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As the grasslands are turning green and wildflowers start to blossom in Nilka County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the busy season for Kazakh woman Kurman Toibratti begins.
The 39-year-old is as busy as a bee, literally.
She has 132 hives that raise millions of Xinjiang black honeybees, a special breed boasting superior-quality honey thanks to the pleasant climate and abundant honey plants in the county, with the majority of the local population ethnic Kazakh.
"The Xinjiang black honeybee is big, strong and productive, and its honey is rich in minerals and other nutrients," said Zhang Haifeng, head of the county's bee breeding farm.
After years of research and development, the Xinjiang black honeybee community has expanded and upgraded, drawing more and more local people to join the buzzing business.
Kurman Toibratti, who used to raise cattle, horses and sheep, became a beekeeper in 2013 after taking two months of training in late 2012. "It was a bumpy start. I got stung all over my face and hands in the very beginning," she said.
But pain soon turned into gains. The initial 40 hives resulted in some 40,000 yuan (about 5,660 U.S. dollars) in net profit. She has gradually upped the ante in beekeeping in recent years and has called on other herdsmen to take care of her livestock during the busy season.
Kurman Toibratti's success has led more people, especially women, to follow suit. Now there are 14 families raising bees in her village, and she is offering technical support to two once poor local families. "It's a natural choice, as beekeeping is less tiresome, more profitable and more environmentally friendly than herding," she said.
Some 320 households are raising bees in Nilka, with over half of them previously impoverished. Another 500 herdsmen-turned beekeepers might be added in 2020.
The local government is turning beekeeping into an emerging industry by leveraging the combined strengths of different market players. The annual output of raw black honeybee honey tops 500 tonnes, and the average per capita net income for the county's beekeepers reached 32,000 yuan last year.
As the fame of the Xinjiang black honeybee grows, bee-related tourism is also booming in Nilka, with a manor built to introduce the knowledge of bees and offer honey-gathering workshops.
Kurman Toibratti's two children also help her with beekeeping after school. Her 16-year-old daughter uses the popular social media platform WeChat to help promote the honey, drawing customers from across Xinjiang and beyond.
Kurman Toibratti is also thinking about opening a restaurant or shop to sell honey, horse milk and other local specialties. "The more tourists, the more customers," she said.
(by Xinhua writers Chen Xiaohu, Zhang Zhongkai, Gu Yu and Ma Yujie)
