Development of stingless beekeeping projects in Malaysia

Malaysia is in need of new high income project to meet the targeted high income nation by 2020. One such potential project in agriculture is stingless beekeeping. The project could supplement the existing beekeeping projects from Apis spp. such as Apiscerana and Apis mellifera in terms of honey production and pollination services. The introduction of stingless beekeeping in 2004 by MARDI was expected to provide new alternative species that was free from diseases and required simple farm management practices where adopters can operate the project as a part time job. The remaining labour hours can be used to earn off farm income. The project alone could generate a monthly income of up to RM5000 for the adopters with available capital and land, and this will enhance additional income and dietary consumption of the stingless bee products. The project is hypothesized to provide positive relationship with income and nutritional quality. For those farmers with land, government assistance is needed in providing cheaper credit to purchase stingless bee colonies which are the major portion of initial investment. In summary, the project is expected to reduce rural and urban poverty and generate a new source of wealth to private investors in Malaysia