“Huong Ngan Dat To” honey

Gia Dien Commune, Ha Hoa District, has a tradition in beekeeping for honey and is known for its famous, delicious honey specialty. With its existing reputation in the market and the efforts of beekeepers, in 2020, the honey product “Huong Ngan Dat To” of the Doan Ket Beekeeping Cooperative, Gia Dien Commune, was recognized as a 3-star OCOP product, thereby helping farmers increase their income, enhance the value and brand of local specialties, and actively contribute to the new rural construction movement.

The 3-star OCOP product Huong Ngan Dat To is available at the counters of agricultural and clean food stores and major markets in and outside the province.

The advantage of many fruit tree farms such as lychee, longan, grapefruit, and orange in the communes and near the Dam Ao Chau area has created a rich source of flowers for the beekeeping profession in Ha Hoa District to develop more and more. With a long tradition in the profession, Gia Dien commune people have accumulated valuable experiences and learned scientific and technical advances to create natural honey products of superior quality. Previously, honey products were mainly produced to serve the needs of the people in the commune, and the profits were not large.

In 2010, realizing that the honey beekeeping model brought high economic efficiency, low investment capital, and low risk, the commune government mobilized people to participate in many training courses, learn care techniques, and orient the development process; at the same time, it established the Doan Ket Bee Cooperative in Zone 1 with the aim of strengthening the connection and mutual assistance between beekeeping households, gradually changing the production mindset towards commodities, and improving the quality of honey.

Currently, the Doan Ket Bee Cooperative in Gia Dien commune has 7 members. The smallest member has several dozen hives; the largest member has up to 100 hives of honey bees. The main products of the cooperative are seasonal flower honey and synthetic flower honey.

According to the experience of long-time beekeeping members of the cooperative, the best honey harvest season usually lasts from March to the end of May every year. Therefore, not only do bees collect pollen and make honey from fruit-growing areas in the commune, but beekeepers in Gia Dien also move bee colonies to fruit gardens and farms in neighboring communes and districts. Thanks to that, the bees always find the best sources of pollen, and the quality of the honey is always guaranteed to be natural and pure.

During the harvesting process, beekeepers at the cooperative only use layers of beeswax that have been sealed; when the honey is old and viscous enough, the honey is sweet and not sour. On each layer of honey, the worker will use a special tool to remove the covering layer so that the smooth honey flows out. Next, the beeswax will be put into a centrifuge to collect the honey and bottled to ensure hygiene and safety for long-term preservation.

During the entire process of collecting honey and bottling, all tools are processed to ensure food safety and hygiene regulations, thanks to which honey with the brand name “Huong Ngan Dat To” always ensures quality, and even after a long time, it still retains its viscosity and characteristic sweetness and does not settle. The price of honey is also maintained by the cooperative at 150-200 thousand VND/liter, depending on the time and flower season of the year.

Determining the biggest goal of the OCOP Program is to awaken the advantages and strengths of the locality to create typical products, so in the plan to build a brand and enhance the value of “Huong Ngan Dat To” honey, the Doan Ket Beekeeping Cooperative has worked with local authorities to promote and advertise through information channels and social networks, bringing the product closer to consumers. In addition to consumption in the district and province, the honey product “Huong Ngan Dat To” of Gia Dien commune is also available at agricultural and clean food stores and large markets outside the province.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ky, Head of the Doan Ket Beekeeping Cooperative, said: "The beekeeping profession mainly utilizes completely natural raw materials, creating a stable source of income. Every month, the cooperative often meets periodically, discusses, and exchanges beekeeping experiences to improve the quality of honey products, meeting the increasing demand of consumers. In the coming time, the members of the cooperative will continue to learn and improve honey care and harvesting techniques, invest in more machinery, improve product quality, and at the same time recruit new members, increase bee colonies, and strengthen links to expand the consumption market to some neighboring provinces such as Hoa Binh, Yen Bai, and Tuyen Quang".

The honey product “Huong Ngan Dat To” of the Doan Ket Beekeeping Cooperative, Gia Dien Commune in particular, and the Ha Hoa honey product in general have been affirming their brand with increasingly high quality to consumers. From the effectiveness of beekeeping, Ha Hoa District will continue to mobilize people to exploit the advantages of hills and forests, increase bee herds, apply science and technology in caring for, developing bee herds, and exploiting honey and other products; support channels for production loans; create livelihoods; solve jobs; and increase income for people.

Thu Giang