Honeybee production systems in Kewet District of Amhara, Ethiopia

Gebremedhn Beyene

College of Dry land Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Animal, Range land and Wildlife Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O.Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
gebremedhnb@yahoo.com

Abstract

A cross sectional survey was conducted with 60 purposively selected beekeepers as respondents to assess constraints and opportunities in the honeybee production systems in Kewet district of North Shewa zone Amhara Regional State. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.

The main sources of the foundation colony were either purchase (33.3%) or catching swarm (66.7%) and Most (53.33%) of the beekeepers in the study area own traditional hives, transitional (13.33%) and movable frame hives (33.33%). Beekeepers in the study area prevent the incidence of swarming by removal of queen cells (23.33%), honey combs harvest (16.67%), return back to the colony (33.33%), supering (16.67%) and using large volume hive (10%). The most important constraints of beekeeping in the study area were pesticides and herbicides application (1^st), pests and predators (2^nd), absconding (3^rd), death of colony (4^th) and swarming (5^th). However, the study area has huge opportunities and potentials so as to boost the honey and wax production.

Keywords: absconding, beekeepers, bee pests, colony, hives

Introduction

Ethiopia has a huge natural resource base for honey production. Beekeeping is a well-established household activity in almost all parts of the country. But the benefit from the sector to the nation and beekeepers is not satisfactory. Beekeeping sector provides an employment opportunity for many Ethiopian. About 4,601,806 hives exist in Ethiopia out of which about 95.5% was traditional, 4.3% transitional and 0.20% frame hives (Beyene and Davide 2007).

The elimination of good nectar and pollen producing tree species in many areas makes it difficult to maintain bee colonies without feeding (Kerealem 2005). In recent years, the contributions of beekeeping in poverty reduction, sustainable development and conservation of natural resources have been recognized and well emphasized by the government of Ethiopia and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

In Kewet district, traditional honey production is a common practice, Indigenous apiculture knowledge has not been supported by adequate research and extension efforts and constraints to beekeeping are not identified. Therefore, this study was conducted with an aim to identify the constraints of indigenous beekeeping production and management in the area, to assess the opportunities, potentials and overall honeybee production in the study area.

Methodology

Description of study area

The study was conducted at Kewet, which is located at about 225 km north east of Addis Ababa close to the highway to Dessie. It is located at 11° 55’ N latitude and 37° 20’ E longitude at an altitude of 1380 m.a.s.l. The area has an average annual rainfall of 1007 mm, with short rain between March and April and long rain between June and September, and annual mean minimum and maximum temperatures of 16.5 and 31°C, respectively (BoA, 2000).

Sampling procedure and sample size

The study was conducted in three peasant associations of the district (Tere, Yelen and Birbira) selected by purposive sampling technique where beehive productions dominant. A total of 60 beekeepers were purposively selected and approached for interview.

Data collection and analysis

Information about the household characteristics of the sampled beekeepers, types and sources of hive used, the swarming and absconding incidences, colony inspection, attractant materials used to baiting hives, constraints and opportunities and the like were collected through interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. Secondary data was collected from district’s rural agricultural development office. The generated information was entered into database and analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS (SPSS ©, Version 20).

Results and Discussion

Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Respondents

The mean age of the beekeepers was 40.1 years (Table 1) with standard deviation of 8.73 for Kewet district. The minimam and maximam age of interviewed beekeepers was 23 and 65 years old for Kewet, respectively. This survey result showed that people in the most productive age are actively engaged in beekeeping activities.

The beekeepers had an average experience of 11.4 (ranges from 1 to 39) (Table 1). The level of beekeepers’ experience was taken to be the number of years that an individual was continuously engaged in beekeeping. The very limited number of female participation in beekeeping agrees with the findings of Adebabay (2008), Tewodros (2010) and Workenehet al (2011) who reported low level of women participation in beekeeping.

Educational level of the farming households may have significant importance in identifying and determining the type of development and extension service approaches. The high level of illiteracy in Kewet district limits the effectiveness of formal training programs and requires more emphasis to be placed on practical demonstration of essential concepts especially in improved beekeeping. Traditional beekeeping practices are based on informal opportunities and an individual's level of formal education does not matter (Gichora 2003).

Beekeeping practices

Beekeeping is an important agricultural practice in the mixed farming systems of the area. Based on their level of technological advancement, there are three types of beehives (Table 3) used for honey production in the study area. These are traditional, intermediate and movable frame beehives. In the study area most of the traditional hives are either made locally by the beekeepers for domestic use or handcraft men for sale in local markets. The predominance of traditional hive in the study area is similar with other findings conducted in the Northern, South Western and Central parts of Ethiopia which showed that traditional beekeeping is predominantly practiced in most parts of Ethiopia (Kerealem et al 2009; Kebede and Lemma 2007; Nuru 2007).

