A member of an indigenous community in Mondulkiri province climbs a tree. Armed with a smoker to keep the bees away from their hive, he is collecting wild honey. WWF-Cambodia
Local communities in two wildlife sanctuaries in Mondulkiri province’s vast forests are harvesting up to 150 tonnes of wild honey each year, potentially generating up to $3.6 million per annum.
As the forests of Phnom Prich and Srepork Wildlife Sanctuaries cover 92,395 hectares, there are huge opportunities for wild honey production. Recent monitoring and inventory indicate that these forests may yield between 113 and 150 tonnes of wild honey annually, according to WWF-Cambodia.
“This sustainable honey collection could generate between $2.7-3.6 million per year for local communities,” said the NGO, in a May 5 social media post.
The organisation, which partners with community enterprises to promote income and business opportunities through the sustainable use of natural resources, considers wild honey as a natural treasure that can be turned into a source of income, supporting community livelihoods and promoting conservation efforts.
Sreung Sinuon, a 41-year-old Bunong indigenous bee-hunter, said that although the collection of honey is not the main source of income in his community, it is an important part of their livelihoods.
“Wild honey is a source of our income for our communities. This year, we collected more honey than last year,” he added.
Honey is usually collected during the dry season from March to June, when people from almost every household disappear into the forests to hunt for honey, except the elderly, Sinuon explained.
He added that these expeditions did not always meet the expectations of those who joined, but warned that people should not go searching for wild honey by themselves.
“People must travel in groups of at least three or four. They will be deep in the forest, far from home, and it would be easy to suffer an accident. Falling from a tree or having a motorcycle break down are sometimes unavoidable,” he explained.
During the current season, he claimed his group has harvested around 150 litres. Honey that is collected early in the season sells for between $15 and $17.5 per litre because it is of extremely high quality. Once there have been several rainfalls, the prices fall to around $13.
“Currently, it takes us as long as a full day to travel deep enough into the forest that we can find honey,” he said.
“The deep forest is the main place we can find wild bees. If we lose the forest, we will lose the bees. This will eliminate a part of our income. We want to fight climate change, because our livelihoods depend on the forest,” he added.
