China News Service, Mianyang, September 16 (He Jiaxin and Yang Yong) "In order to ensure the normal autumn propagation of bees, stable overwintering and smooth spring propagation, we must regularly exterminate insects." On the 16th, a green house in Yanquan Town, Youxian District, Mianyang City, Sichuan In the shaded farmyard, the 52-year-old one-legged beekeeper Gu Yongjiu explained the knowledge of beekeeping to the villagers. He opened the lid of the beehive and pulled out a hive full of bees. Brood insect cleaning chips are put on the honeycomb.
It is these little bees that make Gu Yongjiu a "sweet" career of his own.
Under his leadership, local villagers embarked on a "sweet road" to get rid of poverty and become rich.
Bee hives in the apiary.
Photo courtesy of respondents
More than 20 years ago, Gu Yongjiu, who was working outside, lost his left leg in an accident.
In 2002, he returned to his hometown.
With serious responsibility for his work and sincerity in serving the disabled, Gu Yongjiu was hired by the Youxian District Federation of the Disabled in Mianyang as a full-time officer for the disabled.
"Yanquan Town is rich in mountain forest resources, good environment, rich nectar sources, and long blooming period. It is very suitable for bee breeding." In 2012, Gu Yongjiu came into contact with a beekeeper by chance. During the exchange, he developed a strong knowledge of bee breeding technology. Interested, decided to conduct bee farming.
One-legged beekeeper Gu Yongjiu.
Photo courtesy of respondents
Picking bee species, screening breeding sites, obtaining bee colonies... Gu Yongjiu bought 1 box of bees from the beekeeper, and 4 boxes from other farmers.
He started beekeeping from a "zero" basis, read a lot of books and magazines about bee breeding technology, while studying and practicing.
"What bees need is a clean environment and careful maintenance." The road to beekeeping is not smooth, but Gu Yongjiu slowly found the key to successful breeding.
The beehives in Gu Yongjiu's bee farm are very unique, two groups, back to back, Gu Yongjiu said, this is to help the bees through the winter more effectively.
In the entire courtyard, each group of beehives are arranged in an orderly manner with an interval of 2 meters.
The courtyard has also been divided into functional areas, with storage rooms, honey collection area, filling area, and bee water collection area.
In order to help the bees go home, he deliberately used different colored fonts and different marks on the beehive to help the bees distinguish.
Gu Yongjiu explained beekeeping knowledge to the villagers.
Photo courtesy of respondents
With care and patience, in 2013, Gu Yongjiu's beekeeping career reached a "new level": his 5 boxes of bees were cultivated into 20 boxes, and the honey sales reached more than 20,000 yuan that year.
One step a year, Gu Yongjiu’s current account records: In 2014, he bred more than 40 colonies of bees, yielding more than 400 kg of honey; in 2015, he bred more than 60 colonies of bees, yielding more than 500 kg of honey... For 8 years, he has been learning and Exploration, from a beekeeping "outside man" gradually became a well-known beekeeping expert.
In 2015, Gu Yongjiu used the money earned from beekeeping to transform and upgrade the environment of the bee farm, breeding bees with a more standard and scientific breeding method.
After years of unremitting efforts, he has now renovated more than 600 square meters of courtyards and a hardened area of 400 square meters.
With the continuous expansion of scale, in 2016, Gu Yongjiu established his own company.
Since the breeding process pays attention to environmental protection and the quality of honey is high, Gu Yongjiu's bee farm has obtained the qualification certificate of "Pollution-Free Food Certification".
At present, Gu Yongjiu has bred more than 150 boxes of bees (about 3 million bees), with an annual output of 1,000 kg of honey and an annual output value of more than 100,000 yuan.
Gu Yongjiu made his fortune through beekeeping, but because there were still poor villagers in the village who could not find a way to get rich, they had to rely on a few acres of land and government relief to make a living.
Seeing this, Gu Yongjiu determined to use his beekeeping resources and technology to lead poor households out of poverty.
Gu Yongjiu opened the box to check the breeding situation of bees.
Photo courtesy of respondents
In January 2019, Gu Yongjiu established the China Bee Breeding Cooperative, which absorbed more than 70 members, cultivated unified bee colonies, unified breeding technology, organized special personnel for centralized harvesting, unified sales of products, and engaged in bee breeding in a profit-sharing operation mode. .
At present, more than 2,000 boxes of bees are cultivated in the whole community, with an annual output of 16,000 kilograms of natural and mature original ecological honey, and an annual output value of more than 800,000 yuan, which has brought considerable economic benefits to beekeepers.
Gu Datong, a 77-year-old impoverished household with a disability, is one of Gu Yongjiu's assistance targets.
Seeing the rows of beehives in the house neatly arranged, there are bees buzzing and flying among the hives from time to time, and Gu Datong's face shows a happy smile.
"I am very grateful to Gu Yongjiu for giving me technical guidance. Now I have extra income every year." Gu Datong currently has 18 beehives in his family, which can increase income by 5,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan a year.
Riding on the east wind of industrial poverty alleviation, in 2020, more and more poor households in Yanquan Town will raise bees. Gu Yongjiu and the villagers believe that as long as their hard work, the road to poverty alleviation will become more and more prosperous. Broad, life will become sweeter and sweeter like honey.
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