Lizhou Honey

Lizhou Honey

　　The farmers of Lizhou have a long history of beekeeping. As early as the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, some households used clay, tree branches, bamboo strips, or logs to make containers for raising bees. These containers were hung in trees, under eaves, or placed on the ground to attract swarming bee colonies, allowing for small-scale, scattered, and natural beekeeping under their own eaves. Lizhou District, with its lush vegetation, extensive forest coverage, and diverse mountain flora—including renowned summer resorts such as Huangze Temple, Thousand-Buddha Cliff, Tianzhao Mountain, Bailong Lake, and Phoenix Mountain—is famous for producing honey of the highest quality. This gave rise to the name “Lizhou Honey.” Although Lizhou Honey has gained a reputation, beekeeping has remained small-scale and unconsolidated.

　　After the liberation, thanks to the attention of successive Lizhou District Party Committees and district governments, Lizhou Honey has seen rapid development. In the early 1960s, Lizhou District kept over 4,000 beehives, producing more than 220 tons of honey annually. Between 1976 and 1982, the number of beehives grew to between 13,800 and 18,800, with an annual production of around 300 tons, peaking at 408 tons in 1982, the year with the highest yield. In 1976, Lizhou District was designated by Sichuan Province as a base county for Lizhou Honey. After the 1980s, due to falling honey prices, beekeeping in Lizhou declined. By 1988, the number of beehives had dropped to 6,523, producing just 85 tons of honey. In 1990, there were 300 beekeeping households in Lizhou District, with 14,591 beehives and an annual output of 341 tons. By 1998, this had increased to 555 households, 24,250 beehives, and 471 tons of annual production. During this period, in order to make full use of local resources and accelerate the development of the Lizhou Honey industry, gradually moving toward industrialized production, the Lizhou Association for Science and Technology, with strong support from provincial and municipal science associations and the Provincial Institute of Entomology, began organizing free centralized beekeeping technical training for local beekeepers starting from the late 1990s in towns such as Baolun, Rongshan, Dashí, —, Sandui, and Gongnong in Lizhou District. Following the introduction of beekeeping training, the number of beekeeping households rose to 713 in 1999, with 40,123 beehives producing 872 tons of honey; in 2000, there were 735 households, 40,798 beehives, and 896 tons of honey produced; in 2001, 866 households, 41,675 beehives, and 1,205 tons of honey; and in 2000 again, 1,052 households, 43,345 beehives, and 1,421 tons of honey. Compared to 1998, before the training program began, the number of beekeeping households increased by 497, the number of beehives by 19,095, and annual production by 950 tons. By 2010, Lizhou District had 23,018 beekeeping households, 211,390 beehives, and an annual honey production of 3,500 tons, with the industry’s output value surpassing 70 million yuan.