College graduate returns home to start a business, building hives and attracting bees on the road to prosperity

In Xiaoshigou Village, Mengyuan Township, Pengyang County, Guyuan City, Ningxia, Chen Ze'en shows his honey products (photo taken on June 21).

In Xiaoshigou Village, Mengyuan Township, Pengyang County, Guyuan City, Ningxia, Chen Ze'en inspects a beehive (photo taken on June 21).

Chen Ze'en, 26 years old this year, is a beekeeper well known far and wide in Pengyang County, Guyuan City, Ningxia Province. Having just graduated from university, he did not stay in a big city to struggle, but instead spotted a business opportunity and returned home to start a business.

In the summer vacation of 2014, at a breeding farm at a classmate's home, Chen Ze'en discovered that the Chinese honey bee (Apis cerana) was not, as the farmers in his hometown said, low in honey production and impossible to raise on a large scale; in fact, as long as the methods were scientific, it could bring very good economic returns.

In 2015, Chen Ze'en successfully persuaded his father to invest the family's savings and all the money he had earned from part-time work outside during university into the beekeeping business. By learning breeding techniques in Chongqing, Sichuan and other places, Chen Ze'en changed the primitive method of destroying the comb to take honey used in his hometown, and adopted box hives for keeping bees, which not only allowed regular honey harvesting and increased yields, but also protected and strengthened the colonies. Chen Ze'en said: "Keeping bees in Pengyang County has unique advantages. As the effects of returning farmland to forest and grassland have become increasingly apparent in recent years, the ecological environment has improved, and my Chinese honey bees can taste a hundred herbs and gather nectar from a hundred flowers."

In 2015, Chen Ze'en kept 100 boxes of Chinese honey bees, produced more than 2,000 jin of honey, and had a net income of 150,000 yuan. Up to now, Chen Ze'en has kept 200 boxes of Chinese honey bees, produced 4,000 jin of honey, and achieved an economic income of more than 400,000 yuan. He has also encouraged more than 100 households in Shuangshu Village to raise more than 600 boxes of Chinese honey bees, regularly held beekeeping technical training for the beekeepers, made door-to-door technical guidance, and taught beekeeping techniques hand by hand.