Uncle Ba shares the model of growing longan combined with raising honey bees for stable income.
Guiding us around the lush green longan garden, with swarms of bees flying to collect honey, Uncle Ba said that his hometown is Tan An city, Long An province, where he earns a living by farming. After serving in the army, he was discharged and returned to Thoi An to buy 10 hectares of land to farm in 1990. Three years later, seeing that some households in the area planted Sapo trees with good income, Uncle Ba built mounds on the rice fields to try planting a few dozen trees and expanding the Sapo growing area when the yield was good and the price was good. After about 4 years of peak harvest, Uncle Ba cut down the Sapo trees and intercropped with Tieu tangerines, the fruit that was "on the rise" at that time. Uncle Ba harvested 2 batches of tangerines at high prices.
Later, the kumquat trees were affected by yellow leaf disease, affecting the quality of the fruit, and could not compete with Lai Vung kumquat trees in Dong Thap province. Uncle Ba cut down the diseased kumquat trees and tried planting 3 hectares of cowhide longan. After 2 years of care, the cowhide longan bore fruit, yielding nearly 5 tons, with prices ranging from 21,000-25,000 VND/kg. Uncle Ba "cut down" all the kumquat trees and expanded to 8 hectares of cowhide longan, yielding 15 tons/year. After 6 years, the cowhide longan garden was affected by dragon head disease, so Uncle Ba renovated the garden and planted Ido longan in 2016. Uncle Ba said with satisfaction: "I cut down a few hectares of cowhide longan and planted Ido longan. After 2 years of fruiting and having a good harvest, I continued to plant 10 hectares of longan. In the last crop, I harvested 10 tons of fruit on 5.5 hectares of longan, with prices ranging from 23,500 VND/kg." Significant income from the fruit garden helps Uncle Ba build a spacious house, buy living amenities and equipment for production.
When the Ido longan garden was in full bloom and fragrant, a beekeeper friend who was "running the field" gave him a trial bee box and Uncle Ba multiplied it to 5 boxes to "have money for coffee" and relax after a hard day of gardening. At first, due to lack of techniques, Uncle Ba applied the traditional method so the bees gave a few liters of honey each time. Uncle Ba's son updated social networks to learn about the technical process of beekeeping for honey and learned and shared experiences from neighboring gardens. Uncle Ba shared: "The honey beekeeping model does not require investment capital, little care but is economically effective. I raise Italian bees (Italian bees) with the advantages of being large, gentle, easy to raise and manage; good honey income, high yield and helping to maintain a healthy bee colony". Uncle Ba paid attention to placing the bee box under the shade of the longan garden, creating a cool space. He spent time checking the amount of honey in the honeycomb to collect in batches of 10-15 days. When the honey covers the surface of the honeycomb, put it in a centrifuge to separate the honey, then put the honeycomb back in the box; at the same time, treat the nest for diseases every 2 months; regularly check and clean to limit the larvae rot disease that harms the bee colony. Currently, Uncle Ba has over 20 boxes of Italian bees collecting longan nectar. From 10 to 15 days, Uncle Ba collects 40 liters of pure honey, selling for 200,000-300,000 VND/liter. Uncle Ba said that in the neighborhood, there are many households growing longan, so the bees "run" from one garden to another, sucking up a lot of longan nectar. Bees sucking longan nectar have a thick, sweet yellow nectar that is popular with many customers. Uncle Ba's son also introduces "online" honey specialties, so his income is stable.
Uncle Ba's economically efficient gardening and beekeeping model is receiving attention from the locality, creating favorable conditions for replication, and the Social Policy Bank is ready to support loans to meet the needs of households. Thereby, helping farmers increase their income, become prosperous, and promote local socio-economic development.
Article and photos: MAI THY
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/tang-thu-nhap-nho-trong-nhan-ket-hop-nuoi-ong-a187532.html
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