Bee farming forges a new path out of poverty and toward higher income
"To put it conservatively, from starting beekeeping in April until now, 140 hives have produced more than 1,400 jin of honey, and honey sells for 20 yuan per kilogram. In my first honey harvest this year I already sold more than 10,000 yuan, so I've already scooped up my 'first bucket of gold'." On June 16, seeing the bees busily flying in and out beside the hives carrying pollen, Liu Qiusheng, a poor household in Ciyaogou Village, Pingtou Township, Lishi District, counted on his fingers and happily reckoned up his "sweet accounts" for the author: "Normally the bees produce honey once every 3 days. If they are raised well, the bees will probably multiply several times every year, and they will produce even more honey." Xue Baozhen, a technician from the same village, took up the thread.
Ciyaogou Village has 560 people in 168 households. The village used to have a coal mining enterprise, and most villagers worked in the coal mine. Now, because the enterprise is doing poorly, many villagers have lost their jobs, and on top of that there are many people and little land, so farming is only enough for self-sufficiency, with no other extra income at all. As a result, nearly half the households are poor. The village cadres saw this and fretted over it, and how to escape poverty became their biggest headache.
By a chance opportunity, village Party secretary Xue Houqin learned that in 2014 the Ministry of Agriculture included special beekeeping platforms in the scope of national subsidies. As non-operating vehicles, special beekeeping vehicles do not need an operating permit, can travel on all kinds of roads, and can enjoy green channel treatment with no fees charged at all. Seeing such a good preferential policy, Xue Houqin went out with representatives of the villagers early this year to make inspections, and afterward felt that beekeeping carried little risk and brought quick results, so they decided to make the beekeeping industry the industry for escaping poverty and set up the "Baihua Bee Garden" beekeeping professional cooperative. But a shortage of startup funds became a "roadblock".
When he learned that the poor households in Ciyaogou Village wanted to get rich by beekeeping but lacked funds, Wang Jinglei, Party secretary of Pingtou Township, consulted with the township credit union, hoping it would "give the green light" and, in the form of a three-household joint guarantee loan, help each villager obtain a loan of 50,000 yuan. Cao Houming, director of the credit union, handled the matter as a special case and promptly issued the needed loans to the farmers through a "green channel". Xue Jianzhong, the village's first secretary, was even more attentive, using one month to run errands on behalf of the village cadres and get all the required licenses and certificates completed, greatly saving processing time. Next, the cooperative, with an investment of 210,000 yuan, was established in full swing. In order for poor households to learn beekeeping techniques, the village also signed a technical service contract with the bee supplier, under which the supplier provides technical guidance services throughout the process and ensures that every poor household has a beekeeping "person in the know".
At present, 27 poor households have joined the cooperative, and 380 hives of bees have already "set up camp" at two beekeeping bases in the village itself and in Shuiyuguan Town, Jiaocheng County, producing four kinds of honey: locust flower, jujube flower, rapeseed, and chaste tree. They will drive more poor households to join the beekeeping ranks and embark on a new path out of poverty toward prosperity.