Mr. and Mrs. Tran Huu Thuong and Ms. Tran Thi Man in Coc Sam Village, Phong Nien Township (Bao Thang District, Lao Cai) are one of the typical examples of converting inefficient short-term crops into fruit trees. Combined beekeeping for honey.

As we see Mr. Thuong’s model of fruit tree cultivation and honey beekeeping, we admire the energy and will of this hardworking farmer. With their own work, Mr. Thuong and his wife have built an effective business model and generated nearly VND 500 million in sales each year.

After traveling a long distance, we arrived at just the right time when his family was busy harvesting lychees to sell to traders. Mr. Thuong said that his family has been growing lychee trees on hilly land since the 1980s, so there are lychee roots over 40 years old.

“The older the lychee tree, the thicker the pulp, the smaller the seeds, and the stronger the sweetness. In the past, not knowing how to apply science and technology in production, the lychee fruit had poor design or headworms and had a low selling price. At that time, the garden was still being cut down and destroyed by many households in the village, but my wife regretted it and tried to keep it. Later, I studied the technique of planting and pruning lychee, and then applied science and technology, so now the lychee garden is full of fruit. “Having no headworms and a beautiful design, the lychee fruit is ordered by traders everywhere as soon as it blooms,” said Mr. Thuong.

His family grows two varieties of lychee: lychee and Thanh Ha hybrid lychee. According to calculations, each lychee tree yields about 1.5 to 1.6 quintals of fruit. With a selling price of VND15,000/kg in the garden, this year’s lychee harvest of 60 lychee trees, Mr. Thuong’s family earned 6-7 tons of fruit worth about VND100 million.

On 2 hectares of hill garden land, Mr. Thuong’s family renovated and planted all kinds of fruit trees. She grows not only lychee, but also 60 longan trees, about half of which are grafted longan trees, and 50 Doan Hung grapefruit trees.

Realizing that beekeeping suited his family’s characteristics due to owning an orchard, Mr. Thuong first raised a few colonies of bees, since he had neither rearing experience nor learning to acquire knowledge.

“In the beginning there was a certain panic in the beekeeping, sometimes even bee stings and swollen limbs. Up to now, after many years of studying and raising, my family has 100 boxes of bees and can build a bee bridge to sell to people around,” said Mr. Thuong.

Keeping bees for honey production is not difficult, but it requires skill, diligence and care from the owner. In addition, farmers need to be familiar with the characteristics of bees, such as B. building nests, dividing flocks, understanding flowers, flowering times, how bees collect honey, knowing how to rotate bees, and finding places where bees can be found. Abundant source of nectar. On average, his family sells almost 1,000 liters of honey every year.

With the will, energy, and desire to become rich, Thuong and his wife transformed the arid hill country into a lush green orchard, resulting in high economic efficiency. So far, the orchard combined with beekeeping brings his family nearly VND 500 million in sales every year.

Mr. Tran Huu Thuong not only cares about the family’s economic development, but also is always willing to provide people in the community with his experience of growing fruit trees and raising honey bees, and assisting them with techniques, seedlings, etc help have conditions for economic development.

Mr. Hoang Minh Duc, chairman of the Phong Nien Municipality People’s Committee, said that Mr. Tran Huu Thuong, who came from a difficult household and has now become wealthy, is an example of diligence, hard work and a desire to often embrace science and technology learning often help other households with production experience.