People of Mondulkiri Benefit from Honey Association

By BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA

Cambodia’s rich patchwork of minority peoples including Phnong and Steang who live in Mondulkiri province are benefiting from a WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Honey Association Project, according to WWF project officers.

Bas Van Helvoot, program manager for the WWF Greater Mekong/Cambodia Country Program, said that currently at least 60 Phnong families who collected honey had been receiving benefits from WWF-funded local honey pilot projects in two communes in Mondulkiri province.

Bas Van Helvoot told the Cambodia Weekly that the two Mondulkiri honey projects, supported by funds in the region of US $50,000 included the Krung Raton Honey Group located in Krangties commune, Pichreada district and the Prey Radang Honey Group located in Pu Chrey commune, in Pichreada district.

According to Bas, these two groups are the first to receive funding from the WWF Greater Mekong/Cambodia Country Program, following its inauguration earlier this year. He said the main purpose of the program is to support minority peoples and perpetuate their harvesting traditions. These traditions are eco-friendly as their low-tech approach respects biodiversity and promotes an intimate relationship and harmony between the wilderness and the communities that nestle in it.

Amy Maling, Community Natural Resource Management Specialist and Community Extension Technical Advisor for the WWF Greater Mekong/Cambodia region, said the project would focus on the conservation of the Eastern Plains landscape of Cambodia. One of the most effective ways to ensure the preservation of this region’s austere beauty is to ensure the wellbeing of the human inhabitants who know the area best.

“Honey is one of the forest-based resources that have potential for generating income among the Phnong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri,” Amy said. “Honey collecting, when it is done in the right manner, is complementary to the conservation of other natural resources in the landscape.”

“Our project goal is also to keep the last wilderness of Cambodia intact and connected, helping people protect their wildlife and livelihoods simultaneously,” she added.

Amy said that in general the Eastern Plains Landscape Project is working in a geographical area covering 800,000 hectares in Mondulkiri. “We work in 16 villages scattered across this landscape, covering three districts and eight communes. Specifically, for the honey project we are working with two communes including Krangties and Pu Chrey in Pichreada district.”

Sin Tha, a member of the Phnong community and a honey harvester with many years experience in Pichreada district in Mondulkiri province, said that under previous conditions, his group could collect honey only once per year from any given bee’s nest in the forest. Now however, his group is able to collect the sweetest of Mother Nature’s products up to three times per season within a year—from March to May.

Yen Bunthoeun, a honey collector from Steang, said that his 10 strong families were also collecting honey in the forests surrounding Pu Chrey commune in Mondulkiri.

Bunthoeun said that they could collect between 30 to 50 liters per season. This results in daily earnings of around 40,000 riel (about $10) per day from collecting honey.

However, since the Honey Association’s project was introduced to his community, he said more people were aware of the importance of sustainable methods when harvesting honey and the healthy environment that this way of behaving supports.

Amy said that the association’s members were currently mapping the collection areas to establish an inventory that will enable them to have a better overview of the available bee nests in the forest. Importantly, this map of nests will also help define a truly sustainable volume that collectors can harvest without damaging the bee colonies.

In addition, she said the members of the honey collectors groups were approaching the task much more intelligently. For instance, they now wait for the hone combs to mature before harvesting; and then, only the honey-baring part of the comb is harvested, leaving behind the bee larvae to form the next generation of honeybee workers. The forest and its undergrowth are also preserved to allow the bees to benefit from the many wild flowers that thrive there.

To find buyers and markets for the honey, especially that collected by the Honey Enterprise Project, she said the association plans to expand its membership, register the honey product with the Ministry of Commerce and then sell the produce in supermarkets in Phnom Penh and the provinces.

Dr. Kong Bunly, director of Bunly Pharmacies Import and Export Co., Ltd, said that natural, un-Pasteurized honey is a natural antibiotic and therefore beneficial to health. Honey also forms the main ingredient in traditional beauty treatments for both women and men.