Little bees create a new world of prosperity, and the path to higher income through beekeeping grows ever wider
Wang Congguo, Party secretary of Hetaoping Village, inspecting bee farming conditions
"Conservatively speaking, one hive of bees can bring in 600 to 700 yuan in income. At present we have 13 sites and 1,100 hives. If they are kept well, the bees will multiply several times each year, and they will produce even more honey." At the beekeeping site in Xiazha, Hetaoping Village, Longshan Town, Longling County, Zhou Zhixian, mayor of Longshan Town, happily calculated this "sweet account."
Longling County has a long history of beekeeping. The area has a mild climate, abundant rainfall and a great variety of species, with very rich flowering plants and medicinal plants. Nectar-source plants, mainly wild Elsholtzia, mountain osmanthus and Mitonghua, number more than 1,000 species, and flowers bloom continuously throughout the four seasons, providing an excellent environment for keeping Chinese honeybees (Apis cerana).
"Beekeeping is an 'industry in the air.' It is characterized by low investment, quick results, high returns and low risk, and it does not compete with agriculture for land. It is a good poverty-alleviation project with 'instant results.'" said Bi Hong'an, director of the county Poverty Alleviation Office.
In recent years, based on its uniquely favorable geographical location, natural environment and climatic conditions, Longling County has given full play to its resource advantages and encouraged beekeepers to raise bees in front of and behind their houses and in spare land in the forest. The bee farming industry has flourished, and the ranks of beekeepers have continued to grow.
Since the implementation of the poverty alleviation project, Longling County has taken the beekeeping industry as a prosperity-generating industry and a people-enriching industry for farmers to escape poverty. It has issued relevant support policies and established an industrial development model of "market + leading enterprise + base + specialized cooperative + farmers (registered poor households)." Through investment promotion, it introduced Yunnan Yuenong Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. as the leading enterprise for the Chinese honeybee industry, established a bee farming specialized cooperative, carried out practical technical training on beekeeping, and adopted the "company + cooperative + farmers" approach to jointly develop the bee farming industry, allowing this "sweet industry" to help poor households embark on the road to prosperity.
"The breeder bees distributed in August last year produced an average of 15 jin of honey per colony by January this year. Calculating two honey harvests a year, each colony produces 30 jin of honey per year. At 60 yuan per jin, each colony generates an output value of 1,800 yuan. At the same time, each colony splits into 1 colony each year. At 300 yuan per colony, each poor household increases its income by 10,500 yuan per year, which counts as no small sum of income." Bi Hong'an said.
By last year, Longling County had 1,171 households with more than 10 colonies of Chinese honeybees, totaling 20,000 colonies, and 150 households had obtained Chinese honeybee farming certificates; 1 leading enterprise was introduced and 1 Chinese honeybee honey processing plant was built, 70 farming bases were established, and 1 Chinese honeybee farming association and 3 specialized cooperatives were registered and established, achieving an annual honey output of 100 tons and an output value of 20 million yuan... Little bees are playing an increasingly important role in promoting agricultural efficiency, increasing farmers' income and targeted poverty alleviation.