During interview with respondents, it was discovered that the capture of natural swarms is a traditional and common technique which was practiced almost by all beekeepers in the study area as a source of colony for colony expansion. Colony multiplication as means of getting new swarm is not introduced and practiced by any of the beekeepers in the study area. To create supply of sustainable and quality bee colony in the area, colony multiplication technique should be promoted through training.

Honeybee Management Practices

1. Placement of honeybee colonies

The majority of the respondents (Table 5) were keeping their bees in backyard, under the eaves of the house, hanging on trees near homestead/forest and in area enclosure. Such apiary sites are appropriate/easier for daily follow up activities or inspection of beekeeping except “tree apiaries”.

2. Colony inspections

In the study area, hive inspection by opening the hive is not a common practice in traditional beekeeping. Internal hive inspection is undertaken by not more than 33.3% of beekeepers (mostly respondents using modern beehive) during honey harvesting, swarming and when colonies attacked by pests. This is presumably because of fear of being stung, the risk of the colony absconding, lack of time and lack of awareness of the value of doing so. Moreover, almost all beekeepers in the study area perform external inspection and also clean their apiary to prevent ant and other insect pests from getting access to hives. The study conducted by Kerealem et al (2006), Kerealem et al (2009), Nuru (2007) and Kebede and Lemma (2007) revealed that internal hive inspection of traditional hive is not very common or non-existent at all in their respective study areas.

3. Feeding honeybees

Honey bee colonies naturally sustain themselves and produce honey by foraging from natural and cultivated crops in all possible radiuses from their nests. During the survey period it was observed that farmers who have modern beehives did not manage it properly. Out of the sampled respondents’ only 45% practice feeding of their bee colonies, while 55% do not practice feeding as they think that honeybees can strive for themselves. With regard to the type of feed they provide, of those sampled respondents feeding their bees, 25.9% of them use roasted barley flour, 37.04% of them feed roasted spiced pulses flour, 29.6% of them feed sugar syrup and the rest 7.41% provide feed like honey and water solution.

Swarming incidence and its management

Swarming is a cluster of bees containing a queen that has split from an established colony to start a new colony. All bees may swarm under certain conditions, but some races and strains are more inclined to swarm than others. According to the respondent farmers swarming mostly occurs in autumn (from September to October) in Kewet.

When bees are preparing to swarm, they will always build queen cells. These are easily recognized by their large size, peanut like appearance, and vertical position on the comb. A crowded brood nest, age and productiveness of the queen are one of the main causes (Tewe 2004). Poor ventilation of the hive and weather conditions positively affecting the nectar flow may contribute to swarming.

Absconding and reasons for bees absconding from hives

Absconding is the term used when all the bees from a hive leave and desert the combs. The interviewed beekeepers responded that there was absconding immediately following the main honey flow season and continued throughout the dry season (mainly from February - March) up to the next active period.

Absconding usually occurs as a result of shortage of food or reduction in the honey flow, disturbance of the colony, either by pests, predators or even by the beekeeper (Table 7). Poor management and honey harvesting techniques including excessive use of smoke during harvest and destructive ways of honey harvest, the beekeepers might use unsuitable hives (too big, too humid, bad smell), unsuitable places (too much shade, no shelter from rain or excessive heat, and exposed all day to the sun). Moreover, bee strains like Apis cerana and tropical Apis mellifera are much more prone to absconding (Segeren 2004).

In the survey conducted on honey production system in West Shoa Zone the absconding rate was estimated to be 32.1 percent (Edessa 2002), and this result is lower than that of the present study.

Swarm attractant materials

The use of baiting hives to catch swarm is part of the traditional beekeeping practices in the study area. The new hive may be smoked until the internal color of the hive gets brown. Similarly, Kerealem et al (2006), Kebede and Lemma (2007) and Workneh (2011) reported that most of the beekeepers in the central Ethiopia had got their bee colonies by trapping swarms using bait hives.

Bee diseases, pests and predators

In this study at least seven pest and predators that attack honeybees and their hives in the study area were identified based on information collected from the respondent beekeepers. According to respondents ranking in Kewet; ant (33.3%), wax moth (16.7%), honey badger (15%), bee lice (13.3%), birds (10%), lizard (6.7%) and spiders (5%) are ranked 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th, respectively.

Like all living things, honeybees are attacked at all stages of their development by various enemies either directly as predators, or indirectly, by disturbing the life of the colony in various ways. The most important of these enemies are those that destroy the combs, the stores, the hive itself and some predators that attack foraging worker bees as they leave the hive. Study conducted by Desalegn (2006) in West Shewa Zone of Ethiopia also showed that from the total honeybee colonies in his study area, 44.2% of them were known to be attacked by ants every year, of which 24% absconded and 4.2% died. In the current study area, some of the methods used by the respondents to prevent predators are keeping the apiary tidy and clean from under growth, avoiding throwing/scattering combs around the apiary site, application of ash around the hive stand, plastering the hive stand with plastic materials, finding and killing predators like bee-eater birds and the queen of ants.

