Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Sustainable Natural Resource Management Project (SNRM)

CASE STUDY

BEEKEEPING WITH LOCAL HONEYBEE SPECIES

USING MODERN TECHNIQUES

Nghiem Xuan Hung – Project technical officer

August 2020
This report was prepared as a part of the Sustainable Natural Resource Management Project
(SNRM) funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and executed by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam from 2015 to 2020.

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
view of SNRM or JICA.

JICA/SNRM encourages reproduction and dissemination of material in this report. Non-

commercial uses will be authorized free of charge upon request. Reproduction for commercial
purposes, please contact JICA/SNRM for a prior and specific agreement.

All queries should be addressed to:

Officer in Charge of Forestry Projects/Programmes

JICA Viet Nam Office
11F CornerStone Building, 16 Phan Chu Trinh, Hoan Kiem, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Tel: +84-4-3831-5005
Fax: + 84-4-3831-5009
 Table of Contents

I. Background and Objectives ..................................................................................1

II. Scope of project’s support ...................................................................................1
III. Project’s support policy .......................................................................................2
IV. Achievements .......................................................................................................3
4.1 Technical impacts ........................................................................................................ 4
4.2 Economic impacts ........................................................................................................ 4
4.3 Social impacts .............................................................................................................. 5
4.4 Environmental impacts ................................................................................................. 5
V. Lesson learnt .........................................................................................................5
5.1 Selection of beekeepers............................................................................................... 5
5.2 Marketing ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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List of Abbreviations

CPC Commune people’s committee

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency
OCOP One Commune One Product
REDD+ Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and
the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries
SNRM Sustainable Natural Resource Management Project
VND Vietnamese dong

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

I. Background and Objectives

Pa Khoang is a mountainous commune located in the northeast of Dien Bien Phu City, Dien
Bien Province, which is one of four selected communes to implement pilot activities on
REDD+ under the Sustainable Natural Resources Management project (SNRM). The
objective of the project is to promote sustainable natural resource management to bring
benefits to the people through the implementation of forest protection and development plans.

The project duration is from August 2015 to August 2020, focusing on forest management
and development support activities such as forest regeneration, af/reforestation, scattered tree
planting, establishment of forest patrolling teams, and Village Forest Management
Regulations formulation. In addition, the project also supports a number of activities on
livelihood improvement, including beekeeping with a technique transferring local honeybee
colonies from traditional beehives to modern ones.

Beekeeping with western honeybee species using modern beehives (square box type) has been
applied with high economic efficiency even in Dien Bien Province. In Pa Khoang Commune,
wild honey produced by local honeybee species is one of valuable non-timber forest products,
bringing good income to the local people. Honey used to be exploited directly from the forests
or from traditional beehives (round shape beehives made of hollow woody stems, 60-80cm
long, both sides covered with timber with small openings for bees coming and going).
However, the traditional way of harvesting honey by the local people is destructive as they
harvest not only honey but also honeycombs with bee eggs, larvae and pupae. Therefore,
beekeepers used to encounter cases of evading of bees without return after harvesting honey,
and the time between honey harvesting times was rather long as the bees have to build combs
again, affecting the quantity of honey harvested.

Transferring honeybee colonies from traditional beehives to modern ones helps local
beekeepers take care of and manage bees in a sustainable way, increasing productivity and
thereby increasing income and improving their livelihoods. Besides, the initiative of the
advanced beekeeping can limit people to go to the forests to gather wild honey, thereby
mitigate the risk of forest fires, and contribute to protect and manage the forests in a
sustainable way.

II. Scope of project’s support

The target of the project’s support was those households who were using traditional style
beehives and wished to participate in the activity. The project selected 3 villages (Vang 1, Pa
Tra and Dong Met 1) and 10 households per village were provided with technical support
during the first year (2017). In 2019, based on the performance of the first 3 villages, the
project expanded its support to 10 more households in 5 villages (Co Cuom, Bo, Ha 1 and 2,
and Xom 2).

The project has mainly provided technical support to the beekeepers to transfer honeybee
colonies from existing traditional beehives to modern ones. An expert on beekeeping from the
Northern College of Agriculture and Rural Development was recruited to train the local
beekeepers with techniques of rearing, caring and managing bees. The project also employed
a beekeeping specialist from Dien Bien Province to directly support the transfer of honeybee
colonies of the local beekeepers.

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

The project supported the transfer with 130 beehives for 40 households (3-4 beehives/
household); some materials/tools for beekeeping such as smoke sprayers, beekeeping
veils/hats, screw cutting knives, honey extractors, bee wax foundation sheets, and bottles for
containing honey, etc.

III. Project’s support policy

The transfer of honeybee colonies is based on voluntary participation of the local households.
The participating households were required to sign on a commitment agreement to comply
with the technical processes of beekeeping guided by the project, pledge to strictly implement
the Village Forest Management Regulations and fully participate in village forest protection
and management activities.

