KUDAT: The Rural Development Corporation (KPD) has given its Honey Bee Project a boost with the installation of a new processing machine at its Borneo Honeybee Centre at Sikuati near here.
The processing machine, unveiled by Deputy Chief Minister cum Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, is able to process and package raw honey 120 times faster than the previous method.
“Previously, the centre could only manufacture 5kg of packed honey each day. This new and more sophisticated machine, on the other hand, can handle up to 150kg of packaged honey in just two hours.
“This means that KPD will be able to offer its services to a greater number of interested honeybee entrepreneurs who would like to process their raw honey here, complete with professional packaging,” he said.
The Honey Bee Project under KPD has a total of 397 participants with an estimated annual yield of 10 metric tonnes of honey.
According to KPD General Manager Jamilah Lee, the new processing and packaging machine would also allow KPD to welcome interested entprepreneurs who want to resell honey produced by project participants without producing the honey themselves.
“Because not all participants are interested in selling the honey themselves. While KPD can do it for them, there are entrepreneurs who are interested to resell the products, using their own unique brands.
“This machine is capable of customising labels and even packages for these entrepreneurs. It would also be beneficial because we would be able to diversify our markets rather than focusing solely on KPD markets,” she said.
