Yunnan village prospers, naturally

Economic benefits

The labor input of beekeeping is relatively low compared to other farming projects. Each household only needs to cultivate a limited number of hives, and beekeepers only need to maintain them two or three times every 10 days, for two hours at a time.

Luo Baolin, 70, claims that his body no longer supports heavy, long-duration physical labor, such as traditional farming work; beekeeping, on the other hand, requires a lower investment of time and effort while still returning a relatively acceptable income.

Last year, in his third year of beekeeping, Luo collected 100 kilograms of honey in a single harvest.

When Zhang Jiangmei, 39, was first introduced to beekeeping, she waved her hands quickly in rejection, explaining: "I don't want to keep bees as I am so afraid of getting stung!"