Bio Logic Cambodia offers turnkey food security and poverty alleviation project scale training and equipment to private individuals and NGO clients .
Since 2014 James Dumar has offered free training in small agriculture projects for poverty victims.
Beekeeping in Cambodia
Beekeeping in Cambodia is one of the focal points of Bio Logic Cambodia, a consultancy dedicated to the advancement of beekeeping in Cambodia
Would you like to keep bees in Cambodia? You may even be able to do it in the city on a rooftop!
Because beekeeping in Cambodia is a new industry, it can be difficult to source materials and stock.
So to anticipate your questions about what you need and how much it will cost, here it is.
At bare minimum you can buy a hive like this
With 5 frames of bees, and a young queen, 4-5 frames with wax foundation.
These poly boxes are very secure for transport and well ventilated to eliminate losses from moving them
You need a smoker, veil, and hive tool as well.
The local style of management relies on a deep lid to serve as a honey super whereby you scrape and crush the comb, then strain. I am more an advocate of putting a second box of frames on top as is done in many other regions of the world.
Ultimately you will do best with 2 hives minimum so that requeening can occur naturally.
Contact me for a quote for your individual or project needs. I am actively engaged in propagating hives for sale at the time of writing.
Beekeeping is a new industry to Cambodia and previously equipment was all imported.
Tropical 13 frame ventilated migratory hive
You can build your own equipment here using long langstroth designs with ventilation suited to the climate at a price that competes with imports.
In addition to honey production, we are building up bee stocks, and Khmer staff are gaining proficiency with Queen Bee Rearing with very pleasing results.
Queen Bee raised at CHOICE by Bio Logic Cambodia
Just outside of Phnom Penh, and throughout the provinces many people find it a necessity to gather food from nature, including endangered species. They would not do this if they had a better alternative.
Until now, pure honey has been very hard to get in Cambodia, and mainly comes from wild native bees, Apis cerana, florea, and dorsata, and mostly adulterated with palm sugar and water.
Sustainable production of managed beehives of Apis mellifera, the European honeybee has been constrained by the lack of equipment and a steady supply of bee stocks.
Both Vietnam and Thailand have thriving honey production industries, our aim is to encourage and educate Khmer and Barang small farmers to enter this industry.
Beekeeping Cambodia
A viable poverty alleviation activity proven successful in Africa, Central and South America for decades,
Almost every Khmer settled area of small lands around villages has the required floral diversity to sustain bees.
Some commercial crops that can produce good honey include sugar palms, coconut plantations, banana and rubber plantations, lychee, longan,coffee, and many other non fruit trees like melaleuca, mangrove, and eucalyptus can produce good seasonal crops of honey.
If you see honey for sale from local native bees “khmom Prey” it is a good indication that the area is a good producer at least for part of the year.
Bees can fly around 3-5 kilometers to forage and still produce a surplus.
They do need a source of clean water nearby, and of course must be isolated from areas where pesticides are used.
Theft is also a serious consideration, so locate your bee yards near people you trust or they may disappear!
Chicken Production is also a very worthwhile activity for the small farmer in Cambodia.
Why do they just let the chickens run loose?
Wouldn’t it be better to pen them up and feed them? Yes and no!
Here are some design tips :
“Poultry is the last great protein production frontier” UN FAO.