KUDAT: The Rural Development Corporation has given its honey bee project in Sabah a boost with the installation of a new processing machine at its Borneo Honeybee Centre at Sikuati near here.
The centre collects, processes and bottles honey. It also conducts bee farming courses.
The processing machine, unveiled by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, can process and package raw honey 120 times faster than the previous method.
"Previously, the centre could manufacture only 5kg of packed honey daily. This new and more sophisticated machine can handle up to 150kg of packaged honey in two hours.
"This means that the Rural Development Corporation can offer its services to a greater number of interested honeybee entrepreneurs who want to process their raw honey here, complete with professional packaging," he said in a statement.
The Honey Bee Project under the corporation has 397 participants with an estimated annual yield of 10 tonnes of honey.
According to Rural Development Corporation general manager Jamilah Lee, the new processing and packaging machine would allow the corporation to welcome interested entrepreneurs who want to resell honey produced by project participants without producing honey themselves.
"Not all participants are interested in selling the honey themselves. While the Rural Development Corporation can do it for them, some entrepreneurs are interested in only reselling the products under their own brands.
"This machine is capable of customising labels and even packages for these entrepreneurs. It would be beneficial because we can diversify our markets rather than focusing solely on the corporation's markets," she said.