PROCESSES

Selected households, signed commitments to participate in

the modern beekeeping model

Organised technical training and study tours, and

supported tools and equipment for keeping

Traditional beehive

Supported transfer of bee colonies from traditional

beehives to modern ones, and provided bee colony
management techniques

Provided technical guidance on honey extraction by

honey extractor and honey preservation techniques

Transfer honeycomb from traditional

beehive to modern one

Designed and produced honey product lable, marketing

boards for honey products

Monitor, evaluate and provide technical support at all

stages in the process of implementing activities

Check bees after 5 days of transfer

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

IV. Achievements
The SNRM Monitoring results revealed that, besides
the supported beehives, the participants developed 19
beehives by themselves in 2019 and 73 in 2020. The
participants transferred 71 bee colonies to modern
beehives in 2019 and 98 in 2020. The number of
transfer depends on existing bee colonies at the time
of transferring. In 2019, 40 interviewed beekeepers
shared that they harvested 672 liters of honey, and
sold 662 liters. In 2020, 35 households harvested 353
liters and sold 325 liters. This significant reduction in
2020 compared with the one of 2019 was caused by
the reason that the rainy season came earlier so Guidance on how to use honey extractor
honey harvesting period was shorter than the
previous year.

The project supported the beekeepers in establishing own brand of the honey “Pa Khoang
Honey”, and designing and printing honey bottle labels. In addition, signboards for promoting
honey sales were installed in Vang 1, Pa Tra, and Dong Met 1 Villages. Lists of potential
customers were also prepared with supports from the project so that each participant can
easily access to the market.

Labelled honey bottle Signboard for sales promotion

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

To further support the beekeepers in honey marketing, the project consulted the provincial
Sub-department of Quality Management of Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products, also
collaborated with the Pa Khoang Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Co-operative as well as
the Pa Khoang Commune People’s Committee (CPC). As the results of required processes, a
Certificate of Compliance with Food Safety Regulations (right photo) for the honey was
given to the co-operative by the Sub-department in June 2020. It is expected that this will
encourage the beekeepers to market their honey with higher price. This certificate is also the
first step for the CPC to register the honey with the One Commune One Product (OCOP)
initiatives.

Pa Khoang honey quality test and Certificate of food safety

The aspects regarded as impacts of the supports by the project are summarized as below:

4.1 Technical impacts

The 40 beekeepers have been trained by the project regarding the advanced beekeeping
techniques using modern beehives. They also learned about basic beekeeping knowledge and
techniques including how to avoid evading of bee colonies, splitting of bee colonies, feeding
during rainy season when less flowers are available, and treatment of common diseases. All
these knowledge and techniques help the beekeepers maintain and breed honeybees. Honey
harvesting increased to 5-6 times per year, while just twice per year with the traditional
beekeeping method.

The project also delivered training on honey harvesting with an extractor and post harvesting
techniques such as packaging for preservation and sales as stated earlier.

4.2 Economic impacts

The quantity of harvested honey from the modern or advanced beekeeping model is estimated
at around 7-18 litters/beehive/year (with 5 frames for beeswax foundation), with a selling
price of VND 170,000 – 200,000/litter (average 185,000/litter), income for the beekeepers is

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

from 1.2 to 3.6 million/beehive. Mr. Quang Van Hung1 in Vang 1 Village kept 3 beehives and
harvested 60 litters of honey equivalent to VND 11 million of income in 2019 (from February
to June), while the other households who followed traditional beekeeping model earned just
about VND 0.7 - 1.5 million/beehive/year (subject to large or small beehives). Thus, the
beekeepers’ income has increased from 1.7 to 2.4 times/beehive compared to the traditional
practice of beekeeping.

4.3 Social impacts

The project has initially assisted the participants to develop the advanced beekeeping model
for sustainable bee keeping. The participating beekeepers established 4 interest groups to help
each other and share techniques and experiences. The project helped the local people exploit
potential and take full advantage of the local resources to increase income, reduce poverty,
and improve rural livelihoods.

4.4 Environmental impacts

The beekeepers not only received technical training on the advanced beekeeping techniques
but also better understood the roles and importance of forests to their livelihoods. By signing
on the commitments to implement the Village Forest Management Regulations,
af/reforestation, forests regeneration, and forest patrolling, the local people better understand
the roles of forests in protecting and regulating water sources for production and daily life,
and providing valuable forest products such as mushrooms, bamboo shoots, honey, medicinal
plants. It is expected that they will further contribute to forest protection and development in a
sustainable way.

V. Lesson learnt

5.1 Selection of beekeepers

Beekeeping is a both easy and difficult practice. It is difficult for those who do not want to
invest in technology application, but easy for those who are interested in, and want to learn
hardly and stick with it for a long time. Therefore, selecting right beekeepers to be supported
by the project is very important. In addition, for the project area, the local people stay in the
area where their houses are located during agricultural cropping season but they go for work
far away from home during the rest of the time. Therefore, it is necessary to consider carefully
who should be selected to be the target of the project for beekeeping.

5.2 Marketing
Marketing is an extremely important activity to promote sales of honey. In general, local
beekeepers do not have knowledge and skills to market their products. Therefore, supporting
the local beekeepers in marketing and creating new sales channels of honey leads to success
in beekeeping with the modern techniques.

Meanwhile, poor quality honey or fake honey can easily be found in the market, which affects
buying decision of customers. The consumers do not trust enough on the products or only

1 He is one of the 13 good model beekeepers in the 3 villages where 30 households applied new techniques of beekeeping.

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 Beekeeping with local honeybee species using modern techniques

willing to pay very low price. Accordingly, certification of products such as food security
should be considered as a significant tool to add more value on the products.