Honey in Mali Island

A small story in the Fiji Times is about the honey boxes and this seems to be an excellent innovation for a small cottage industry. Three of the villages are on Mali Island and one is out of Labasa near the snake stone temple.  Matailabasa belongs to the vanua of Mali.

Vesi find more jobs from bees

LUISA QIOLEVU
Thursday, April 06, 2017

Update: 5:32PM VILLAGERS of Vesi on Mali Island found more job opportunities through their beekeeping projects since they first began on 2015.

The four villagers  Matailabasa, Vesi, Nakawaga and Ligaulevu each received 20 honey boxes and they managed to earn around $8000 after their first harvest on 2016.

District representative Seru Moce said the honey production has proven to be a profitable business for the four villages.

"This project has inspired women to be productive, to utilise the resources available to earn income for their families and women groups from each villages even produces handicraft to earn money. 

We have realised that we need to work together to uplift the lives of our families. The men also help  harvesting  the honey and the profit is shared equally among the villagers,� he said.