Assessment of Post-Harvest Handling Practices of Honey in Erer Zone, Somali Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Honey is a natural food that honeybees make from nectar or other floral secretions. Although Ethiopia has been producing honey for a long time, the quality of the honey produced there, and in the study region in particular, is still poor because of improper handling practices. The objective of this study was to assess post-harvest handling practices of honey in the Erer zone, Somali regional state, Ethiopia. Two districts namely Lagahida and Fik were selected purposively based on beekeeping potential and three kebeles were selected from each district purposively based on honey production potential, and lastly a total of 156 beekeeping households were randomly selected for this study. The study revealed that sampled households used traditional beekeeping systems and hung their hives on trees away from the homestead in dense forests. Honey is harvested two times a year and the average honey yield from traditional and modern hives was 3.65 & 9.73 kg, respectively. The majority (79.5%) of the respondents used smoke and fire during honey harvesting and honey is harvested at night time and this affects honey quality because smoke and ashes from the fire ends up mixing with the harvested honey. The majority (76.95%) of the beekeepers collect and store honey in plastic containers. However, these containers are not appropriate and can spoil honey and may result in quality deterioration. The majority (80.8%) of the beekeepers do not strain honey and only 19.2% of them strain honey before it is sold by simple drainage to remove the beeswax using hand (13.4%) and sieve (5.8%). The beekeepers who do not strain honey reported that they lacked straining materials (29.5%), lack of knowledge of straining (9.6%), and lack of both knowledge & materials (41.7%). High cost of beekeeping equipment, pests & predators, water scarcity, shortage of bee forage, absconding & marketing problem were the major constraints of honey production in the area. The study concluded that the majority of the beekeepers practice traditional beekeeping systems and improper honey-handling practices. Therefore, awareness creation and training of beekeepers on proper handling measures of honey is very crucial in addition to the provision of improved beekeeping equipment which would significantly contribute to honey quality enhancement. Furthermore, investigations on the implications of poor handling practices on honey quality and from the perspective of public health are also required.