Products from Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative, Thuan Chau district, are displayed at typical agricultural booths in major events of the district.

After many years of dedication to beekeeping and recognizing its potential, in 2018, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh from Kien Xuong village, Phong Lai commune, mobilized beekeeping households in the commune to form the Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative. The cooperative currently has 13 members with 2,000 bee colonies, mainly Italian and native bee breeds; the average yield is 30 kg of honey per colony per year. With natural beekeeping methods and proper harvesting and preservation procedures, the quantity and quality of honey are constantly improving.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative, provided the following information: In 2019, the cooperative's honey and bee pollen products were granted a Food Safety Certificate by the Son La Provincial Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Product Quality Management and a VietGAP certification by the Regional Center for Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Product Quality Management (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

Focusing on product quality, the cooperative has facilitated and supported its members in participating in training courses organized by the province and district on methods of caring for and preventing diseases in bee colonies; techniques for harvesting, processing, and preserving honey products; and visits to learn from beekeeping experiences in Mai Son, Song Ma, and Moc Chau districts. A special feature is that the cooperative members apply the method of raising bees in stacked hives, which has many advantages over traditional single-hive beekeeping. Because of this stacked method, the bee colonies grow faster; the queen bees are healthier, have a high tendency to congregate, and are not infected with larval diseases and parasitic mites, resulting in high honey yields; the moisture content is below 20%, and there are no larval carcasses mixed in. When harvesting honey, beekeepers only need to remove the frames from the next level, without affecting the queen bee's egg-laying activity or the worker bees' larval rearing on the ground level.

With over 10 years of beekeeping experience, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, a member of the Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative, shared: "By joining the cooperative, I've been able to exchange experiences and receive guidance on beekeeping and care techniques, so my family's bee colonies have thrived, suffered few diseases, and produced a lot of honey. Currently, my family has 80 bee colonies; we harvest about 1.2 tons of honey each year, and after deducting expenses, we earn a profit of nearly 150 million VND."

Bee colony of a member of Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative

According to members, beekeeping requires not only knowing how to utilize natural conditions but also understanding the weather patterns of different regions. To produce good honey, bee colonies need to be moved according to the seasons and the types of flowers in different areas. Specifically, March is for longan flower honey; April to May for chestnut flower honey; June to October for various forest flowers; and November for Laos grass flowers. When the honey turns a reddish-brown color, beekeepers use a honey quality testing machine to measure the sugar, water, and honey content to ensure it meets standards before harvesting. Throughout the beekeeping process, the cooperative provides technical guidance on bee care, checks the quality of the bees, and purchases the honey from households based on the honey cycle.

With support from specialized agencies, Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative has developed a plan for designing product packaging, labels, and traceability stamps, and has completed the procedures to be certified as meeting food safety and hygiene standards. The cooperative's honey products are now bottled and sold on the market. In 2022, the cooperative's honey products were recognized as a 4-star OCOP product at the provincial level.

Phong Lai honey products have been certified as 4-star OCOP products at the provincial level.

On average, the cooperative harvests 60 tons of honey per year. The cooperative's honey products are mainly purchased by traders; after deducting expenses, the cooperative's total income reaches over 1.5 billion VND per year. The products are widely sold in retail stores in Hanoi, Hai Phong, and many other localities.

After more than 5 years of operation, Phong Lai Beekeeping Cooperative has become a model cooperative for developing beekeeping for honey production in Thuan Chau district; successfully building a typical agricultural product of the locality and becoming a typical agricultural product at the provincial level, helping people increase their income.