ASSESSMENT ON BEEKEEPING PRACTICES, PRODUCTION POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES OF BEE KEEPING AMONG BEEKEEPERS IN SELECTED KEBELES OF CHEHA WOREDA.

Abstract

The study was carried out in three selected districts of Wolkite Zone of southern Nation nationality and people’s regional state, Sisnemate, Adoshe and Werdene districts which are found in cheha District. The objective of the study was to access production systems, opportunities and constraints of beekeeping in the study districts. Beekeeping is a long-standing practice in the study districts and appears as ancient history of the country as a whole. A total of 60 respondents with differing number from each area were selected randomly based.. The selected respondents were interviewed using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire and single visit multiple-subject formal survey method was used to collect the data. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results of the household survey showed that the majority of the hives owned by the bee keepers were traditional, followed by modern and lastly transitional bee hives. The majority (70%) of the respondents started beekeeping by catching swarms. Honey was harvested twice a year from May to June and from September to November. The survey result also indicated that beekeeping has a huge number of constraints that hinder honey bee production and profitability. The major constraints are shortage of bee forage, pests and predators, death of colony, swarming; and others respectively. Lack of bee forage associated with deforestation was the main problem, and it was ranks first among all the constraints. The major pests and predators are ants, rats, beetles wax moth, bee lice, spiders, birds, lizards, snakes, etc. The respondents indicated that, they had interest to improve beekeeping practices in the area. So, the government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should support them by providing training on how to manage honey bee flora, and providing modern honey bee equipment to enhance the honey productivity in the study area.