Villagers harvest sweet success

At dawn in Jepa village, Lhokha city in the Xizang autonomous region, beekeepers move among rows of white hives, lifting honey-filled frames while the cool morning air keeps the bees relatively calm.

The scene would have been hard to imagine a decade ago. Zhang Liangfu arrived in the Yarlung Tsangpo River valley in 2015 with just 20 hives and began keeping bees on his own. At the time, his personal venture had little connection to the villages around him.

Much of the honey's character, Zhang said, comes from the landscape itself. Bees forage among black locust trees, sweet clover and high-altitude wildflowers. He believes the mix of plateau plants gives the honey its distinctive flavor, sometimes with a slightly bitter note from medicinal plants found in Xizang, such as Tibetan astragalus and Chinese peashrub.

Zhang also attributes another advantage to Xizang's geography, saying beekeeping sites are not affected by Varroa mites, a major threat to honey bees elsewhere, and therefore do not require miticides for Varroa control.

Turning that natural advantage into livelihoods for local communities took another step. In 2020, an assistance team from southern China's Anhui province suggested involving local farmers and herders in the business.

The idea was not immediately welcomed. "At first, many villagers were reluctant," Zhang said. Some worried that the bees might eat the flowers.

Assistance workers, local officials, and the company went from door to door explaining how beekeeping could work alongside rural life before the first residents in Tsona county, Lhokha, agreed to take part.

Not everyone had to become a professional beekeeper. Zhang said the beekeeping process was broken down into dozens of tasks. Local residents may inspect hives, guard them against damage from livestock or wildlife, move equipment, and help harvest and extract honey. More experienced beekeepers handle the technical work, while Zhang's company provides training and access to markets.

"The bees do the work themselves," Zhang said, explaining that villagers can participate without giving up their usual jobs. For them, beekeeping can provide an additional source of income.

For Phurten, beekeeping has been a profession for years. The beekeeper from Gyalze county in Shigatse city began working with bees in 2010 and joined Zhang's team in 2020 after years of keeping them independently.

He now travels between beekeeping sites in Lhokha, monitoring nectar sources and overseeing a team of more than 20 beekeepers. Phurten said joining the company has made his income more stable. He now earns about 200,000 yuan ($29,745) a year.

The industry is also drawing in newcomers. Sonam Tashi started working full time as a beekeeping assistant in Chonggyai county in 2025, shortly after graduating from university. He said videos on social media had already sparked his interest in beekeeping.

Sonam Tashi now works with two veteran beekeepers with decades of experience, learning to check queen bees and colonies, add frames and help harvest and extract honey in the daily work. Satisfied with the work, the newcomer plans to keep developing his skills.

Their experiences are now part of a much wider network across Xizang. Zhang said related beekeeping projects now reach more than 60 villages and benefit about 9,200 households.

In 2025, 4.06 million yuan in dividends was distributed, benefiting more than 9,000 households and 31,000 people, according to Xizang Daily. Including wages, land rents, construction-related income and other earnings, the industry brought more than 8 million yuan in additional income to farmers and herders in Lhokha's Nedong district that year.

The business has also expanded beyond bottled honey. Its eco-experience park offers nature education and beekeeping activities, while honey is made into products ranging from beverages to cosmetics and other consumer goods. Some products have reached markets in Europe and Japan, Zhang said.

The clearest sign of change is growing outside the hives.

Zhang said some villagers who once worried about bees are now planting flowers and flowering trees to provide more forage for them. In some places, thousands of flowering trees are planted in a year.

"We think that's the most meaningful part," he said. "It brings more income to local people while making the environment better."

guoyanqi@chinadaily.com.cn