Migrant bee beekeepers from the Central Highlands and southern provinces are flocking to Thua Thien-Hue city and neighboring provinces.

Along road 14B and National Highway 1A in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue Keo are acacia forests, which are blossoming. Bee keepers have brought their bees from the Central Highlands and southern provinces to the forests.

These bees are imported from Australia. They can yield honey as much as 1.5 to 2 times over local bee species. The quality of honey is also better than local bees.

Toan, 19, from the southern province of Tien Giang, has lived in a tent in an acacia forest in Phu Loc district, Thua Thien-Hue province for nearly two months, with over 300 beehives.

“Migrant bee-keeping is like gambling. You can get rich very quickly if you are lucky and you can also incur big debts,” Toan said.

He estimated that he has to pay VND35-40 million ($1,700 to $2,000) to bring bees from Tien Giang to the central and northern region, plus spending on accommodations, cooking and the pay for forest owners. If the weather is good, Toan can harvest more than 600 liters of honey and earns over 100 million of profit. However, he will get heavy losses if the weather is bad or his bees die because of diseases.

Toan’s uncle, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long, made a field trip one month before they brought their bees to Thua Thien – Hue.

Tens of thousands of beehives have been brought from the Central Highlands and southern provinces to Thua Thien-Hue’s acacia forests by bee-keepers and bee-keeping companies.

Nguyen Van Tien, a bee-keeper from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, said that migrant bee-keepers often bring their bees to the north in the spring, because this is the time of litchi blossom and to the central region in the summer because this is the acacia blossoming time.

Tien said some bee-keepers got debts because their bees died or could not yield honey in the cold weather in the North.

“Migrant beekeeping is like a chess game,” Tien said.

Raising bees in acacia forest:

VNE