Constraints of beekeeping

The result shows the major constraints encountered by respondent beekeepers. About 83.3%, 66.7%, 53.3%, 51.7% and 50% of the beekeepers in kewet district claimed pesticides and herbicides application, pests and predators, absconding, death of colony and swarming, respectively. Shortage of bee forage, beekeeping equipment, shortage of water, drought, storage facilities, marketing, high temperature, high wind and excessive rainfall were some of the other problems responsible for low productivity of hive products in the study area. This study result is in line with Kerealem et al (2009) who reported shortage of bee forage, agrochemical poisoning and honeybee pest which were also reported as the major beekeeping constraints in Amhara regional state.

Opportunities

In Ethiopia beekeeping provides rural people with sources of income and nutrition. It is a sustainable form of agriculture, which is beneficial to the environment and provides economic reasons for the conservation of native habitats and potentially increased yield of food and forage crops. In the study areas also beekeeping provides a good example of one activity which has a strong local tradition, where there is a local market, and which is environmentally beneficial. Besides the constraints mentioned in the above, the major opportunities for sustainable beekeeping in the study areas are as follows:

• Natural and human resources potentials
  The presence of natural resources (like local honeybee races, a place to keep them, biodiversity and environmental conditions) and human capital: beekeepers indigenous knowledge, cultural practices and local innovations, and marketing expertise in the study areas are opportunities for the development of beekeeping. In the long run, with the increasing demand for table honey, the study areas now has a tremendous opportunity to reduce the overall honeybee colony numbers through selecting and managing better productive colonies. The rapid changes taking place in all agriculture may be expected to shift the emphasis from hives in greater numbers to a few well-managed colonies.
  
  
• Water availability
  In the study district, there are many streams, springs and small and large perennial rivers. Moreover, the district is well known for its different types of water harvesting physical structures i.e. ponds and so on. This has created high opportunity for endorsing the existing traditional beekeeping industry in the areas.
  
  
• Employment opportunity
  With relatively low start up costs and minimum land requirements, beekeeping offers high potential for outreach programme for safety net beneficiaries. Cooperative-based production schemes offer opportunity for the landless and youth on communal lands. The non-labor intensive aspects of beekeeping are favorable for women. For those beneficiaries engaged in other types of farming, beekeeping can complement already-existing crops by increasing production through pollination while promoting biodiversity. Honey is also a stable commodity with a relatively long shelf life, and may serve as a risk mitigation strategy as an additional income stream.
  
  
• Traditional know-how
  In the study area, beekeeping practice has a long history, as a fact, the beekeepers have developed indigenous knowledge which was passing from generation to generation. The main areas of indigenous beekeeping knowledge are hive construction from locally available materials, swarm catching, hive smoking materials, honey and swarming season identification, different medicinal values of honey, identification of important honeybee floras, the medicinal value of honey and identification of adulterated honey. This familiarity and pride with bee-keeping can support rapid uptake among additional beneficiaries. This could be used as a possible entry points for intervention strategies aimed at improving productivity of the beekeeping sector in the area. Presence of long standing beekeeping practices and indigenous know how is very important to improve the existing practices than introducing new practices.
  
  
• Beekeeping association
  The establishments of Ethiopian Beekeeping Association (EBA) in the country at a time when many issues related to apiculture become critical are one opportunity. EBA create a common forum to exchange experiences and views to promote the sub-sector, and call professionals together to discuss and seek solutions to various problems of the sub-sector.
  
  
• The attention of the government to improve beekeeping
  The government has increased its attention to develop the apiculture subsector as one of its strategies for poverty reduction and diversification of export commodities. Recent initiatives taken by the public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are in the right direction towards improving the possibility of exploiting the potential of the apiculture sub-sector, and increasing its overall competitiveness through the introduction and promotion of modern hives in order to obtain honey of good quality for industrial processing. This opportunity will give a chance to get support to alleviate major constraints hindering apiculture development in the area.

Conclusions

• Beekeeping in the study area is dominantly a man's occupation and there were only few women beekeepers in the district.
  
  
• Major challenges and constraints identified by the beekeepers include pesticides and herbicides application, pests and predators, absconding, death of colony and swarming.
  
  
• Pests and predators like ant, wax moth, honey badger, bee lice, birds, lizard and spiders that attack honeybees and their hives in the study area were identified based on information collected from the respondent beekeepers.
  
  
• From this study it was realized that, there is potential of honeybee production in Kewet district.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my thanks to the Kewet district Agricultural offices for their assistance during data collection. Lastly I would like also to express my thanks to beekeepers in the study area for their willing to be interviewed and giving me all the valuable information.

References

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Received 22 December 2014; Accepted 1 April 2015; Published 1 May 2015

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