Smart hives digitize beekeeping

In China's high-tech powerhouse of Zhejiang province, beekeepers have developed a smart way of using intelligent beehives to revolutionize bee farming.

Over 300 apiculture insiders and experts convened in Chun'an county on Saturday to witness the pilot project.

More than 2,600 artificial beehives have been placed in the mountains in the western outskirts of Hangzhou, the provincial capital.

Chen Pinghua, chairman of Qiandao Lake Mozhidao Biotechnology Co, which operates the bee farm, said the smart hives were installed with sensors at the bottom, which can monitor and regulate temperature and humidity. The sensors can also send data of the number of times the bees enter and leave, as well as the weight of the hive so technicians can determine whether the honey has matured.

Each hive has a unique QR code, which can trace the source of the honey to ensure food safety.

Chen also said employees could open an app on their mobile phones to monitor real-time data for each hive, which will greatly improve efficiency.

The start of the pilot also coincided with World Bee Day designated by the United Nations in 2017 to spread awareness of the significance of bees, which pollinate one-third of the world's grain plants.

"Beekeeping has a long history in China, but it remained a very lowend business without standards for hives, how bees should be raised and how honey should be harvested," said Yang Yibo, deputy secretary-general of the Eco-Apiculture Committee of the China Association for Quality Promotion.

He said the smart hive system has significance in digitizing information about honey sources, bee colonies and beekeepers, and forming big data visualizations to help analyze the quality in each procedure.

China's annual honey output exceeds 400,000 metric tons, and the country's output of propolis, bee pollen and beeswax rank first in the world. More than 300,000 people are employed in this business.

Wang Fuchun, a veteran bee farmer in Chun'an, said with high-tech bee farming, a hive could produce more than 30 kilograms of honey a year, almost quadrupling the amount produced in the traditional way.

The company plans to put 10,000 more smart hives in the mountainous region this year.

Xinhua

(China Daily Global 05/29/2019 page6)