Nghe An farmer raises 'evil' bees for high income

From the very first days of raising hornets, Mr. Hung had to travel to the forests inside and outside the district to find and capture beehives that were preparing to build nests and bring them back to his garden to breed and raise. Whenever he saw a hornet nest or heard information about a hornet nest, he would go and capture it.

Beehives are hung on tangerine branches. Photo: Minh Thai

To catch hornets, Mr. Hung said, he only had a protective suit that covered him from head to toe. When he saw a beehive, he had to cover the entrance to the nest and then bring the whole nest back. After bringing it back to the garden, Mr. Hung attached and placed the nests on tangerine branches in the garden, 0.7-1.2m above the ground to raise them.

With a tangerine garden area of ​​nearly 1 hectare, Mr. Hung's garden currently has more than 70 wasp nests, many of which are larger than a conical hat.

Mr. Hung said: "This species of bee likes to eat rotten animal meat, so we often use bait such as a little smelly pork or insects... When the bees appear, just follow their flight direction and you will find the nest. Usually at night, when all the bees have crawled into the nest, it is a favorable time for the pupa hunters to burn the nest's mouth. After the bees fly out, they will collect their pupae."

Mr. Hung's garden has more than 70 wasp nests. Photo: Minh Thai

"With other livestock, a lot of investment is required, but with wasps, the key is to keep the queen bee so that the worker bees will not go anywhere. When the hive is large enough, the queen and worker bees will be moved to a new hive to exploit the old hive," Mr. Hung added.

Every year, Mr. Hung harvests bee pupae 2-3 times. Each harvest yields more than 1.3 to 1.8 quintals of pupae, with a selling price of 200,000 VND/kg, he can earn about 25 million VND.

In particular, traders come to this type of bee pupa to buy it themselves, so the output is favorable and the breeder does not have to take it to sell.

Bee pupae after being harvested. Photo: Minh Thai

Raising wasps for pupae brings in a fairly high income for beekeepers like Mr. Hung. Being attached to this profession, they also face many dangers that cannot be counted in the process of raising. However, to ensure the safety of the beekeepers themselves and those around them, wasp farming must be far from residential areas.

Mr. Le Xuan Giang - Chairman of Farmers' Association of Nghia Tho Commune (Nghia Dan)