Moktar Hossain, 35, a rural youth from Kushtia, has succeeded in cultivating bees artificially after a long stint as an immigrant labourer.
Water hyacinths and water lilies are blooming in hundreds of bighas of land in the village of Mat Maliat in Sadaki Union of Kumarkhali, Kushtia. The flowers have become fresh as there is water in the field. Moktar Hossain is collecting honey by releasing bees from that flower.
Moktar Hossain of Ambaria village of Khoksa upazila has been able to make a living not only in Kumarkhali upazila but also in Rajbari, Manikganj, Gaibandha and other districts of the country by collecting honey from various flowers including mustard in different seasons.
It is known that about ten years ago, Moktar Hossain left his family and settled in Malaysia in search of livelihood. He used to work as an electrician there. After a few years of not being able to avail benefits, he returned to the country and took training in beekeeping from Basic with the aim of becoming self-sufficient.
He then gained experience by joining a firm in Gaibandha district. Utilizing the experience of working, he quit his job and started collecting honey on his own initiative. He earns eight to ten lakh taka by extracting honey for five to seven months in a year.
Moktar Hossain said, “Apis Serena Indica bee is cultivated in Bangladesh. I currently have 150 honey boxes. 10 to 12 kg of honey is available from each bee box every year.
So I collect 150 kg to 170 kg of honey every week from 150 honey boxes.” He added that he sells honey for eight to ten lakh taka a year. Excluding bee feed and other expenses, the profit is four to five lakh taka.
Debashish Kumar Das, Upazila Agriculture Officer and agronomist, said, “We are destroying bee habitat and breeding grounds ourselves. The number of bees in the world is declining rapidly, especially as a result of the use of pesticides.”
It was seen that many unemployed youths in the area are now interested in artificial beekeeping after seeing the success of Moktar Hossain.
