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.\u00a0Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr Bounhom Thepthany, and sector officials attended the meeting.\u00a0\u201cWe would like to review honey production this year with an eye on expanding it and improving quality into the future,\u201d 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.\u00a0Under 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.\u00a0Beekeepers from four districts in Xieng Khuang province have collected more than 12 tonnes of fresh, natural honey this year following below-average rainfall.\u00a0This year\u2019s 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<\/p>\n