Beekeeping practices and challenges at Lemo District, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Beekeeping has been an integral part of the Ethiopian agriculture and yielding 1.3% of agricultural GDP. Hence, the study was aimed to evaluate the purpose of beekeeping and major constraints impeding beekeeping practices at Lemo District, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Questionnaires were organized to collect survey data. A multi-stage purposive sampling technique was used and one hundred forty respondents (140 beekeepers) were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Key informant interviews and Focus group discussion to support the interpretation of the interview data. The data were organized and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance via Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Accordingly, beekeeping was mostly carried out using traditional hives. From beekeeper’s respondents 80%, are involved in beekeeping mainly for both income and household consumption. Beekeepers use income obtained from beekeeping for buying crop inputs, payment for annual land taxation, and purchase food grain. The mean honey yield of traditional log hives, transitional top-bar hives, and modern hives with frames were 5.25 ± 0.38, 7.52 ± 0.54, and 12.78 ± 0.56 kg per hive per year, respectively. The most hampering factors for honey bee production were honey bee diseases, improper pesticide application, and shortage of bee forage. The finding of this study concluded that beekeeping was mostly carried out using traditional hives. Hence, well-organized training should be given for the beekeepers to practice internal colony inspection and improved beekeeping technologies via a full package program. Efforts should be geared to alleviate constraints like honey bee diseases, improper application of pesticides, and bee forage shortage hampering beekeeping in the district.