The meeting also discussed efforts to commercialise the local industry further and build the capacity of apiarists so they can increase output to meet export orders. Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr Bounhom Thepthany, and sector officials attended the meeting. “We would like to review honey production this year with an eye on expanding it and improving quality into the future,” he said. Currently, there are 511 families with more than 3,000 hives in four districts in Xieng Khuang province. The honey-producing project is managed by the Agro-Biodiversity Initiative (TABI) of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Under the scheme, each family receives 1 million kip a month to look after hives. In the future, TABI will expand the project to more villages and multiply the number of beekeepers while improving the quality of the honey produced. Beekeepers from four districts in Xieng Khuang province have collected more than 12 tonnes of fresh, natural honey this year following below-average rainfall. This year’s production represents a significant increase from 2018 when Paek, Phoukoud, Phaxay and Khoun districts managed just under eight tonnes of honey between them due to the exceptionally wet conditions
Information source: Vientiane Time
