Mustard output has dropped sharply this season due to flooding and waterlogging, causing huge losses to farmers as well as beekeepers.
The beekeepers estimated that honey production has plummeted by up to 60 per cent this year, as the disruption to mustard cultivation has taken a heavy toll on the bee farming.
According to a farmer at Sharishabari, the yield of mustard seeds fell by 40 to 60 per cent in his area.
The last year saw two spells of flooding, which led to waterlogging in the major mustard-growing districts -- Jamalpur, Madaripur, Tangail, Manikganj, Sirajganj, Bogra, Pabna, Thakurgaon and Rajshahi.
As the waterlogging lasted until January this year, mustard growers couldn't sow seeds in many areas or were forced to delay the cultivation, farmers and officials said.
Mustard fields are the key source of raw materials for the mustard oil factories, which produce 0.2 million tonnes of oil worth Tk 22.5 billion, according to the commerce ministry.
Another 0.1 million tonnes of mustard oil is imported from India, it said.
Md Mokhlesur Rahman Montu, a farmer at Sharishabari, Jamalpur, told the FE that he was compelled to sow seeds in swamped land, resulting in a drastic fall in production.
"I got only two maunds of mustrd seeds from one bigha (33 decimal) of land this year as against 6.5 maunds last year," he said.
Many of his fellow farmers even couldn't sow seeds as vast areas of land remained under water until January, he added.
He said the yield of mustard seeds fell by 40 to 60 per cent in his area.
Md Alhaj Ahmed, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension, told the FE that they had a target to grow 0.82 million tonnes of mustard seeds on 0.44 million hectares of land this year.
But 0.35 million hectares of land could be brought under farming, he added .
He also said their preliminary report pointed to a fall in production considering last year's output of 0.8 million tonnes.
The exact figure would be available in March when harvesting in most areas is complete, he said.
Untimely rain and waterloging has hampered cultivation of mustard in some areas, he added.
Md Shahabuddin Alam , a member of Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners & Vanaspati Manufacturers Association, said that the fall in production might lead to dependence on import of mustard seeds.
At present, several companies import 0.1 million tonnes of mustard seeds and oil worth Tk 15.0 billion, he said.
Many families have again started using mustard oil as it has low level of bad cholesterol, he said.
Meanwhile, beekeepers said they were badly affected by the drop in production of mustard seeds, black cumin seeds, khesari and coriander.
The country produces nearly 10,000 tonnes of honey a year -- 3,500 tonnes from mustard flowers, 3000 tonnes from litchi flowers, 1000 tonnes from flowers of pulses and different spices and the remaining from the Sundarbans.
About 3,500 tonnes of honey are produced by bees from mustard flowers a year, which is worth Tk 1.05 billion, according to the Bangladesh Beekeepers Foundation, an association of 2,000 professional honey collectors.
Anisur Rahman, an apiarist at Trishal, Mymensingh, said that he hoped to get up to 100 kg of honey from each hive, but the output averages out at only 40 kg this year.
"Fall in mustard cultivation this winter are to blame for the drop in honey production," said Mr Rahman, owner of Modhukunjo Bee Farm at Trishal.
"Less flowers mean less food for the bees. The bees consume most of the honey for their survival, resulting in low production," he said.
"I have 100 hives, but I'm now using only 60 of them," he added.
President of Beekeepers' Foundation Md Ebadullah Afzal told the FE that the honey output this year might drop to one-third of last year's production.
Honey collectors, who have at least 50 hives each, are going to incur a loss of Tk 18,000-Tk 20,000 this season each, he said.
"But we are expecting a bumper production during litchi flowering period," he said.
Beekeepers will now move to Dinajpur, Pabna, Gajipur and Natore to collect litchi honey, he added.
Many apiarists are now staying in Faridpur, Madaripur and Jamalpur to collect honey from black cumin, coriander and rai flowers, he said.
