HUNG YEN – March, when longan flowers bloom, is also the time to harvest honey of ‘nomadic’ beekeepers.
In March, longan flowers bloom in Hung Yen, beekeepers from all over the world come to the vacant lot next to the longan garden to get honey. Bee boxes are arranged neatly on provincial road 379 through Tan Dan commune, Khoai Chau district, on the afternoon of March 30.
Hung Yen province currently has more than 3,000 hectares of longan cultivation, with more than 10,000 honey bee colonies, mainly in Hung Yen city, Khoai Chau, Kim Dong, Tien Lu districts…
Just finished the lychee nectar crop in Bac Giang, the family of Ms. Do Thi Mai (Dan Tien commune, Khoai Chau district) moved 400 boxes of bees back to her hometown just in time for the longan flowers to bloom. In order to facilitate the care and harvesting of honey, her family built a temporary shack, ate and slept on the spot.
“Beekeeping is quite difficult and depends on the weather. If the sun is warm, the bees will actively collect honey, after only 4 days to harvest. But if it rains, it will take about a week because the flowers have lost all the honey,” said Mai. speak. After 24 years in the profession, Ms. Mai traveled throughout the Northern provinces and the Central Highlands.
Domestic bees (native bees) forage for longan flower nectar during rainy, humid days. Currently, beekeepers in Hung Yen mainly raise two breeds, domestic bees and Italian bees. The Italian bee is large and strong, but the honey is opaque; fragrant and clear honey bee.
The queen bee is checked by the breeder before removing the honey collection box.
When taking honey, Mai’s family had to hire workers from Luc Ngan (Bac Giang). The group of workers wear gloves, hoods and use a mist sprayer to wet the wings of the bees when opening the box to prevent bees from flying.
With 400 beehives, it takes them more than 2 hours to collect honey, and is paid from 400,000 to 500,000 VND each.
Each bee tray in turn is checked for the amount of honey on the wax surface. During the harvesting process, bees are often fed soybean meal mixed with pollen or sugar to feed the larvae.
Two people in the harvesting team use soft cloth brooms to remove the bees that land on the wax surface and remove dust and dew. One season of longan flowers only for honey extraction in 25-30 days, Mai’s family harvests about 5-6 tons of honey.
The beeswax trays are in turn transferred to the honey filter rotation area.
Each batch of honey has more than 20 wax trays neatly arranged in a homemade drum, underneath there is a large valve to let the honey flow out.
The honey spinner places a jar containing moist firewood to create smoke, repelling bees that come close.
Longan flower honey is golden yellow, almost amber, blended and fragrant with flowers.
Local people, passersby watch the stages of harvesting and buy honey on the spot.
“Families often choose to place bee boxes near the road because it’s convenient for each harvest, can turn honey all day, people and passersby know they will come to buy. Honey until the day of exploitation is part retail, Part of it is sold to wholesalers,” said Mr. Tran Van The, 45 years old.
Every year, if the weather is favorable, a beekeeper can earn 400-500 million VND.
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