Assessment of beekeeping production system and constraints in basketo special woreda, Southern Ethiopia

The diverse agro ecology and natural resources of Ethiopia is suitable for beekeeping operation. According to CSA2 the country has a potential to produce about 50,790,578 kilogram of honey per year. However, the majority of honey (47,352,624kilogram) that accounts about 93.2% was harvested from traditional beehive type. The honey produced from the traditional hive is generally poor both in quantity and quality. The prevailing production constraints in the beekeeping subsector in Ethiopia are lack of knowledge, shortage of skilled man power, shortage of bee equipments, pests and predators, agrochemicals, shortage of bee forage and lack of research extension.3 Bernard4 argued that livelihoods of the farmers engaged in beekeeping activity rely on natural capital where bees, flowering plants and water. Bees feed on the nectar and pollen from flowers, the nectar is eventually converted into honey. Gums and resins are collected from plants, which again act as habitat for nesting places. Bees are a natural asset accessible in the wild. Honey bees collect honey ingredients from different sources like wild; wastelands and even land-mined areas all have value for beekeeping. Beekeeping is therefore, possible in arid areas as a livelihood resilient strategy. It provides an excellent bonus crop in addition to, but not a substitute to other crops. In addition to this, Beekeeping is an important agricultural sector that utilizes natural nectar and pollen for production of honey, wax and other hive products that have a great contribution for the income of smallholder farmers.5 Most of local beehives are hanged over high trees. Honey production from honeybees are very low with an average of 5-6kg per hive per year, while from the improved one average of 15-20 kg even more is possible. Honey and beeswax are collected after rainy season; starting from October to December. In the South and Eastern parts, in addition to the main, there is minor harvesting period during May-June. According to CSA, the major honey and beeswax producing regions in Ethiopia are Oromia (41%), SNNPR (22%), Amhara (21%) and Tigray (5%). 6 However, the country is suffering from the ecological degradation of its natural resources and this means the basis for any honey production is threatened and affected. In many regions of the country, beekeeping is considered as one of the income-generating activities for resource-poor farmers including women, youth and the unemployed sectors of the community.7 Even though Basketo Special Woreda1 is potential for beekeeping activity, the farmers did not get adequate benefit from beekeeping subsector because of the traditional method of beekeeping system. This system is mainly characterized by low quality and yield of honey. Even though, the agro ecology condition of the area is appropriate for beekeeping operation, there is no research conducted so for to determine the honey production system and constraints. Moreover, identifying the existing beekeeping production system and challenges in the study area provide base line information for different stack holders to conduct further study. Thus, this research was conducted to exploit the main beekeeping production system existing and constraints in Basketo Special Woreda, Southern Ethiopia.1 Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate