by Im Noeun, WWF Cambodia

Honey collection provides an important source of income for Cambodian rural communities, but the current system of harvesting damages the nests and dramatically reduces production. WWF Cambodia’s Srepok Wilderness Area (SWA) project Community Extension Team (CET) has been teaching villages to harvest honey more sustainably – with encouraging results.

“I collect honey from 12 honey nests. Now I can collect honey from the same nest, two to three times. I am really happy.”

These were the words of indigenous Bunong villager, Sean Tha, who lives in Pu Rapet village, Krongtes commune, Pech Chrada district in Mondulkiri province. Tha had just completed a training course on sustainable honey collection, delivered by SWA’s CET with technical assistance of Dr. Phung Huu Chinh of  Hanoi-based Vietnam Bee Research and Development Center, a linkage facilitated by the NTFP-EP.  The course  focused on a collection technique which leaves the honey producing portion of the hive intact.

“Rather than just collect one lot of honey from a nest, with this new technique I can collect up to three times during a 25-day period. This is very important to me because it gives me more income to support my family,”  Tha said.

In the Mondulkiri Protected Forest where the CET team works, honey collection and sale can contribute up to 30% of total family income. This harvest season (April-May), for example, Tha collected honey worth around 200,000 Riel (US$50).

Unfortunately the honey price is not stable because it depends on brokers to set the price. The price for selling in the village is 10,000 to 12,000 Riel per liter, but if sold directly to tourists, the price can reach as high as 20,000 Riel per liter.
Community extension team leader Amy Maling said the next step for the CET is to set targets for honey production within the Krongtes commune, help maintain quality and find additional honey markets.

“We hope that community members who attended this training course will be able to put into practice the new honey collection techniques they have just learned, but also to pass the information on to others in the community,” Amy said.

The honey harvesting training course is just one of the many initiatives the SWA CET is using to build a relationship with community members and assist them in conserving their natural heritage through the process of sustainable natural resource use.