Afri Yondra, a man of 29 years old is working as a Community Organizer for WWF Riau Program. He is responsible to oversee Tesso Nilo honey farmers who are associated in Tesso Nilo honey farmer association. As a organizer, he ensures farmers to apply process of harvesting and processing of Tesso Nilo wild honey in sustainable and hygienic way.    

Yondra was born in Perhentian Luas, Kuantan Singingi District, a district where Tesso Nilo forest lies, at first knew about WWF  from a friend who had made frequent interaction with WWF’s activities in the field. When he heard information that WWF was seeking for community organizers he applied and succeeded, then started to work in May 2009. Iyon that’s the way he is called never imagined that his work would interact much with community. However his major in political science in Eka Sakti University-West Sumatra has provided him some help in his job moreover he has similar cultural background with the farmers or community that he oversees.  

He sometimes gets stung by wild bees when overseeing famers in harvesting honey. “ My cheek was stung by bee once, it got swollen so big so that it needs several days to get it back to normal,’’ said Yondra. Though he got stung by wild bees a couple of times, it does not make him afraid of taking part in harvesting to make sure the farmers applying the harvesting system meets the standard. Yondra said the taste of Tesso Nilo forest honey that is sweat and yummy makes him forget the bee’s sting.

Yondra feels happy seeing sialang tress hives by wild bees. Sialang tree is the local name of trees that are hived by wild bees. The tree species are varied  such as shorea, koompassia, spndias, etc. One Sialang tree can be hived by in averaged 15-40 honey nest  in which one honey hive can produce 20-30 kilograms of honey.

“ But I am so sad seeing encroachment is still going on in Tesso Nilo National Park and its surrounding. This condition is worrying since encroachment will impact on the availability of honey, encroachment has also caused some Sialang trees gone, “ Yondra says.

The loss of Sialang trees will bring effect to the decline of honey production which also means income generation of the local people from this non timber product will also reduce. “I hope that encroachment in Tesso Nilo can be managed so that the honey production can be sustainably maintained and community welfare can be increased in line with the increase of selling price of Tesso Nilo honey, Yondra expects.