Name of Product: | Melipona honey |
Scientific Name: | Tetragonisca angustula |
Product Type: | Sweets |
MP Region: | South America |
Country of origin: | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) |
Name of the Mountain Area: | Parque Nacional Serranía del Iñao |
Altitude Range: | Class 4: elevation 1 500-2 500 m and slope ≥ 2 |
Narrative label: | Read the Mountain Product & Producer Story
This Melipona honey is an Indigenous product carefully harvested by 158 women in Bolivia’s Serranía del Iñao National Park between 1 100 and 3 300 meters. Stingless bee honey is rather fluid with a delicate flavor of light sweetness and a touch of acidity. It gets its dark amber colour from the great variety of native flowers found in the forest. Due to its unique gentle sweet and sour flavour, the market demand for this honey has recently increased. This enables families to persist with traditional beekeeping and protects the local forest. Its richness in vitamins, minerals and anti-bacterial and cicatrizing properties make it an essential medicine for the Guaraní people in the Plurinational State of Bolivia since ancient times. Tradition Indigenous Peoples used to keep native stingless bees in meliponiculture – named after the tribe’s name Meliponini throughout Latin America. Nowadays, Melipona honey has become a rare good. Deforestation and the introduction of the more productive European honey bee has repressed the distribution of the 350 known stingless bee species. Perfectly adapted to the local environment, these stingless bees are crucial pollinators. The displacement of these then would lead to a distinct loss of biodiversity in the Bolivian forests. Territory In the Plurinatoinal State of Bolivia’s Serranía del Iñao National Park which lies at the foot of the Eastern Cordillera between 1 100 and 3 300 meters, the Guaraní people raise Tetragonisca angustula, a type of stingless bees species. Locals give it various names like abeja señorita, burro or negro. In ancient times, the hives were obtained from empty pumpkins, while today they are made of wood and positioned under producers’ roofs. Melipona bees feed on native plants whose flowers, rich in alkaloids and flavonoids, give the honey its highly medicinal properties. Producers One hundred fifty eight women producers organized in four beekeepers cooperatives carry out honey production with their families. Harvesting is done manually done using syringes. |
Producer: | 158 women organized in 6 honey bee associations Monteagudo and Villa Vaca Guzman |
Contact person: | Fundación Pasos, Antonio Aramayo: [email protected] |
Labelled since: | 20.09.2018 |
Label latest verification: | 20.09.2018 |
Website: | http://pasosbolivia.org/ |
Type of producer: | Women association |
Smallholder: | yes |
Size of company: | > 50 people |
Distribution channel: | Local market |
At risk of disappearing: | Yes, deforestation and the introduction of the more productive European honey bee has repressed the distribution of the 350 known stingless bee species. |
Traditional product/production: | Yes, indigenous people used to keep native stingless bees in meliponiculture – named after the tribe’s name Meliponini throughout Latin America. |
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