Longan honey a bust again this year! Abnormal weather means longan trees bloom but produce no nectar; pesticide use on citrus and lychee; beekeepers wander with their bees

Longan honey's unique flavor is loved by consumers. Last year (2019), poor harvests of longan and lychee led to the unprecedented first-ever cancellation of the annual May honey appraisal. This year, longan flowers bloomed abundantly, and beekeepers were full of joy anticipating a good harvest, but unexpectedly, the cold air masses brought by weather fronts in March and April caused longan trees to bloom yet produce little nectar, drastically reducing honey output.

Seeing the poor honey conditions in the south, most beekeepers migrated to central Taiwan to place their hives. However, too many bee colonies led to a decline in average nectar collection per hive. On top of that, longan bloomed early and overlapped with the pesticide application period for citrus and lychee, and some bee poisoning incidents were reported. Beekeepers could only continue wandering with their colonies, seeking the next safe place with flowing nectar.

Beekeepers roam all of Taiwan; abnormal climate causes longan to bloom without nectar

According to statistics from the beekeeping association, there are more than 1,000 beekeeping households across Taiwan, mainly distributed in central and southern Taiwan. Every year at the spring equinox when lychee flowers bloom, beekeepers across the island become like nomads, grazing their bees along the lychee and longan flowering seasons. The first wave starts from Kaohsiung and Tainan, then the second wave in Chiayi, and finally in April they arrive in Taichung and Nantou, ending the annual great migration.

The largest longan honey production areas in the south: in Kaohsiung, the line from Alian and Neimen extending to Nanhua and Yujing, and another in Dongshan, are all considered "first-tier battle zones" in the eyes of beekeepers. Alian is famous for its "Dagangshan" brand, while Neimen has the largest longan planting area. Due to badland terrain lacking water sources unsuitable for farming, longan is generally grown extensively over vast areas.

Wang Chi-fa, a beekeeper from the Alian production and marketing group, said that this year longan flowers bloomed two weeks early, almost overlapping with lychee, and were disrupted by low temperatures, with daytime temperatures below 28 degrees, causing longan to bloom but not produce nectar: "This year's longan honey fell short of expectations. The longan flowering was not ideal. Dagangshan's longan flowers only bloomed 10 to 20 percent, and then rain knocked the flowers off, resulting in only 20 to 30 percent of the honey harvest this year. Very disappointing."

Neimen has the largest beekeeping production and marketing group in Kaohsiung. Beekeeper Yueh Sheng-chi said he had hoped this year would make up for last year's poor harvest, but the climate interfered: "The south wind that should have blown didn't blow. In March and April it was still cold north wind. Without enough temperature, the longan trees' nectar production was insufficient. When heavy rain knocked down the flowers, we could only go collect some mixed wildflower honey instead."

Southern bees move north; beekeepers crowd into central Taiwan to collect honey; temperatures drop after Qingming, reducing honey production

Trapped by low temperatures and unsatisfactory longan honey production, Chen Pao-tsun, leader of the beekeeping production and marketing group of the Gangshan Farmers' Association, moved his hives to central Taiwan where flowering conditions were better, first to Chiayi Zhuqi and then to Nantou Chungliao, but unexpectedly the honey conditions there were also below expectations: "This year I did harvest some lychee honey, and only collected a little longan honey. Although not ideal, it's still a bit better than last year's disastrous situation where lychee and longan were almost zero." With the optimism unique to beekeepers, he tried to console himself this way.

Puli's major beekeeper Lai Chao-hsien just joined group certification this year. Operating a beekeeping tourism factory, he also serves as a judge for the honey quality competition. Lai said that this