Original Honey from the Cindakko Forest, the Superior Product of South Sulawesi

Cindakko, Maros, South Sulawesi is a remote area famous as a paradise for its natural panorama. The unavailability of access to electricity and communication networks causes scarcity in information from outside the area.

With its landscape richness, many of the local people work as honey farmers. One of them is Dg Lajju, who has been in this profession for 30 years.

Being a honey farmer itself is not simple. Not only a long journey and difficult access to take the honey but also a high risk of being stung by bees. Moreover, Dg Lajju does not have Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“When harvesting, it’s usually like this. I’ve been stung once but never been treated, because it recovered by itself,” he said with Makassar accent.

30 years as a honey farmer, Dg Lajju still survives using traditional harvesting methods. He uses traditional harvest by smoking the bee hive. This smoke can get rid of the bees from the hive. As the bees fly away, Dg Lajju then takes the entire structure of the hive.

“Then clean it, squeeze it and put it in the cergen,” he said.

This way of harvesting means that Dg Lajju can only harvest it once. Meanwhile the bees will fly to find another location to build a new nest.

“Usually I try to find another location. The peak is in August,” he said.

The cycle continues to be carried out by Dg Lajju to meet his daily needs with his wife and 7 children. The cost is of course just enough fo daily needs but not enough to send their children to school. Moreover, the nearest school from his house is 30 to 40 kilometers away with difficult access.

Sustainable Harvest Method

The honey that has been harvested by Dg Lajju comes from Apis Dorsata bees. Until now this type of bee can not be cultivated. Therefore, the most appropriate harvesting method is sustainable harvesting.

Sustainable harvesting is harvesting honey by only taking 3/4 of the honey bag and leaving 1/4 for bee food reserves. In this way the bees can stay in the hive and can be harvested later.

Initiator Friends, this year is the sixth year for Human Initiative to empower the community to produce quality Cindakko honey products.

The benefits and extraordinary benefits of this Cindakko native forest honey have been felt by the people of South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and even medical personnel at Wisma Atlet Jakarta and Korea. Wow that’s cool.

I hope that the fostered community and the production of real honey can improve their economic level and make the Cindakko community’s superior product known by many more.