Beekeeping in Southern Thailand…………………….

Arrived in Bangkok on 23rd Feb and immediately on the following morning, Raymond and his wife, Koong, drove me down South to visit bee farmers to have a better understanding on how they keep Apis cerena. We arrived in a district called ‘Chum Porn” and there is a large community involved in honey farming. According to the village folks, they are called “The Cave Bees”.

During my last trip, I had gathered some information from Professor Michael Burgett, that Apis cerenas were kept successfully in the South and it will help tremendously if we are able to transfer the knowledge to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Chiang Dao. So far the species has still not yet been use widely in the North. One advantage of using these species is that it is easily available and to capture them, literally cost nothing. This might be a good way for the rural farmers to start beekeeping rather than having to buy colonies.

When I went to open up a colony, I can feel the calmness in them and they were not as aggressive as the African siblings.

Came back on the following day and tomorrow we will be heading up North to Lampang, Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao. Long journey again. Gotta sleep early. 🙂

Raymond and Koong preparing for the trip.

Beehive for Apis cerena

Interior view of the hive.

Bee farmer and I.

Advertisement

Partners in Singapore for Uganda Honey……………………

After landing back in Singapore and after a week of break, my marketing drive began. The first stop was meeting up with Violet to finalize the way forward in promoting Uganda Honey into the market. The discussion went well and soon Singaporeans will be able to buy our honey at all Violet Oon’s outlet.

Uganda honey will be available at all Violet Oon's Kitchen Singapore outlet in mid 2010.

One small harvest before heading home…………………….

Fresh comb honey harvested the night before.

I am excited to make my trip back home tomorrow. I guess you can say it’s occupational hazard. I must visit at least a colony before I leave. Meanwhile, I harvested some comb honey to be brought back to Singapore for my family members and friends to see what is ‘REAL RAW HONEY”.

There are so many marketing hypes about raw honey and its health benefits in the market but actually, does one really knows what does that mean or are they simply buying the label? Well hopefully this time round my family and friends are able to gain more insight of what is real raw honey harvested fresh from the farm.

Yes, although I am keen to push my honey into the Asia market after having served the European market for the last 5 years, I would also like my consumer friends to fully understand the benefit of eating honey, and not turning it into some kind of miracle wonder medicine that can cure everything. If I were to do that, I am doing a disservice to my fellow Singaporeans.

Hopefully this small talk will enable more to appreciate the existence of the honey bees and how it contribute to mankind. At least you will know that the next spoonful of honey you take, no bees were sacrificed.

Honey combs prepared in chunks.

Two floral in production - Eucalyptus and Savannah Bush Honey.