi village of Chuadanga municipality. He is cultivating honey by placing about 100 boxes in the mango orchard in the middle of the field of that village and also in different areas.
He said he started honey cultivation after receiving a month-long training from Magura. He said that at present he has 38 double storey boxes and 42 single boxes. The two-story box has 12 frames and the single box has 7 frames. Each frame contains one and a half to two thousand bees. There are about more than 5.88 lakh bees in the frames. An average of 400 kg of honey per week is obtained from these boxes.
The box is specially made of steel and wood for honey collection. The upper part used to wrap with colored polythene and sack. The boxes are then lined up next to the field of mustard, sesame, cumin, cool or litchi depending on the season.
He said that honey yield is higher in mustard cultivation. The quality is also good. Each frame of the boxes is given a queen bee. If there are two queen bees in a frame, all the bees will fly.
One maund of honey can collect from three double storey boxes and six single boxes produce one maund of honey. As such, he has collected 23 maund of honey from two-storey boxes and 8 maund from single boxes. As such, he has sold 30 ounces of honey at a price of Tk 8,000 per ounce for Tk 2,40,000.
He said honey is produced for 6 months and bees need to be fed for 6 months. Due to the unfavorable weather, other food including sugar worth Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per month has been taken this season.
There are now 100 boxes of bees of the genus Mellifera. It comes in three types- Male, female and worker bees. Worker bees collect honey from mustard flowers and bring it in boxes. And the job of the male and female bees is just to breed. There are 30 to 40 thousand bees in a box. Inside the box, wax boxes with wooden frames are lined up next to the mustard field. In addition to mustard flower honey, honey is also collected from black cumin and litchi flowers.
Abdullah Sohel first passed the Agriculture Diploma. Then completed BSc. He was involved in various professions from a young age.
"I was more interested in business," he said. I would love to do that. Chuadanga Sadar Upazila gave me the opportunity to take a training on bee keeping. During my training, I developed relationships with different farms. Then I found out that a farmer would sell his farm at half price. In that condition I bought the farm. In that year, except for all the expenses, Tk 2 lakh was saved. Honey farmer Sohel said, "We have started honey cultivation since 2015." So far 30 to 40 tons of honey has been produced. At present I have 10 tons of honey in stock. Besides, I have sold honey worth around Tk 1 crore.
At present there are a total of 111 boxes next to different fields in Magura, Faridpur and Shariatpur districts. We bring honey from farms in different districts and store it in Chuadanga.
I have 10 to 15 marketing partners. We supply honey to different districts. My business partners sell honey in different districts including Khulna, Dhaka, Sylhet, and Jhenaidah.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, deputy director of the Chuadanga Agriculture Extension Department, said mustard has been cultivated in 2,260 hectares of land in the district this season. Besides, honey has been collected commercially from these mustard flowers in different areas of the district through 30 honey boxes using box method. 2,500 kg of honey has been extracted from these honey boxes. Honey is being sold at Tk 400 to Tk 600 per kg.
He further said that honey collected from mustard flowers is very good in quality and also easy. Mustard flower honey does not contain any adulterated. Absolutely authentic. And in this way the people can earn extra income by extracting honey in a very simple process
