Honey makers hope expansion will sweeten profits
Honey makers hope expansion will sweeten profits
A honey production group in Oudomxay province hopes to find a good manufacturer to process the honey into different kinds of products as suggested by their customers.
“Currently we are looking at how to make a variety of products from our natural honey that we could sell to both local and foreign buyers,” President of the Sustainable Natural Bee Breeding and Promotion Association, Ms Chansouk Duangvilay, said last week.
At present the association only makes honey for the local market but demand is increasing faster than production capacity.
“Some Chinese businessmen also buy our honey and mix it with herbs,” Ms Chansouk said.
The association has had talks with the provincial state sector on a project to expand both honey production and processing.
The honey is sold mostly in Oudomxay province and Vientiane, where many people buy honey as a gift. Some buyers use it for medicinal purposes.
Sometimes there is a surge in demand but the group does not have any honey to sell.
Some foreign buyers once asked to buy at least 100 litres, but the producer group didn't have that quantity in stock.
The association needs more shareholders to allow the project to expand more quickly and hopes that honey will become one of the province's model products in the future.
In 2013-14 (from October to May) the association produced just three litres of honey but in 2012-13 they made about 2,000 litres.
“We don't know how much we can make this year because we're still in the process of collecting honey,” Ms Chansouk said.
The quantity produced fluctuates depending on the weather conditions each year.
Some bees died because of the insecticides used by local farmers and foreign forestry plantation projects. Cold weather is another cause of the bees' death.
The provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department reported that the association now has 7 to 10 hectares of land which it plans to increase. The department is pleased to promote the project.
The association is now planting flowers in the provincial forest reservation in the hope of attracting more bees.
There are many bee breeding farms for honey production in the province, but they are small scale family operations and each has only about 200 hives.
The farmers breed the bees on their land and in forests. Current levels of production are providing extra income for families, so they are rewarded for the time and energy they have invested.
The association was established in 2012, after almost 10 years of trials of bees suitable for honey production with previous support from the NGO German Agro Action. Originally, there were only three districts keeping bees to make honey.
The seven districts include more than 60 villages of about 500 families who have at least 3,400 hives. The association plans to expand the project to other provinces.
The association has trained people in Phongsaly, Luang Prabang and Saravan provinces to raise bees for honey production.
