Abstract
The study was conducted in Godere district, southwestern Ethiopia to assess the potential, opportunities and constraints in honey production. 120 beekeepers were selected and interviewed from two kebeles using semi structured questionnaire. Participatory discussions with key informant at village levels and Zone and District level bee experts and extension workers were also held to generate primary data. All the interviewed household heads were male headed, with average age of 37.42 years. The average number of traditional beehive holding was 28.4. It was found out that there are two to three honey production seasons in the district. The average productivity of colonies in traditional log beehives was 24.2+9.33. The major opportunities to engage on honeybee beekeeping were long beekeeping experience, existence of huge natural resource that includes honeybee flora, honeybee colonies, high productivity and increasing demand of honey in the area. About 93.25% of their produce (totally crude honey) was sold in nearby markets. 94.4% of respondents sold their honey immediately after harvest, while the remaining 5.6% stored for more than a month. 76.2% of the producers largely sold their honey in the nearest local market, only less than 24% of the respondents transport their honey to Meti town. The price difference between the village market and Meti was as high as 70%. The major honey buyers reported by the producers are the collectors (82.45%) and <i>tej</i> brewers (16.32%) in Godere district. Generally, the honey production system in the area is traditional forest beekeeping with a lot of constraints. Therefore, it needs systematic approach to tackle all the problems in the whole system starting from input supply all along to marketing. Provision of extension services to upgrade knowledge, develop skills and introduction of improved technologies needs due attention.
Highlights
The diversified agro-climatic conditions with various honeybee floras have created a favorable environment for beekeeping practice in Ethiopia
The study was conducted in March, 2018 in Godere district, in Mejang zone found in the Gambella Regional State
Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Beekeepers. This survey result showed that beekeeping is traditionally practiced starting from childhood among the rural communities in Godere district
Summary
The diversified agro-climatic conditions with various honeybee floras have created a favorable environment for beekeeping practice in Ethiopia. The country has the largest bee population in Africa with over 10 million bee colonies, out of which about 7.5 million are confined in hives and the remaining are feral colonies [1]. Recently it was reported that only about 5.92 million colonies were hived in the rural sedentary areas of the country [2]. About 1.4 million smallholding households are engaged in keeping bees as a mean of additional income generating activity [3]. Beekeeping is creating job opportunities for many people both in rural and urban areas. A significant number of people are currently engaged in honey and beeswax collection, “tej” making, honey and beeswax processing and marketing [5]
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