Rural revitalization through improvements of technical efficiency in honey production: Evidence from Horo Guduru Wollega Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Making apiaries more effective is only one aspect of reviving the beekeeping industry. Additionally, the beekeeping industry is generating employment both in rural and urban locations. This study’s goal was to identify the technical levels of honey production in Ethiopia’s Horo Guduru Wollega zone and their contributing factors. To accomplish the aforementioned objective, structured questionnaire data collected from 396 households were used. Stochastic production frontier estimator shows that the number of hives, the amount of work put into producing honey, and the area of the land all significantly influenced the amount of honey produced. In the mean technical of both traditional and modern hives, there were 56.68% and 73.93%, respectively. This demonstrates how technically more efficient farmers who use contemporary hives to make honey are. According to mean technical efficiency, both beekeepers were, however, operating below the production frontier. Household sex, credit utilization, extension services, training, beekeeping experience, and family size were significant technical efficiency variables for honey producers. The study suggests policies to address technical inefficiencies by increasing the number of hives, extending the best performers’ experience by increasing the frequency of extension contacts on honey production, facilitating and expanding credit service in the study area, making bee forage access simple, and increasing forest coverage on land area in line with current policy of Ethiopia. Additionally, since farmers in the study area spend their time guarding the honey from damage by ants, labor that utilizes technology must be made available.