THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC USE & CHALLENGES OF HONEY PRODUCTION IN TACH ARMACHIHO WOREDA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The socio-economic use & challenges of honey production were undertaken using 140 beekeeping households to identify major constraints and potentials of honey bee production practices in Tach Armachiho district of Ethiopia. The households were drawn from different locations and represented two agro-ecologies; Kolla (lowland) and Weyina Dega (midland). For household survey, semi structured interviews, questionnaire and field observations were used as a main tool for data collection method. The survey data was analyzed by using SPSS. Beekeeping is dominantly practiced by male households in Kolla (95%) and Weyna Dega (96.7%) of the study area. About 67.9 % of the interviewed households were illiterate. In the study area, honey production was practices by three types of beehives namely: traditional, transitional and movable frame hive. About 88.3% of bee hives owned by the beekeepers was traditional hives, while the remaining 11.7 % of hives were movable frame bee hives. The main source of bee colony for beekeepers was swarm catching. The overall mean beehive colony holding per household was 9.10 ± 7.77. The average colony holding (10.15 ± 8.91) of Weyna Dega households was significantly (p< 0.001) higher than Kolla (9.63 ± 5.83). Similarly, Weyna Dega respondents had the highest mean honey production of 66 kg per year per household than Kolla (60 kg /year/HH). The average productivity of traditional and movable frame beehives in 2010 was 7.95., and 22.35 kg per year, respectively. The overall average annual gross income of the studied respondents from beekeeping was Birr 2620.70 /household (Birr 320/colony/year). The major constraints to exploit the untapped potential of beekeeping activity in the district were lack/shortage of beekeeping equipment, incidence of pests and predators, agrochemical poisoning, lack of attention, poor extension service and lack of knowledge on appropriate methods of beekeeping. Therefore, the results suggest that beekeeping development efforts should be focused primarily in Weyna Dega area and secondarily in Kolla part of the district. Practical oriented training on improved beekeeping practices should be given for the farmers and development agents to curve management and quality related issues. There is a need to enhance extension services in the area and also credit provision need to be facilitated to supply improved bee-hives and accessory equipment.