China is a big beekeeping country, but not a beekeeping powerhouse. The current beekeeping production model is restricting the high-quality development of the beekeeping industry, and scientific and technical solutions are urgently needed. The Bee Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in conjunction with relevant units, has subverted the previous production model of “taking honey first and then concentrating it”, and established a “strong group and multi-box mature honey production technology” system. In terms of breaking through technical bottlenecks, we will promote the reform of my country’s beekeeping production model and the formation of a “high-quality, high-price” market.
According to Peng Wenjun, director of the Bee Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the so-called “mature honey” refers to the natural sweet substances that bees collect from nectar, honeydew, or nectar of plants, mix with the secretions of bees themselves, and fully brew by bees. Bees store the mature honey in the hive, seal it with beeswax, and continue to transform the honey with the wax cap in the hive. The moisture content is below 18%, the sucrose content is below 5%, and the total amount of glucose and fructose reaches 70% above.
Peng Wenjun said this pure natural “mature honey” is stored in a sealed container at room temperature, protected from light and in a dry environment, and will not undergo fermentation during the shelf life.
Wu Liming, deputy director of the Institute of Honey Bee, said that at present, my country has long adopted the traditional bee raising method and honey production and processing method of “two boxes, diligently taking honey, taking thin honey, and then concentrating”. Due to the insufficient number of bees in a single colony and the constraints of price and output, “shaking honey frequently and taking thin honey”, and “producing uncapped immature honey first, and then concentrating and processing” are the typical methods of honey production in my country at present. “Concentrated honey” “Become the mainstream of the market. However, the “concentrated” honey not only has low yield and poor quality, but also does not fully reflect the original nutritional value of honey, and the income of beekeepers is even more difficult to increase.
According to reports, the “strong colony multi-box mature honey production technology” led by bees of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences is to reproduce or merge and integrate bee colonies before the honey flow period to form a super giant honeycomb with 16 feet or more. It can effectively solve the problems related to honey products brought by traditional beekeeping methods.
Liu Jinliang, a beekeeper from a professional beekeeping cooperative in Beijing Shennongzhi Township, Miyun District, said that in 2021, under the conditions of continuous rain and rain during the flowering period of Vitex nectar in Miyun District, Beijing, the output of “mature honey” covered by the demonstration bee farm will still reach more than 50 kilograms per group. More than twice the immature honey yield of conventional bee colonies under the same environmental conditions. Demonstration and promotion of mature honey production technology in the Beijing area has significantly increased honey production and fundamentally changed the quality of honey.
