Analysis of Risks in Honeybee Production Farms in Nigeria: A Boost to Food Security

Oladimeji U,Sani A,Ajao M,Hassan A,Egwuma H,Galadima A

doi:10.21608/eajbsa.2019.29075

Abstract

This paper focuses on achieving sustainable food security through analysis of risk in honeybee production farms and determines the risk behaviour of bee farmers in kebbi and kwara states of Nigeria. Primary data were obtained using structured questionnaires and interview. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was employed for selecting 148 respondents comprising 102 traditional bee farmers and 46 modern bee farmers. Descriptive statistics: mean, percentage, standard deviation, the coefficient of variation and, safety model was used to determine the risk attitude coefficient of bee farmers. The conditional distribution of the honey harvest probabilities per ha for a food secure and insecure was plotted against the poverty index using normal kernel cumulative density. Result revealed that risks in apiculture are related to socio-economic and production characteristics. The bulk of traditional bee farmers (57.8%) is categorized as risk neutral while the majority of modern bee farmers (67.4%) belong to risk preferring (with an index of 1.52). The results revealed that the set of significant explanatory variables and their sign vary across the traditional and modern groups. The coefficient for marital status, bee farming experience and family labour were statistically significant for traditional bee farmers. While education, investment, family labour and hired labour were statistically significant for modern bee farmers. Bee farmers are encouraged to form cooperative society and if already existing should liaise with relevant agencies such as the ministry of agriculture and agricultural insurance companies for training, workshops and seminars on the capacity to handle risk-taking into cognizance their socioeconomic and institutional traits.

Highlights

The Honeybee, Apis mellifera, is social insects noted for providing their nests with large amounts of honey
Bee farmers are encouraged to form cooperative society and if already existing should liaise with relevant agencies such as the ministry of agriculture and agricultural insurance companies for training, workshops and seminars on the capacity to handle risk-taking into cognizance their socioeconomic and institutional traits
This paper focuses on achieving sustainable food security through analysis of risk in honeybee production farms in Nigeria, to describe the socio-economic characteristics of honeybee farmers and determine the risk behaviour of bee farmers

Summary

Introduction

The Honeybee, Apis mellifera, is social insects noted for providing their nests with large amounts of honey. Bee farming and apiculture is the art of rearing, breeding and managing honeybee colonies in artificial hives for economic gains (Morse, 1989). It refers to the practice and management of the bees in the hives, which leads to the production of valuable materials such as honey, beeswax, propolis, bee pollen, bee venom, bee brood and royal jelly among others. With the current increasing demand for honey products for domestic and industrial consumption coupled with mechanized agriculture in most part of Nigeria, resulting in large crop acreage, the future of apicultural enterprise is very bright as the demand for honey and perhaps pollinators is bound to increase (Oladimeji et al, 2017)

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