Collaboration drives home importance of bees, honey

Bees collect nectar from flowers in the garden before turning it into honey inside its log.

IN celebration of World Bee Day, Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and Corak Rentak Sdn Bhd (Corak Rentak) signed a memorandum of understanding to support the conservation of the stingless bee (lebah kelulut).

This collaborative partnership aims to spread awareness on the importance of bees through the MNS membership base.

It also aims to provide benefits to humanity and the environment by increasing the income of the B40 community through sustainable beekeeping practices that protect the environment.

There are several collaborative initiatives under the memorandum, among them a campaign by Corak Rentak to recruit new members for MNS on its social media (www.fb.com/bmyhoney.my) and e-commerce sites by sponsoring a one-year MNS membership fee for purchasers of its honey.

This campaign will run for one month.

Corak Rentak will further provide MNS with assistance in beekeeping activities as part of the MNS Insect Conservation programme.

The company intends to develop the kelulut honey industry to its full potential by bringing it to the global market.

It has undergone a rigorous process of obtaining certifications that include the halal certification from Jakim and GMP, HACCP, ISO22000, MesTI and Sirim Food Safety for its brands of kelulut honey.

As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, the company will also develop a Bee Engagement Entrepreneurship (BEE) Project, whereby seed money donated by family and friends will be used to start bee farming communities for the B40 families and asnaf (eligible zakat recipients).

This will begin first in Kelantan.

The company will also contribute RM1 for every bottle of its honey sold, here and abroad.

World Bee Day, a United Nations-backed initiative, is celebrated each year on the birth date of Anton Jansa, the Slovenian pioneer of modern beekeeping born in 1734.

The purpose of International Bee Day is to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators in the ecosystem, as without bees and pollinators, humans will disappear from the face of the earth.