INTEGRATED PROTECTED AREA CO-MANAGEMENT (IPAC) - BIDS

5.2.10 Honey
The collection of honey in the Sundarbans is one of the major seasonal activities. Honey is
extracted from plants such as Khalsi, Goran, Bain, Gewa and Keora. The normal collection
season for honey is May to June although some are also produced during the months of March
and April. The Forest Department (FD) issues permits to groups of six to eight members for one
month. Permit holders are allowed to access only the Buffer Zone of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve
79 . Majhis or boatmen, responsible for the whole management, carry honey every week to
Mahajans through collection from harvesters. The honey collectors are widely known as
Mawalis.
Mahajans, as usual, act as financiers and lend money (in the form of dadons) to collectors.,
either on interest or sharing a profit or selling at reduced prices. Sometimes, Majhis also play the
role of Mahajans in similar terms. At times, people form groups to themselves arrange trip for
honey collection. Consequently, some collectors recently started employing working capitals of
their own which they procure, reportedly, from personal source or cooperatives formed by
NGOs 80 .
Average monthly cost of food and others for the Mamalis in each trip is around Tk 40-60
thousand. Our survey shows that, on an average, one boat with more or less 6-8 collectors
harvests around 12-14 maunds of honey in a month.
Value Addition
Table 5.12 presents costs and returns for honey. Value addition in terms of price shows that
collectors as usual provide the highest price value addition, about three-fifths (60.0%) of the
total price. Keeping collectors aside, retailers create the next highest value addition (16.7%),
followed by Majhis/Beparis (12.0%), Boro Mahajans (6.7%), wholesalers (3.3%) and Choto
Mahajans (1.3%). No Aratdars exist in honey value chain but most usually wholesalers act as
Aratdars.
Table 5.12: Value addition and return for honey
Cost and return for honey
Actor type
Average Price Av. Volume G. Return Cost
selling Value (Kg) per (Tk/month) (Tk/month)
price/Kg Addition month
(%)
Collector 180 60.0 68 12240
(1.1) (9.6)
Faria/ 216 12.0 462 16632
Majhi
(7.3) (13.1)
Choto 220 1.3 550 22000
Mahajan
(8.7) (17.9)
Boro 240 6.7 1600 32000
Mahajan
(25.3) (25.1)
Wholesale 250 3.3 3440 34400
r
(54.4) (27.0)
Retailer 300 16.7 200 10000
(3.2) (7.9)
Net Return
(Tk/month)
Working
capital
Net Return
as % of WC
5875 6365
(6.7)
5333 119.35
2587 14045 21667 64.82
(12.9)
5180 16820 57500 29.25
(17.8)
7120 24880 200000 12.44
(26.3)
7568 26832 300000 8.94
(28.4)
2600 7400 40000 18.50
(7.8)
Total - 100.0 6320 127272 - 96342 - -
79
For West Bengal part of SRF, the honey collectors are required to sell the entire quantity of collected honey and
wax to the forest department at a price prescribed by the latter (Sen 1995).
80 Some local NGOs (e.g., CCEC), reportedly, offer loans to Mawalis through formation of informal cooperatives.
127