Getting bees to "settle down"

Bees are usually found looking for nectar among wild flowers. They often “migrate freely” or force their keepers to take them away to hunt. However, the people of Cat Tien Commune, Cat Tien 2, Lam Dong Province force men to “settle down”, produce honey, and spread their fragrance right in their home gardens.

Beekeeping in Cat Tien 1 and Cat Tien 2 communes, Lam Dong province

About 10 years ago, while wandering in the garden in the afternoon, Mr. Do Van Nghia (Cat Tien commune) discovered a swarm of Dụ bees making a nest right next to a jackfruit tree. Curious, he stopped by and saw that the bees were as small as mosquitoes, and the Cat Tien people often called them as gentle as the ground because they never bit anyone. They were raised, nurtured... and then they left, and returned to the forest. Finally, Dụ bees settled in Mr. Nghia's garden with more than 3,000 boxes, earning over 1 billion VND per year.

Each Du bee hive can produce from 1 to 2.5 liters of honey per year. The selling price ranges from 1.5 to 2 million VND per liter. For a long time, Du honey with a slightly sour taste has been a typical product of beekeeping in Cat Tien. Recently, people from neighboring provinces have come to Mr. Nghia not only to buy honey but also to buy seeds to breed. The honey of this bee species is golden yellow, thick like glue, with a gentle forest scent. Tasted, it is sweet mixed with a little sour. It has a completely different taste from the honey of other bee species and farmed bees.

The Du bee is a very gentle bee, rare in nature, has no stinger, and its body is only half the size of a honey bee or a bee. Du honey has many medicinal properties such as: cooling, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, improving digestion, pain relief, disinfecting wounds; Du honey and wax have beautifying and skin-nourishing effects...

Ms. Doan Thi Yen's house (Cat Tien 2 commune) is truly a "garden house" because it is surrounded by 2 hectares of rambutan garden. Up to now, her family has raised 450 boxes. The money from selling Du honey has been nearly 250 million VND, the money from separating the bee colonies to sell to other breeders is nearly 50 million VND. Ms. Yen does not hide her profession: "Du bees are extremely strong, do not need to be taken to collect honey, do not need to be fed or watered, in general, "naturally born, naturally nurtured", I just need to make a small wooden box to make them "settle" with me to have honey, to have money. Du bees are very gentle, do not sting people, separating the colonies is also easy, just need to divide the bee colonies in half when harvesting to make two nests".

Mr. Tran Van Thuc - Head of the Du Beekeeping Group in Cat Tien said that currently, all 9 members of the group are successful and have high income from this model. This species of bee is very easy to raise, the honey is of good quality, and is quite popular in the market. Along with that, separating the colony to sell the breed has been carried out for many years now.

Mr. Thuc also added that Du bees are very sensitive to pesticides, so recently some members have had to move their bee colonies out of agricultural production areas and bring them back to live in the wild to ensure the quality of their honey. This year, heavy rains have also affected the quality and quantity of Du honey. On the other hand, to promote Du honey products, some households have invested in flycams to follow the bees flying. From there, videos of Du bees following flowers and collecting nectar have been produced. The local government has also recognized Cat Tien Du honey as an OCOP product many years ago.

Currently, according to preliminary statistics, in the communes of Cat Tien and Cat Tien 2, there are about 30 households raising Du bees. This is an opportunity for this bee species to thrive, bringing income to the people here.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/bat-ong-dinh-cu-381420.html