Farmers in the mountainous commune of Nghia Dong get rich from beekeeping for honey

From spontaneous family beekeeping, Nghia Dong people have established a honey beekeeping cooperative, successfully building OCOP products with the bold flavors of the mountains and forests of Western Nghe An.

Nghia Dong is a mountainous commune with many types of trees and natural flowers... so it is very suitable for raising bees for honey. Beekeeping in Nghia Dong has been a tradition for decades, however, in the early days, the model was mainly spontaneous. The products were mainly for local needs. Photo: Khanh Ly

Since 2022, implementing the program "One commune one OCOP product", Nghia Dong commune has chosen honey to build into an OCOP product, with support from the local government, the Nghia Dong commune honey production cooperative was established on the basis of connecting 17 beekeeping households with the same passion, to share experiences in caring for, processing and harvesting honey with a total of 336 hives. Up to now, the cooperative has grown to 26 members participating with 525 hives. The members of the group are divided into 3 groups, each group gathers from 2-3 hamlets. Many farmers have up to 100 hives such as Mr. Nguyen Van Tien's household in hamlet 5, Mr. Nguyen Trong Tu's household in hamlet 7... Photo: Khanh Ly

According to the cooperative members: Beekeeping for honey is not difficult, does not require much effort, can be done right in the home garden; investment costs are low, the bees' food source is completely based on natural sources from the forest, from industrial trees such as rubber, coffee, oranges, longans, lychees and other crops, so the quality of Nghia Dong honey is very good. Photo: Thanh Nga

Mr. Nguyen Van Tien - Head of the beekeeping cooperative in Nghia Dong commune said: The process of raising bees requires understanding the characteristics and cycles of bees. First, you must choose good breeds, understand the basic process, when bees eat, when they produce honey and pay attention to disease prevention. In particular, the area around the beehive must be clean, because bees are very sensitive to the environment. Photo: Thanh Nga

Clean bees produce clean honey. Bees are raised all year round but honey is only harvested for 3-4 months from March to June. “Usually, we beekeepers only take the remaining 4 rings of honey for the bees, because from August to September is the time when bees have difficulty finding natural food sources. Not to mention when the weather is stormy and cold, bees cannot go out to find food, they will eat the honey that beekeepers save. Beekeepers must know how to share with the bees, not drain them all...” - Mr. Nguyen Van Tien - Head of the Honey Bee Cooperative in Nghia Dong Commune said. Photo: Khanh Ly

Initially, households domesticated wild bee colonies in their gardens, then through training sessions, experience sharing, and technical science, they helped people improve breeds, grasp and apply them in practice to increase productivity and honey quality. Photo: Khanh Ly

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tien - Head of the Nghia Dong Commune Honey Beekeeping Cooperative: In the 2024 honey season, the cooperative harvested nearly 7,000 bottles of honey. In the 2025 honey season, about 6,000 bottles were harvested. Households that have mastered the technical process of raising and caring for bees will harvest an average of about 10-15 bottles/bee box. Mr. Tien's family alone, in 2025, from 100 bee colonies, will harvest more than 400 bottles of honey (about 300 liters/year), the rest will be sold as seeds, deducting expenses for an income of about 100 million VND. Photo: Khanh Ly

Nghia Dong honey drops blend, are smooth, delicious, and carry the flavor of nature. Photo: Khanh Ly

With the guidance of local authorities and functional agencies, the honey production process has been built according to OCOP standards; support in printing product packaging. Since then, the farmers have mastered the process, and the products have been increasingly developed. Nghia Dong honey products have achieved 3-star OCOP. Each bottle of honey costs 150-180 thousand VND. Honey products can be stored for 2 years, the longer they are stored, the more beautiful the color and the richer the flavor. Photo: Thanh Nga

Thanks to actively promoting the product on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Zalo as well as through the promotion channels of children living and working far away from home across the country... Nghia Dong Honey products are known and favored by many people. People in the area proactively come to get them, while those far away pack them in boxes and send them by bus. Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong's family in Hamlet 7 (in the photo) currently raises about 100 bee colonies. Ms. Huong said that most of them sell and export the seeds to local people in the province at a price of 200,000 VND/cage (box), only leaving about 10 boxes to sell honey. On average, the annual harvest from seeds and honey is 80 million VND. Photo: Thanh Nga

Clip: Thanh Nga - Khanh Ly. Technique: Dinh Tuyen

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Source: https://baonghean.vn/nong-dan-xa-mien-nui-nghia-dong-lam-giau-tu-nghe-nuoi-ong-lay-mat-10303445.html