Ruoqiang County's red date industry spawns a sweet business

In the height of summer, strolling along the country lanes of Ruoqiang County, one sees everywhere jujube trees covered in small pale-yellow blossoms, with swarms of bees flying among the jujube groves gathering nectar and making honey. Rows of beehives stand neatly arranged among the trees, and the buzzing bee colonies fly in and out, busily at work without pause.

"Ruoqiang's jujube blossom honey is of good quality. Early June to late July each year is the jujube flowering season, when nectar sources are abundant. It is the best honey-gathering period and also our busiest time." On June 26, beekeeper Zhang Jinhui, who was tending bees and extracting honey in a jujube orchard in Tieganlike Township, Ruoqiang County, told this writer that the 420 hives of bees his family keeps began coming here on May 25 to gather jujube blossom nectar, and by late July they are expected to produce 4,000 kilograms of jujube honey, increasing income by 160,000 yuan.

Zhang Jinhui said: "Under the preferential policies issued by Ruoqiang County in 2009, beekeeping households that raise more than 100 hives of bees can receive a subsidy of 10 yuan per hive. Apart from the income from beekeeping, each year we can also receive a 2,300 yuan subsidy from the Ruoqiang County government." Zhang Jinhui is from Changji. In recent years, the rapid development of Ruoqiang County's red date industry has let him see a business opportunity. In 2009, he moved his household registration from Changji City to Tieganlike Township, Ruoqiang County, to devote himself to beekeeping, and in just one year he earned more than 200,000 yuan. Today, the whole family has moved into a comfortable home of more than 200 sq m, and their life is sweeter than honey.

According to Su Yonghong, a technician at the Ruoqiang County Agricultural Technology Center, the large-scale development of Ruoqiang County's red date industry provides high-quality nectar sources for beekeeping. Releasing bees to gather nectar during the jujube flowering season brings beekeepers considerable economic income and at the same time raises the fruit-setting rate of the jujube trees. The yield of red dates in jujube groves pollinated by bees can increase by more than 20%, with a clear role in promoting the quality of the jujube fruit.

With the development of Ruoqiang County's high-quality ecological jujube fruit industry, the sweet business of beekeeping has been spawned, bringing local people a life as sweet as jujube blossom honey. Up to now, Ruoqiang County has 18 specialized beekeeping households, with more than 2,000 bee colonies. To improve the level of organization in the beekeeping industry, the county has established 2 beekeeping professional cooperatives. At present, annual output of high-quality jujube blossom honey is about 40 tons, with an output value of more than 1.6 million yuan.