KOTA BHARU: The owners of the Three Brothers Bee Farm in Kampung Kubang Kiat here are determined to leave their small-income steady jobs to return to their hometown to indulge in the business of stingless honeybee farming.
Yuzaidi Marzuki, 31, a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering holder from Politeknik Dungun, Mohd Airil Che Sadom, 30, a Diploma in Electrical Engineering holder and his brother, Ahmad Khirul, 26, who has a Certificate in Air Conditioning from the National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN) are happy with their new lucrative income and being able to spend more time with the family.
“Ever since venturing into bee breeding, our income is between RM20,000 and RM30,000 per month, much higher than graduates with a degree,” Yuzaidi told Bernama when met at their farm recently.
He used to work at a factory in Shah Alam Selangor but only as a production operator despite his diploma with a monthly salary of RM650 that could reach to RM1,500 by working overtime.
“With a small salary, it’s difficult to make a living in the city, I cannot even save money and sometimes I have to borrow from my parents. It was also hard to visit my parents due to the long working hours, and I’m their only child,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohd Airil left the one-acre chilli farm he had cultivated on a piece of land owned by Politeknik Jeli in Kampung Joh Labok in Machang out of disagreement with the use of insect pesticides by the management.
At the same time, his younger brother, Ahmad Khirul, who was an air-conditioning technician in Negeri Sembilan, who was uncomfortable with the working hours also opted to return to their hometown to join Yuzidi and Mohd Airil’s farming venture.
In the early stages, they collected wild stingless honeybee from the jungle and place them into a hollowed wood to produce a colony. Over the last two years, they have transferred the colonies into a special box made of meranti wood called ‘hive Mustafa’.
According to Mohd Airil ever since the move, the stingless bee colonies are growing faster and now, within four years they have about 400 colonies with a monthly harvest of more than 200 kilogrammes of honey.
The honey yield is different from season to season. During the fruit season, the yield will be higher. The bees from ‘Three Brothers Farm’ take nectar from the flowers of durian, langsat, dukong, mango and air mata pengantin that were plenty around the houses as well as sucking nectar from flowers of rubber trees.
They breed stingless honeybee from the Thormate, Itama and Thorasika species that could be found locally. – Bernama
