Poverty escape route for mountainous people in Nghe An

Nghia Dong is a mountainous commune in the West of Nghe An . Here, there are many industrial plants and natural flowers blooming all year round, very suitable for beekeeping for honey. Taking advantage of this potential, people have developed the beekeeping profession, providing a stable income, helping many households escape poverty.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tien, Head of the Nghia Dong Honey Bee Cooperative, is one of the households that has been developing the beekeeping profession for the longest time here. Initially, he discovered 1-2 wild bee colonies making nests right in his garden. With his passion and eagerness to learn, he was able to domesticate the bees and collect honey for his family's needs. Since then, he has promoted beekeeping for honey.

“Beekeeping for honey is not too difficult, low cost, not much effort, however, you have to understand the habits of bees, pay attention to monitor them to be able to take care of them and domesticate them. To have high efficiency in beekeeping, it is necessary to pay attention to the techniques of raising bees from selecting breeds, choosing locations, creating queens... to harvesting honey. In addition, you must pay attention to measures to prevent insects that harm bees such as wax-eating worms, ants...,” Mr. Tien shared.

Beekeeping for honey in Nghia Dong commune, Nghe An province

According to Mr. Tien, the food source of bees depends entirely on natural sources from forests and industrial plants such as rubber, coffee, oranges, longan, lychee and other crops, so maintaining a green, clean environment and not overusing pesticides is an important factor for bees to grow well.

Previously, the beekeeping for honey of Mr. Tien and other families in Nghia Dong commune was mainly spontaneous. Each household only had a few colonies, and lacked experience in the care process, so productivity was low, the products were mainly for local needs and not many people knew about them.

From the above situation, Nghia Dong Bee Production Cooperative was established with more than 20 households, supplying the market with thousands of liters of honey each year. Here, members supported and shared experiences in caring for and harvesting honey, and supported each other in consuming the products.

Beekeeping helps many households in the mountainous areas of Nghe An escape poverty.

With the support of local authorities and functional agencies, beekeepers in Nghia Dong have built a honey production process according to biosafety standards, proactively printed product packaging, and promoted products on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Zalo, etc. to expand the consumption market. Local honey products have also been certified with 3-star OCOP, which is a lever to bring this product closer to large markets.

In the coming time, in order for Nghia Dong commune honey products to reach further into the market, in addition to the attention and facilitation of relevant levels and sectors, Nghia Dong commune honey production cooperative will continue to invest in equipment for production and processing to improve product quality. The cooperative also promotes its image, builds its brand, and organizes marketing with large supermarket and restaurant systems in and outside the province.

The product "Nghia Dong Honey" has been recognized as 3-star OCOP.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Trung, Chairman of Nghia Dong Commune People's Committee, said that the product "Nghia Dong Honey" has been recognized as a 3-star OCOP and is popular in the market. The locality always creates favorable conditions and coordinates with departments and beekeeping cooperatives through training sessions, sharing experiences and science and technology to help people grasp and apply in practice to improve the productivity and quality of honey.

"The beekeeping profession in Nghia Dong is contributing to increasing income, improving life, helping the people in the highlands to sustainably eliminate hunger and reduce poverty. This is also a direction for people to maximize the potential and strengths of the locality, build brands, enhance value and promote products," said Mr. Trung.