Cold spell: Bees dying in numbers in the north

Bees are dying in numbers owing to the ongoing cold spell, resulting in heavy losses for farmers in the northern districts.

Honey production usually peaks in winter but this year, farmers who set up beehives near mustard fields are raking up losses.

Reports of mass die out of bees have been pouring in from Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari.

“Every day 400 to 500 bees are dying due to a lingering cold wave and the rain. I could not collect a single drop of honey in the last 15 days,” our Pabna correspondent reports quoting beekeeper Mosharrof Hossain of Pulhat village in Nilphamari sadar.

Meanwhile, another beekeeper, Din Mohammad from Betgari village in Rangpur who set up ninety boxes beside a mustard field said, “We usually get 20 kg honey from each box during mustard cultivation season [November to February] but this year we are afraid the production may fall nearly 30 percent.”

Temperature in the northern districts has been ranging between 7.2 to 7.4 degrees Celsius over the last one month, officer Lokman Hakim of Saidpur Airport Met Office in Nilphamari told The Daily Star.

“We stay all night in this biting cold to keep an eye on the boxes, and even get stung time to time. That is fine but this winter, my bee colony is nearly on the verge of collapse.”

Girija had set up 55 boxes and expected a production of 1,100 kg honey which is priced at Tk 200/kg in the wholesale market.

“Bees are too small to survive in severe cold and we suggest farmers to cover the boxes with sacks,” said Sajedul Islam, divisional deputy manager of Bee Keeping Programme at Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, Dinajpur.

“We regularly provide them trainings and supply three types of bees: queens, workers and drones. With gradual rise in temperature, the situation will improve and the honey farmers may overcome the loss,” he added.