Floral Bee Hive Enterprise Sdn Bhd and Northern Corridor Implementation Authority are joining hands to implement the project.
NCIA chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq Abdul Razak said Floral Bee Hive would invest RM36.6 million and RM2 million by NCIA in the initial phase to develop bee farms with the locals' participation.
Two hundred pioneer bee breeders would be hired on contract basis for the project expected to start next month or in April, he said.
"We hope to engage about 1,000 bee farmers in the long term as this business has vast growth prospects," he told reporters after the exchange of documents for the project between the two parties on Thursday.
Redza Rafiq represented NCIA while Floral Bee Hive by chief operating officer Kamaruddin Deo Abdullah. Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir witnessed the signing.
Kamaruddin Deo said his company has 20 years experience in the industry from breeding honey bees, processing honey and marketing royal jelly globally.
The project is expected to produce 500 metric tonnes of royal jelly a year.
Floral Bee Hive will also stand guarantor for the breeders participating in the project.
He said breeders picked for the project would be sent to China to be trained by Chinese and Thai experts for six months besides being provided with the apparatus under the micro-credit loan scheme by Agro Bank.
The actual cost for each breeder is about RM56,500 but the company will subsidise RM26,500, making the breeding package to cost only RM30,000.
"Breeders can obtain the RM30,000 from the micro-credit loan scheme with the company as the guarantor. If a breeder fails to settle the loan, we will bear the loan," he said.
On the average, a breeder can earn about RM1,500 a month before the loan deduction in the first year and RM3,000 a month in five years.
"If they work harder, they can earn even more," he said.
Kamaruddin Deo said royal jelly was the premium product in the honey bee project, adding that royal jelly was widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and skin care industries.
Currently, Floral Bee Hive supplies royal jelly from its farms in Thailand and China to various industries including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ayamas, Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd and Gano Excel.
Meanwhile, Dr Zambry said that besides the poor and hardcore poor selected to participate in the project, school-leavers and graduates would also be roped in if they were keen to venture into business.
He said the project under the NCIA was yet another effort to eradicate poverty and boost income.
Dr Zambry said another agreement is to be signed soon to plant "misai kucing" (herbs) in Taiping.
The project would be undertaken in collaboration with the State Agriculture Development Corporation following popular demand for herbal products, he added.
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