BALING: Felcra Bhd is planning to expand the Kelulut (stingless bee) breeding project to other parts of Kedah as an effort to boost the income of those staying in the rural areas.
Its chief executive officer Zulkarnain Md Eusope said that the project would benefit the people in the area due to the kelulut honey's high market value of about RM200 to RM250 per kg.
"The Weng breeding site (or Weng Valley Kelulut Farm), which is our pilot project in the state has so far produced a total of 64kg of kelulut honey or RM12,800 worth of sales (since it was established in April up until December last year).
"Meanwhile, each of the participants have managed to earn about RM2,000 per month.
"The production is still very low and we could not even meet the demands of the local community here. We definitely hope to be able to expand the project to other areas," he told reporters during a visit to the Weng Valley Kelulut Farm here this morning.
Zulkarnain added that there are nine other locations nationwide where the project were being held.
He said the Weng breeding site here however is the largest in the country with a total of 430 unit of colonies in about 218 hectares of land, which is managed by 44 participants.
Meanwhile, Belantik assemblyman Datuk Mohd Tajudin Abdullah who is also the state Information, Rural Development, and Poverty Eradication Committee chairman suggested that Felcra would further develop the Weng Valley Kelulut Farm as an agrotourism to further improve the income of the participants.
"The project has shown great results and success. However, there is a need increase productivity and creativity especially in marketing the final product.
"I also hope that the project will be further developed into an agrotourism where they provide homestay facilities. This way, we can attract tourists into the district." he said.