The Potential of Meliponiculture in Forming Community Entrepreneurship Programme

In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various events, such as a financial crisis, an external trade shock, an adverse supply shock, the bursting of an economic bubble, or a large-scale anthropogenic or natural disaster (e.g., a pandemic). COVID-19 pandemic has impacted human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health and the world of work. The economic and social disruption caused by COVID-19 is devastating, people are at risk of falling into poverty as they have lost their source of income. The cost of living also rose in tandem with the increased inflation rate in the country.

In April 2022, the number of unemployed persons continued to trend down registering a fall of 3.0% or equivalent to 19.9 thousand persons to 649.3 thousand unemployed persons (March 2022: 669.2 thousand persons). Meanwhile, on a seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed persons went down by 4.1 per cent. Hence, the unemployment rate declined to below 4.0% for the first time to record 3.9% (March 2022: 4.1%) after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country (DOSM, 9 June 2022). Furthermore, Malaysia’s inflation has increased 3.4% to 127.4 in June 2022 as against 123.2 in the same month of the preceding year. This situation has increased the number of B40 groups in the country.

In the Household Income and Basic Amenities (HIS/BA) survey of 2016 by Department of Statistics’ (DOSM), Malaysians are categorized into three different income groups: Top 20% (T20), Middle 40% (M40), and Bottom 40% (B40). The names, B40, M40, and T20, represent percentages of the country’s population of Bottom 40%, Middle 40%, and Top 20% respectively. Recently, based on the 2019 Household Income and Basic Facilities Survey, the B40, M40 and T20 household groups can be broken down into 10 categories. The B40 can be broken down into B1, B2, B3 and B4; M40 to M1, M2, M3 and M4 while T20 to T1 and T2. Under the category of B40, only B1 is categorized as poor and needy. The B40 group in 2019 comprises about 2.91 million households, the M40 involves 2.91 million households and about 1.46 million households are in the T20 group (HIS Report, 2020).
The 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025), allocated of RM1.5 billion will be strengthened to enhance the marketability, well-being and purchasing power of B40 families, through the economic empowerment program of urban communities and the rural well-being development scheme. As Malaysia continues to grow, the B40 households should not miss out on the opportunities that come with national prosperity. Allowing the B40 households to remain in their current socioeconomic status will create social costs for all Malaysians as it reduces the number of skilled workers needed to grow national output, perpetuates urban inequality and limits the growth potential of rural and suburban areas. The Government will implement strategies to raise the income and wealth ownership of the B40 households, address the increasing cost of living and strengthen delivery mechanisms for supporting B40 households.
One of the solutions to overcome this problem is the transformation of the B40 group to an entrepreneur. The Kelulut (stingless bee/meliponinese) honey industry has the potential to become a new source of income for entrepreneurs as it can reap up to RM3.03bil in annual sales if this industry is further developed. In 2020, the total market volume of Kelulut honey stood at RM33.6mil while the market potential stood at RM67.2mil (Focus Malaysia, 1 Mac 2020). The size of the total production of Kelulut honey is still small compared to the market demand. This proves that the Kelulut honey industry in Malaysia has the potential to be a viable source of income to improve socioeconomic status of the entrepreneur. Malaysia’s government also has initiated the National Kelulut Honey Industry Development Plan 2020-2030 that aims to make the Kelulut honey industry a new source of stable and sustainable income since Kelulut farming can generate good income without high capital and advanced skill as a start.
Kelulutpreneur (Kelulut Entrepreneur) project has a high potential as a source of income to Kelulut honey entrepreneurs within B40 groups. The entrepreneur can generate passive income from this project since Kelulut honey has high demand in the market. One log of Kelulut can produce many other logs of Kelulut at a very minimum cost. The lower cost yields passive income for the targeted respondents, thus sustaining their earnings and directly improving their well-being and expected to live up their economic status. Indeed, the productivity of Kelulut is expected to contribute to the economic country’s production.