 Duy Thai’s Youtube™ channel helps the locals promote beekeeping in U Minh Ha forest. (Photo: VOV) |
Pham Duy Thai of Khanh Thuan commune in U Minh district is just 21 years old but he already has 6 years of experience in beekeeping.
Thai has a Youtube™ channel where he posts information about local products and the daily life of people in U Minh Ha forest. His beekeeping videos have attracted more than 12,000 followers.
At one time Thai was collecting about 20 liters of honey each month, but no one wanted to buy it. Then he started posting videos about U Minh Ha honey on his Youtube™ channel.
Videos titled "Hunting in cajuput forest" show viewers what the beehives look like and how the bees are caught. After posting these videos, Thai started selling more honey. Thai now knows how to earn a living from the profession of "eating bees" (as the locals call it).
“I like to make Youtube™ videos. Whenever I go to catch bees, I always wear a camera on my head, so the audience can watch what I do. At the end of the video, I provide my phone number for customers who want to order honey. All my honey is sold on my Youtube™ channel. I don’t sell it anywhere else,” said Thai.
Thai keeps beehives on a 40-hectare area which belongs to his family. During the bee season, he collects more than 100 liters a month, but that’s not enough to fulfill his advance orders.
Through his channel, Thai helps other locals sell about 200 liters of honey a month. In 2019 Thai invented a smoke sprayer to make bee-catching easier.
His inspiration came from the traditional bee-catching torches made of dried coir (which can easily cause a forest fire) and the mini-fans used to light beehive-shaped coal stoves.
After referencing the design of the smoke sprayer provided by local authorities to help "bee-eaters", Thai ordered electronic circuits and motors online and assembled his special smoke sprayers.
 The smoke sprayer is made by Duy Thai (Photo: VOV) |
He recalled, “First I burn some banana leaves in the pot. Then I turn on the fan to blow the smoke about 3-4 meters. If there’s no wind, the smoke might travel as much as 5 meters. The main advantage of my smoke sprayer is that it doesn’t cause forest fires. In the drought season the embers from coir torches can easily cause a fire.”
Thai uses milk cans to create propellers and locally-grown dried coconut and banana leaves to create smoke. When people saw Thai’s smoke sprayer, many wanted to order one. He decided not to become a smoke sprayer manufacturer, and instead showed viewers how to make the sprayer on his Youtube™ channel.
Tran Chi Tai, a local villager, talked of Thai’s smoke sprayer, “The advantage of the sprayer is that it takes few materials but produces a lot of smoke that makes bee-catching easier. The most important thing is that it reduces the risk of a forest fire. It's also very easy to use. You just need to flip a switch to run the motor and blow the smoke out.”
From a 7th grader, who dropped out of school, Thai has kept ten 8-frame beehives, had a Youtube™ channel with more than 12,000 followers, and invented a special smoke sprayer for bee catching.
Thai is also helping the locals promote the specialty of the U Minh Ha forest and has encouraged them to preserve their traditional profession.