Meliponiculture

Meliponiculture is the rational farming of stingless bees, of the Meliponini tribe, distinct from apiculture, which raises the western honey bee. Hives are kept in meliponaries, facilities built with the temperature, orientation, humidity and food supply the bees need, to produce and market honey, pollen, resins, propolis and wax as well as to provide pollination services and support biodiversity; some operations focus instead on species conservation or environmental education, aided by the insects' generally non-aggressive nature. Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, especially in Brazil and Mexico, have long kept stingless bees for honey used in food and traditional health treatments, and the practice is now seeing increasing scientific and technical development.