Khmum Prey (Wild Honey) Signing Agreement Ceremony: CEDAC

Dear all,

SAHAKREAS CEDAC, in cooperation with the Non-Timber Forest Product Exchange Program (NTFP-EP) for South and Southeast Asia, their network partner, Cambodia NTFP Working Group, community wild honey collector groups from 4 provinces, Mondulkiri, Koh Kong, Kratie and Preah Vihear, and stakeholders, are organizing a wild honey signing agreement ceremony on Friday morning April 08, 2011 at CEDAC’s head office, Phnom Penh.

For more details, please find the attached Press Release in Khmer.

Thanks and kind regards

Him Khortieth
--------------------------
Communication Officer
Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) #119, St 257, Teuk Laak1, Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh
H/P : (855) 16 57 57 13
(855) 97 7340073
Tel : (855) 23 88 09 16
Fax : (855) 23 88 51 46
E-mail : himkhortieth@cedac.org.kh
Website: www.cedac.org.kh

Cambodia's honey collectors sign sales contract to promote market development

June 23, 2010
Xinhua

Honey collectors from four provinces in Cambodia signed an agreement with the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) in order to bring more to market, local media reported on Wednesday.

CEDAC President Yang saing Koma said that under the agreement bee-hunting communities would supply 4,000 litres of pure forest honey per year for sale in 10 shops across Phnom Penh.

"We hope that, through this agreement, CEDAC and forest honey hunter communities will benefit from both increasing their income and preserving natural resources for each community," Yang Saing Koma was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

Pich Phony, president of the Cambodian Honey Hunter Community, which represents about 300 members in Mondulkiri, Koh Kong, Kratie and Preah Vihear provinces, said that honey would be sold to CEDAC for 9.70 U.S. dollars per litre.

He added that the honey hunter communities in the four provinces are able to collect from 5,000 to 8,000 litres of honey in total per year at present.

According to the figure, only 10 percent of the 500,000 litres of honey demanded domestically each year is currently supplied by Cambodia's collectors.

It is hoped the deal will also help strengthen community conservation of hives and natural forest resources.

"Previously, we collected honey by cutting tree branches and then taking the whole nest, but we no longer do so now," Pich Phont was quoted as saying, adding that "We collect only the honey, and we leave the nest and young bees there so that they will produce honey again."

CEDAC hopes to buy honey from collectors in three more provinces if the scheme goes well.

Communities benefit from sustainable honey collection [in Srepok Wilderness Area]

8/28/2007
WebWire

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

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

These were the words of Sean Tha, an indigenous Phnong/Bunong villager who lives in the Krong Teh commune of Mondulkiri Province. Tha had just completed a training course on sustainable honey collection, delivered by SWA’s CET and focusing on a collection technique that leaves the honey-producing portion of the hive intact.

“Rather than just collecting one lot of honey from a single 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 continued.

In the Mondulkiri Protected Forest where the CET works, honey collection and sale can contribute up to 30% of a family’s total income. This past harvest season (April-May 2007), Tha collected honey worth around 200,000 Riel (US$50).

Unfortunately, the price of honey 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 litre, but if sold directly to tourists, the price can reach as high as 20,000 Riel per litre.

CET leader Amy Maling said the next step is to set targets for honey production within the Krong Teh commune, to 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,” Ms Maling 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 to conserve their natural heritage through the process of sustainable natural resource use.