Both farmers benefit from mou-box, integrated cultivation of sweet pumpkin
Photo Collected
Greenery on both sides of the road. Yellow flowers peeking through the greenery. And swarms of bees are flying around those flowers. From there, honey is collected and returned to the mau-box next to the road.
Potatoes are grown extensively in Thakurgaon. Before harvesting potatoes, farmers plant sweet pumpkin seedlings. Those trees are now full of flowers. And the farmers are cultivating mau around the field of sweet pumpkin.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Agriculture officials say that pollination is better when bees sit on sweet pumpkin flowers. As a result, as the production is increasing, honey is also being extracted. In this integrated cultivation, both sweet pumpkin farmers and mau farmers are benefiting.
A few villages including Akcha, Dholarhat, Patua of Sadar Upazila have been visited, where the farmers have installed mau-box in the sweet kumdrakh. They came from Natore, Rajshahi and Sirajganj. Some are from other areas. Their activities are going on around the box.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Khamari came to Haragach area of Thakurgaon-Ruhia road from Ullapara of Sirajganj with mau-box. Alhaj A group of workers are taking care of those boxes. One of them. Akash said, every year they bring mau-box to the nearby litchi gardens. This time they have moved away from Lichubagan because the buds are less. Now put mau-box in sweet pumpkin. Each box contains one queen and male bee and numerous worker bees. Worker bees flock to flowers. Collect honey from there and bring it to the hive of its own box and deposit it.
Dholarhat area of Sadar Upazila has extensive sweet pumpkin cultivation. Farmers grow this sweet pumpkin as a companion crop to potatoes. Awlad Hossain has installed six food boxes on the road from Dholarhat to Fandabari. He has come here to collect honey from Natore. Awlad said, they stay in one area for a month to collect honey. 40 to 50 mau-boxes are placed next to each food. Each box of one chamber contains 10 frames and each box of two chambers contains 20 frames. A box of 10 frames can hold up to 20,000 bees. After five to seven days, the bees in the frames of the boxes are removed and the honey is collected mechanically. 7 to 8 maunds of honey are available in 100 mau-boxes.
Motalleb Hossain was collecting honey with 70 honey boxes in Mishtikumrakhe of Samsul Haque in Patua area. He said, he expects to get 4 to 5 maunds of honey from this field. He is selling honey for 600 rupees per kg.
Sweet pumpkin farmer Samsul Haque said, the more bees come to the sweet pumpkin, the more pollination will happen. It will also yield more.
Farmer md. Alhaj said, this time he has planted 350 boxes in the sweets in four areas. If properly cared for, sweet pumpkin flowers yield good honey. And it does good business too.
Zafar Ali, the owner of Mishtikumrakhet, said that if the pollination of Mishtikumrak flowers is not done, the yield is low. If they put a box next to the food, they will benefit. While collecting nectar from flowers, bees deposit pollen from male flowers into the pistil of female flowers to pollinate them. It increases the production of sweet pumpkin.
Alamgir Kabir, Additional Deputy Director (Cereals), Thakurgaon District Agriculture Extension Department, said sweet pumpkin is a post-pollinated crop. Since its male and female flowers are separate, pollination usually occurs by bees or wind. If you put honey box to eat sweet pumpkin, bee will fly to the flower and collect honey. It makes pollination of flowers easy. It increases the yield by at least 30 percent. Honey is also available.
Source: Prothom Alo Bangla
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