Punjas & Sons Launches Bua Honey
Punjas and Sons Pte Limited will now sell Pacific Taste Pure Honey.
It follows a partnership agreement with micro enterprise, Sotutu Farms, of Vanua Levu.
Punjas and Sons Managing Director, Rajesh Punja, said the two companies commenced discussions over the business venture last year.
“A few months back, I received an email from Sotutu Farm Director, Vili Sotutu, who shared his challenges about small farm operations in rural Vanua Levu,” Mr Punja said.
“Market accessibility has been the biggest challenge for our friends in the rural sector.”
“Our partnership with Sotutu Farm is buying pure raw honey and transporting this honey from Bua, Vanua Levu.”
“The honey arrives at our factory, where our quality control team run lab assessments, before it proceeds to further processing stages.”
Expansion
Mr Punja said there were also discussions about other expansion possibilities with Sotutu Farms.
“As a by-product of producing honey, they have beeswax,” he said.
“We are working with them to develop projects with the beeswax,” he said.
Mr Punja said a bottle of Pacific Taste Pure Honey was retailed at $12.50 to $13.50 a bottle.
Punjas and Sons Pte Limited will now sell Pacific Taste Pure Honey, which is harvested from Bua, Vanua Levu. Photo: Salote Qalubau
Centre for excellence
Sotutu Farm marketing manager, Mavis Toganivalu-Clerke, said the project began in May, 2016, when a total of 20 weak hives were put together on the Sotutu family farmland in Bua, Vanua Levu.
“To our amazement, the bees gave us three harvests the following year, producing 750 kilogrammes of delicious honey,” she said.
“The Bua project was born, and we have slowly grown our hive numbers to 170, from 150 spread across half a dozen sites on our land, and beyond.”
Ms Toganivalu-Clerke said the Sotutu Agriculture Development Pte Ltd hoped to develop Bua as the base of an excellence centre for beekeeping and honey production.
“The work of bees in our environment is critical to the global survival of humanity,” she said.
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