BeeBite: Honey Bee Farming: Production Potential And Challenges

Perhaps everyone living in the village area has seen hives of honeybees, from which people collect honey. Wild honeybees usually construct these hives with the branches of trees in a natural environment. People are commonly afraid of these honeybees as they often sting people if provoked in any way. Well, though it may sound strange to many, it is true that the honeybees can even be kept as pet and presently such beekeeping has turned out to be a profitable business for many. And such a beekeeper is called an apiarist who enjoys working with such an unusual kind of pet, the honeybees.

Practically, beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in man-made hives, by humans. A beekeeper or apiarist keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products that the hive produces. At present, a new method of honey farming using bee boxes is gaining huge popularity among a section of young farmers in our country. Nowadays, a number of mobile farmers from various places move from district to district to find the areas where flowers are available in abundance and they can grow honey with their pet bees. They usually assemble and set up their wooden boxes with artificial beehives near the places like a mustard field, a cropland of coriander or black seeds and lychee gardens to collect quality honey during the peak season which lasts from around mid-November till the beginning of May of the next year.

This correspondent talked to Mohammad Masud, a young and successful beekeeper from Rajbari district of the country, to know the ins and outs of beekeeping and about his success as a honey grower. When asked about why he felt interested in bee farming, Masud shared, “Actually, bee farming is like a hobby; if someone wants, he can do it even alongside his study. A few years ago, I visited a man called Yasin Mollik, a honey grower in Rajbari district. At first it appeared to me a bit strange but later I understood that it was not a difficult work and could be a good source of income. Thence I felt interested in bee farming. And at the end of 2013, I started catching and collecting bees for my own farm.”

Well, bee farming is a low-cost business and does not require a big amount of investment. Masud started his business a few years ago. “Actually, I started a small-sized enterprise with only twenty five thousand taka”, said Masud.  He detailed that in order to start honey farming a beekeeper needs to collect some necessary materials. First of all, he will need to buy some instruments and equipment to work with. For example, a honey extracting machine, beekeeping smoker, a mask and protective cloths to protect yourself from the bee stings, brushes to remove the honey bees from the comb, wooden boxes, frames, beeswax etc. are the most common things that a honey grower will require for the farming. Besides, a mobile honey grower, who travels from district to district, may also need tents, kitchen essentials etc.   

Apart from that, bee collecting is an important task for someone who wants to start bee farming. One can purchase a package of nuclear colony having a queen bee, a male bee and worker bees from a local apiary. But it is also possible to capture tiny wild bees from the hives. Well, there is an easy technique to do so. Simply what you have to do is to catch the queen bee (the biggest bee in a hive) and put it inside a box; after that all the worker bees and the male bee will follow her and get inside the box automatically. However, it may be a bit risky for an inexperienced person to catch wild bees in such a way.

Meanwhile, it is mentionable that, the peak season of honey growing lasts only six months (from 17th or 18th November to 5th May). The rest of the time of the year is off season when there is a scarcity of flowers in nature. So, you have to take care of your bees at home and feed them sugar juice mixed with honey so that they can survive during this period of the year. And when it is the season of flower and honey growing, the bees can manage their own food themselves and do not need any extra foodstuff.

Another thing should also be noted here that, in the monsoon a bee farmer may face some challenges owing to the fact that the farmer will have to feed the bees during the time and some diseases may affect the pet bees in this season. In wet condition, sometimes the bees may be affected by wax-battle, a disease that can be determined by seeing the hive covered with a layer like spider net. By keeping the box neat and clean and changing them occasionally, the beekeeper can easily prevent this disease. Besides, potassium permanganate can be used in the bee box in order to prevent this malady. Another harmful disease of bee is acarine. If affected by this disease, wings of the bee look like ‘A’ and they are seen crawling on their chest. The affected bees move here and there separately. In some cage they may even become paralyzed. Affected queen bees stop laying eggs. A good solution to this disease is spreading mithael solicide vapor in the cage. And the door of the box should be kept closed at night and opened again in the morning. 

Well, apiarist Masud suggested that it is better to take some preventive measures so that no such things can harm the bees. “Boxes should be cleaned and the temperature in the boxes should be maintained properly. The bee boxes should not be kept in dump environment and the quantity of the extra food (sugar juice) given to the bees should be provided in a balanced way,” he said.

After passing his HSC exam, Mashud received a training of fifteen days from Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) and started bee farming. Since 2013, he has traveled at least thirteen districts in the country as a mobile honey grower. Now he has total twenty six super (two-storied) bee boxes and he expects to collect about 35-36 mounds of honey from them within this season. This season he hopes to earn at least three or four lack taka by selling honey. “It gave me pleasure and money”, Mashud added.

However, even until a few years ago, honey farming was completely a new idea and common people hardly welcomed it. “When I started my farming, friends and neighbours did not give it a positive consideration; they used to think that I went mad and was just wasting my time”, Mashud flashed back. But within a few years the situation has taken a turn for the better and his business has changed his fate for good.

In the end, honey is a much sought-after food item and there is a high demand in the local and foreign markets. While the honey growers can make good amount of profit by selling honey, scientists suggest that bee farming benefits crops a lot. Mustard seed cultivation and bee farming go hand in hand because the bees help pollination of the flowers boosting mustard production. So honey farming can be an enterprise of possibility for many self-dependent, freedom loving youths and such initiative will ultimately contribute to the economic development of our country.

Courtesy: The Daily Sun