Your LIVE STRONG coconut water strengthens your health and a coconut project in the Indigenous village Kwamalasamutu in South Suriname in the Amazon rainforest via Amazon Conservation Team Guianas (ACT-Guianas). Provided items are primarily dwarf coconut trees transported by air, ± 427 km from Paramaribo.

PAST TO PRESENT

By tradition, the local community has always wild-harvested honey from native stingless bees in tree trunks for medicinal and sweetening purposes. Over time they needed to walk further from the village for honey as their method involved unsustainable tree felling and a growing demand due to an increase in villagers. Therefore, in 2017, ACT-Guianas trained villagers in the transition from wild-harvesting to beekeeping in wooden bee boxes closer to their homes.

The pilot became a success with until now, Q2 2025, around 65 beekeepers (including women and teenagers) and about 410 bee boxes: taking the lead in Suriname. Besides honey for their own use, ACT-Guianas facilitates the beekeepers in commercial production to generate a sustainable income to improve their quality of life.

As the numbers are growing, the availability of nectar from flowers in and near the village is under pressure. As a solution, planting coconut trees, which bloom throughout the year, has started in Q2 2024 as a supplementary food source for their stingless bees. Once mature, they will also contribute in strengthening Kwamalasamutu’s food supply, e.g. with coconut water.

FACTS

1. Kwamalasamutu is the largest of 9 Indigenous villages in South Suriname with around 800 villagers and home of Granman Jimmy Toeroemang.
2. Stingless bees are native species compared to the well-known invasive stinging honey bees in the coastal area: the Africanized bees a.k.a. Brazilian bees.