Nomads follow bees to collect honey in the central highlands of Nghe An

Tien Hung• DNUM_CHZBAZCACB 08:46

(Baonghean.vn) - Each flower has its own season, so beekeepers have to travel all over the country to find food for their bees. Therefore, they almost live a nomadic life, here today, gone tomorrow.

From around April to October every year, walking along the acacia forests in Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Anh Son districts, etc., it is not difficult to see households raising bees for honey under the forest canopy. Hundreds of beekeeping boxes are neatly arranged, creating quite impressive images. Most of these migrant beekeepers come from the southern provinces. Photo: Tien Hung

In an acacia forest in Ngoc Lam commune (Thanh Chuong), we met Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet (from Dong Nai province). Ms. Tuyet is only 50 years old this year, but has more than 30 years of experience in raising migratory bees. "More than half of my life has been devoted to this profession. Sometimes I feel sad," Ms. Tuyet said. In the photo, every time she checks the beehive, Ms. Tuyet has to smoke it to avoid being stung by bees. Photo: Tien Hung

Working as a migrant beekeeper, Ms. Tuyet has to live a makeshift life in rickety huts built under the forest. Ms. Tuyet said that each season has its own flowers, so she has to move her bee colonies at least three times a year. In the next few days, when the acacia forest no longer has young leaves for the bees to collect nectar, Ms. Tuyet will have to hire a truck to load 300 boxes of bees to Binh Phuoc to continue raising them under the rubber forest canopy. After the rubber season ends, she transports them to the North, to provinces such as Hung Yen, Bac Giang... to take advantage of the lychee flowering season. Therefore, the longest she stays in each place is less than half a year. Photo: Tien Hung

Each beekeeping box has a small door for bees to enter and exit. Photo: Tien Hung

In addition to acacia honey, beekeepers also use soybean powder as supplementary food for their bees. Photo: Tien Hung

The bee breed originated from Italy. The honey collection cycle depends on the weather, usually lasting 10 - 15 days. After the bees collect honey and ripen it (enough to harvest, not too young) and the wax covers about 2/3 of the hive (tray), the beekeeper uses smoke to drive the bees away and takes the hive out into the bin. Photo: Tien Hung

Normally, honey is extracted once every 12 days. With Ms. Tuyet's 300 beekeeping boxes, each extraction yields more than 700 liters of honey. The company's representative will come to the place to buy in bulk at a price of more than 20,000 VND/liter, and retail to people at a price of more than 50,000 VND/liter. Meanwhile, a few years ago, honey prices were still high, with the wholesale price for the company sometimes reaching nearly 70,000 VND/liter. Photo: Tien Hung

Honey rotating barrel. Photo: Tien Hung

Tuyet's makeshift hut. "We stayed in each place for a short time, and we set up our tents deep in the forest, so we had almost no neighbors. We had to walk alone," Tuyet said. Many rainy and windy nights quickly tore the makeshift hut apart. Unable to rely on the village, Tuyet had to lean against a tree and wait for dawn. Photo: Tien Hung

Not far from Tuyet's hut is the beekeeping area of Pham Quang Pho (29 years old, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan). Pho said that his entire youth was spent following the bees, living alone in the forest. His wife and children are in the countryside, so Pho has to take the bees all over the country by himself. Every year, the number of days he returns to his hometown to live with his family can be counted on the fingers of one hand. "This job is not really that hard, only the days when honey is extracted and transported to other places are hard, the rest is quite easy. However, living this life is very sad, only knowing how to be friends with the bees," Pho said.

Theo anh Phố, khó khăn nhất của nghề này là người dân không hiểu rõ ong là loài có lợi cho quá trình thụ phấn. Ở nhiều tỉnh khác, anh Phố chứng kiến người dân địa phương đến đập phá các trại ong vì cho rằng ong phá lúa, hoa màu. Không những thế, thấy người lạ đến một mình nuôi ong, nhiều kẻ thường đến dọa dẫm, xin tiền. “Tuy nhiên, đó là những vụ việc không hay ở các tỉnh khác. Còn nhiều tháng nay tôi nuôi ở Nghệ An nhưng bà con ở đây rất tốt”, Phố nói.

According to Mr. Pho, the most difficult thing about this profession is that people do not understand that bees are beneficial for the pollination process. In many other provinces, Mr. Pho witnessed local people destroying bee farms because they thought that bees were destroying rice and crops. Not only that, when they saw strangers coming alone to raise bees, many people often came to threaten and ask for money. "However, those are bad incidents in other provinces. For many months now, I have been raising bees in Nghe An, but the people here are very good," Mr. Pho said.

Scientists confirm that raising honey bees not only brings economic benefits but also helps pollinate, increasing crop yield and quality. Photo: Tien Hung