On the day of honey filming, the owner of the bee farm has to hire more local workers to make it in time. In only about 4 hours working in the morning, each worker “pocketed” 250,000-270,000 VND.($1=24,000 VND)

According to Ms. Do Thi Hoa (Ly Nhan, Ha Nam), from February to the end of June every year, beekeepers from many provinces and cities move bees to acacia forests in Nghe An and Ha Tinh areas to raise bees. especially in Thanh Chuong, Anh Son… (Nghe An).

“Bees will eat secretions from acacia leaves to make honey. Acacia leaf nectar accounts for a large output and is the main source of honey for export in our country,” explains Ms. Hoa. 

If the weather is favorable and the food is abundant, the average beekeeper will harvest honey once a week. This stage is called honey rotation. 

This stage requires a lot of labor , so Hoa and her husband have to hire more local people with a salary of 250,000-270,000 VND/session. Hoa’s bee farm has 600 barrels, to be able to turn all the honey in one session requires 11-12 workers. 

When removing from the hive is the time when the bees are most aggressive, so the honey harvester must first burn wood to create smoke zones to drive the bees out.

In addition to using smoke to repel bees, equipping hats, face nets, gloves and rubber boots “like Ninja”, before taking the “honeycombs”, workers must spray water to reduce the aggression of bees when excited. 

Before working with the ferocious bee swarm, workers must be equipped with safety measures, especially in the face and neck area.

“Honey bee stings are not as dangerous as bumblebees, but they also cause swelling, itching and discomfort,” said Nguyen The Vinh (residing in Thanh Chi commune, Thanh Chuong, Nghe An). Vinh and his wife take advantage of their leisure time to shoot honey for bee farms in the area.

With 600 boxes of bees, workers have to start working from 6am to finish the honey processing before 10am to reduce the impact of the hot sun. 

“Rubber honey wants sunshine, acacia honey wants rain because it’s raining because honey production will be higher, honey quality is also better. If it rains a lot, on average, honey will be harvested once a week, and when it’s hot, it’s 10- 10. It takes 15 days or even longer to harvest, but the yield is also lower,” said Tran Van Tuyen, a bee farmer.

At Mr. Tuyen’s bee farm, on the day of honey production, there are more than 10 local laborers working to transport bee bridges, turn barrels, pack honey into cans… each other, regardless of job position. 

“The labor does not require any experience or specific criteria because the job is simple, you can do it through instructions. However, anyone who is not “brave” cannot do it,” said Ms. Do Thi Hoa.

Nomadic beekeeping, Mr. Tuyen almost carries bees all over the country. “At the end of the acacia honey season in the Central region, the rubber and coffee nectar season in the Central Highlands, the longan and litchi flowers come back to the North. Usually bee farms are often close together, supporting each other in turning honey. If the camps are far apart, they have to hire a lot of local workers to keep up with the schedule,” Tuyen said. 

At this time, the honey obtained has a beautiful color, but the hot weather lasts for a long time, so the honey production is not high. “In addition to the juice from acacia leaves, bees have to eat more sugar and soy flour. Currently, the cost of feed is high, the price of honey is very low, only 9,000-10,000 VND/kg, so minus the cost of feed and labor. beekeepers are not profitable,” Hoa said.

The season of acacia honey lasts about 4 months, at the end of June, Mr. Tuyen will clean up the camp and move the bees to the Central Highlands for the next honey crop. According to the owner of this bee farm, on average, he harvests about 30 tons of honey a year.

Nomadic beekeeping brings a high income to the farmers, but now and then they have to live a rather temporary life. 

Photo: Internet (Vinlove.net)