According to Mr. Tran Van Mang, Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, many farmers in the province are currently raising du for honey.

Going further, beekeepers are linking up to have enough honey to supply the market.

Invite each other to raise stingless bees for honey

Currently, in Xom Ray hamlet (Phuoc Thuan commune, Xuyen Moc district), a honey bee farm has been established with 250 beehives that have been harvested. Under the canopy of the longan garden, 200 boxes (hives) for honey bee farming are placed on stakes and arranged scatteredly, looking quite strange, but beautiful.

According to Mr. Vo Van Duc, the owner of the honey bee farm, before building this honey bee farm, he surveyed the area to see what the fruit growing area was like, whether the orchards were sprayed with chemicals...

"The stingless bees produce honey twice a year, at the beginning and end of the rainy season. Each stingless bee nest can bring in 2 million VND worth of honey after 1 year," Duc shared.

According to beekeepers, at the beginning of the rainy season, bee honey is quite thick, due to the low water content in the honey. At this time, bee honey has a sweet taste.

At the end of the rainy season, farmers will collect honey again and clean the beekeeping area so that the bees can collect honey in the dry season. The honey collected this time has a slightly sour taste.

In Xuyen Moc district, if talking about a typical example of long-term and successful stingless beekeeping, we must mention Mr. Tran Quoc Toan (Binh Chau commune).

Mr. Toan has been raising stingless bees for honey since he started playing with plastic nests (2015) until he started raising them professionally and selling honey for business as he does today. Currently, Mr. Toan raises 600 stingless bee nests.

According to Mr. Toan, if you want to find a pet that doesn't cost much food, doesn't take much time to care for, and brings high economic benefits... then stingless bees are a good choice.

"Currently, the price of a stingless bee nest (including box and breed) is 1.5 million VND. After 1 year, stingless beekeepers can separate another nest and collect 1 liter of honey. In addition, they can collect pollen," Toan shared.

Mr. Toan said that with 600 stingless bee hives, he collects 350 liters of honey each year. Currently, the market price of stingless bee honey is 1.2-1.5 million VND/liter.

In Xuyen Moc district alone, according to Mr. Duong Tan Linh, Chairman of the Xuyen Moc District Farmers' Association, there are more than 10 households raising stingless bees for honey, with more than 2,000 beehives. Many farming households are raising stingless bees for honey in the form of commodity production with a large number of hives.

Building a chain of honey bee farming

It is known that Mr. Duc and Mr. Toan are collaborating to raise stingless bees for honey.

In addition to raising stingless bees for honey, Mr. Duc is also the CEO of a local travel and event organization company, building a chain of links from input to output with stingless bee farmers for honey.

According to Mr. Duc, the company currently has 500 stingless bee hives and purchases nearly 2,000 more hives from stingless bee farming satellites in Xuyen Moc district.

In addition, the company will cooperate with the stingless beekeeping association of Chau Duc district and guarantee the output of more than 1,000 stingless bee hives.

"By 2025, the company plans to multiply 7,000-8,000 stingless bee hives in these two localities to have enough stingless bee honey to meet market demand," Mr. Duc shared.

Mr. Duc added that the company wants to expand the stingless bee population, so it really wants farmers or cooperative units to raise stingless bees.

"Farmers only have to invest once to buy seeds and boxes. The company's technical staff will support the project, survey the farming area, farming techniques, separate the herd, collect honey... and guarantee the output," Mr. Duc committed.

In addition to production links, Mr. Duc also organizes consumption links. The company already had a chain of agricultural product consumption links, so now it has added honey products to the consumption system.

Taking advantage of organizing tours and events, the company takes guests to visit fruit gardens with available stingless bee farms for guests to experience stingless bee farming and buy honey products.

At the same time, the company introduces du honey products to tourist areas so that company employees can sell them to customers as souvenirs.

The honey bee farming chain in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province is linking honey bee products with local tourism development. Photo: T.D.

In addition, the company also cooperates with an eco-tourism area to create a chain of eco-tourism to develop the community, in order to connect with resorts and eco-tourism areas to create a chain of visits to stingless bee farms, thereby promoting honey consumption.

According to Mr. Duc, each year, these connections consume about 60% of stingless bee honey for beekeepers in Xuyen Moc district.

The remaining honey is consumed through government agencies, businesses, schools, and local people...

"The amount of honey produced is consumed," Mr. Duc confided.

Linking stingless bee farming for honey in Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province helps farmers develop agricultural production associated with experiential tourism and community tourism, thereby increasing income. Photo: T.D.

According to Mr. Mang, currently, farmers raising on du for honey are linking up to have enough honey to supply the market, especially tourists visiting the area.

"Farmers raise stingless bees for honey and develop tourism. This is a new direction that is very suitable for the local development situation," said Mr. Mang.

Mr. Mang added that the model of raising stingless bees for honey is being encouraged to be replicated by Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Implementing Resolution 21 of the Provincial People's Committee, the province is implementing a chain linkage for raising stingless bees for honey. Accordingly, stingless bee farmers will be supported to buy machinery for production...

At the same time, the Farmers' Support Fund of the Provincial Farmers' Association is also lending capital to farmers to raise stingless bees for honey, up to 100 million VND per household.