The training was attended by 30 stingless beekeepers in East Kutai, aiming to improve participants’ capacity and explore more potential for their derivative products.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — The East Kutai Department of Cooperatives and SMEs (Diskop UKM) held training on derivative products of kelulut honey for three days on June 21-23, 2023, at the MS Hotel Hall, Yos Sudarso I Street, South Sangatta.
First held in 2022, this training was attended by 30 kelulut beekeepers in East Kutai. The resource persons present were bee researchers at Hasanuddin University, Makassar. Kelulut honey is produced by stingless bees Trigona sp. which has many health benefits.
According to the Head of the East Kutai Cooperatives and SMEs Department, Darsafani, this training is aimed at scaling up the capacity of human resources, specifically stingless bee honey cultivators in the regency, and exploring more potential related to its derivative products.
“Last year we only learned five products derived from kelulut honey, while currently there are a total of 8,000 derivative products. Since there are so many of them, we will gradually provide knowledge about processed kelulut honey to farmers. Hopefully, this time we can deliver more products than last year,” said Darsafani.
Apart from last year’s participants, this training was also attended by novice participants who had just started keeping stingless bees. In East Kutai, producers of kelulut honey are located in South Sangatta, Karangan, and several other districts.
He added, “We invite all these beekeepers as this training will bring many benefits to them in the future. Today we will also curate or evaluate those who are engaged in this business. We will not differentiate, instead, we will unite them.”
Further, Darsafani conveyed that his party will work together with Global Entrepreneurs Professional (Genpro) to promote stingless bee honey products to the export market. For this reason, the Department will bring in investors to offer these products.
“Hopefully these investors are interested in kelulut honey products. I am sure they will be interested as it is undeniable that the honey is well-known for its health benefits,” he concluded.
