Bustling longan honey harvest season

Every March, longan growing areas in the province are dyed yellow by longan flowers. Taking advantage of the available potential, from 2020 to now, beekeepers in the province have maintained from 10,000 to 15,000 bee colonies for honey. To meet market demand, beekeepers focus on raising two main bee breeds: Vietnamese bees and Italian bees. Hung Yen honey has the characteristic flavor of longan flowers, along with meticulousness in each stage, so the honey retains its aroma, natural sweetness and is completely pure. Honey beekeeping is mainly concentrated in Hung Yen city and the districts of Khoai Chau, Kim Dong, Phu Cu...

Beekeepers check the amount of honey from beehives in longan gardens in Phuong Nam commune (Hung Yen city)

After more than 20 years of studying and working in the beekeeping industry, Mr. Nguyen Van Yem in An Canh village, Pham Hong Thai commune (Khoai Chau) confidently affirmed his understanding of flowers, flower blooming seasons, honey collecting seasons, and places with abundant nectar sources. In particular, Mr. Yem understands the flowering process of plant varieties, choosing flowers that produce good nectar so that bees can suck nectar to create honey, maintaining the number of bee colonies as well as the quality of honey. Carefully lifting a bee bridge to check, Mr. Yem shared: With many years of experience in beekeeping, I found that longan flowers produce golden yellow, viscous honey, not as sweet as other types of honey. Honey from longan flowers also does not change color or crystallize, and in particular, the quality is much better than honey from other flowers, so it is highly appreciated by customers. Honey is harvested all year round, but the most delicious, thickest, and highest quality honey is in March. This year, the weather is favorable, and longan flowers are very full. It is expected that the amount of honey collected will be double that of last year's longan flower season.

During the blooming season of longan flowers, Kim Dong district attracts dozens of bee farms of beekeepers inside and outside the province to exploit honey, because according to them, honey from longan flowers has the highest economic value among flowers. This year's flower season, Hiep Cuong commune welcomed about 20 beekeepers with over 200 beehives to collect honey. Mr. Nguyen Van Ha, a beekeeper in Thai Nguyen province, came to exploit longan honey in Hiep Cuong commune (Kim Dong) and said: To maintain the bee colony, every year I have to take the bees everywhere to collect honey. Each type of flower gives a different characteristic honey flavor, but honey from longan flowers has the best quality, is favored by the market and has high value. Here, the local government and people always create favorable conditions for us to exploit longan nectar. If the weather is sunny, on average every 5 to 7 days we will collect honey, each beehive can collect over 1 kg of honey.

In 2016, the Department of Intellectual Property ( Ministry of Science and Technology ) granted the Certificate of registration of the certification trademark "Hung Yen longan honey". In order to develop the brand, households and beekeeping cooperatives in the province strictly comply with the regulations on the use of certification trademarks; actively learn from experience in caring for and exploiting honey... Promoting the strengths of the locality, Tien Chau Pho Hien Cooperative, Phuong Nam Commune (Hung Yen City) has focused on developing and bringing longan honey products to participate in the OCOP program to affirm quality and brand as well as expand output towards enhancing value and sustainable development. Mr. Nguyen Quang Dien, Director of Tien Chau Pho Hien Cooperative, said: Because it is produced according to strict requirements on food hygiene and safety, the longan honey products of the Cooperative all meet the prescribed standards and are trusted by consumers. In 2020, the honey products of the Cooperative were recognized as meeting the 3-star OCOP standards of the province. To improve quality and build brand, in the coming time, the Cooperative will continue to invest in technology, machinery, focus on packaging and preservation, each product sold is printed with OCOP product labels, QR Code to trace the origin... Thanks to that, the Cooperative's honey products are known to many localities in and outside the province, on average each year the Cooperative sells over 10 tons of honey.

Due to the different characteristics of Vietnamese honey and Italian honey, the current selling price of Italian honey ranges from 100 to 130 thousand VND/kg, while Vietnamese honey is sold for 150 to 180 thousand VND/kg.

The province currently has about 4,800 hectares of longan trees, which is a favorable condition for developing honey beekeeping. Like a symbiotic relationship, longan gardens provide sweet honey to bees, who diligently collect honey, contributing to pollination and increasing the fruit set rate. Each barrel of golden, sweet honey has just been exploited, promising a bumper honey harvest.

Van Anh

Source: https://baohungyen.vn/nhon-nhip-mua-thu-hoach-mat-ong-hoa-nhan-3180135.html