What started as a hobby for a food production employee has turned into a lucrative stingless bees (kelulut) business in Kampung Bukit Bayas here, which has penetrated the Singapore and Dubai markets.
Mohd Sufian Mat Nor, 47, started with one kelulut hive which he bought from a neighbour in 2015 and has built up the business with the help of the National Farmers Organisation (NAFAS).
“After extracting the honey, I was inspired to add more hives and get a bigger harvest,” he said when met at his honey gallery, Galeri Madu Kelulut Bukit, here today.
He said that in the early days not many people were interested in keeping kelulut bees but he took the risk and bought another 20 hives to be placed in his garden and later up to a hundred hives which he kept in a rented lot near his house.
“At one time I faced a disaster when 30 hives were destroyed by black soldier flies, which came from a nearby deer and sheep farm.
“I lost about RM30,000 at the time but it did not kill my passion to continue in this field,” he said.
Mohd Sufian said he then received a RM20,000 agropreneur grant from the Farmers Organisation Authority to expand his farm on a new piece of land in Bukit Bayas and open the honey galley for eco-tourism, in 2019
In addition to producing 300 kilogrammes of honey a month, he also mentors kelulut bee keepers in the area on appointment by the Kuala Terengganu Farmers Organisation.
“I buy kelulut honey from them for the export market. This is one of the ways I help the community as most of them only know how to keep bees but do not know how to sell their products,” he said.
“Recently, I was appointed by the state-owned Eastern Pacific Industrial Corporation (EPIC) Bhd to mentor 20 participants from the hardcore poverty group,” he said.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency