Honey is uniquely produced by honeybees (
Apis
sp.) and stingless bees (
Meliponini sp.)
and exhibits tremendous medicinal properties such as antimicrobial, anticarcinogen and antioxidant.
However, it has not been included as a mainstream approach to disease management and
has been disregarded in the modern pharmaceutical era. The stingless bee, which is known locally
as
lebah kelulut in Malaysia, is an important species that is well adapted for tropical countries and
has emerged as an alternative source of honey. The reinventing honey quality (RHQ) project was
introduced in 2012 to empower growth in the stingless bee industry, which has a direct impact
on the production of high-quality honey. The objectives of the project include transforming the
industry into a sustainable source of income for beekeepers, while simultaneously catalysing bee
conservation activities for plant and crop pollination, thus becoming a new medium for targeting
socio-economies and ecology.
