Nectar of the sea: Beekeepers making riches from the coastal mangrove

NAM ĐỊNH — For most of the year, Vũ Tiến Thành spends his time bringing his bee boxes across the country looking for sources of nectar.

But from May to August, when summer arrives and the coastal mangrove forests that encircle the national park of Xuân Thuỷ bloom, Thành tends to his hives in his hometown.

Dozens of other beekeepers are drawn to the site that offers “nectar of the sea" in Giao Thuỷ District, Nam Định Province.

Thành brought his family’s 400 bee cages all the way from the wild forests of the Central Highlands Province Đắk Lắk back home two weeks ago, a southern migration common among beekeepers to avoid the colder winter of northern Việt Nam.

The bee cages are placed on an elevated dirt bank constructed in the national park’s wetlands, which, according to Thành, is the best location for the bees to make nests and forage for nectar and pollen.

Thành said as vẹt (black mangrove) trees grow along the seashore free from pesticides and other chemicals that can kill bees, they are safe here while their honey is clean.

With his current 400 cages, he can obtain about 400kg of honey each harvest.

He doesn’t have to look far for buyers for his products, as traders and agents come to his home to buy in large batches. By selling at VNĐ60,000-80,000 per kilo of honey, he can earn VNĐ20-30 million (US$852-1,300) a month during the mangrove flowering season.

“You can earn handsomely with beekeeping but not everyone can pursue this career path, since it requires so much persistence and hard work,” Thành said.

“It also takes quite some time for a beekeeper to learn the characters of the bees, to learn the flowering seasons of all types of crops and plants in different regions across the country to plan ahead to relocate the cages,” Thành said.

About 1km away from Thành’s beehives, Vũ Văn Giang, from Xuân Hoà Commune of Nam Định’s Xuân Trường District, meticulously places each cube of sugar and syrup to feed to bees since the flowering season is not in full swing.

Beekeepers are wary of storms and scorching hot spells in the vẹt flowering season, which can lead to nectar scarcity, causing the hungry bees to become violent and invade other hives to get to the sugary substances, so they need to constantly check the hives to make sure they are sheltered.

Nguyễn Văn Cách, director of Xuân Thuỷ national park, said the unique mangrove environment here has led to a higher concentration of minerals in the honey compared to other types of honey from land-based plants.

“The honey business here is conducted under the supervision of the national park’s management board, there’s also strict quality control over the products.”

Cách said the national park is working with local authorities to build the brand of Xuân Thuỷ mangrove honey so the products get more recognition, and eventually, bring better income for local beekeepers and reduce the risks of people engaging in other unsustainable livelihoods that could harm the fragile ecosystem here.

Currently, Xuân Thuỷ wetland reserve, the first to be declared a Ramsar site all of Southeast Asia, is home to 20 bee farms that generate 60-80 tonnes of honey a year. — LV