Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Kibebew Wakjira; Alemayehu Gela

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Kibebew Wakjira, Alemayehu Gela

Published in International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 4, Issue 1)

Received: 26 December 2018 Accepted: 20 January 2019 Published: 13 February 2019

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Abstract

The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in view of investigating colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and productivity of beekeeping in the area. Individual questioner survey, focus group discussions and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data. Moreover, data on suitable land size for beekeeping, seasons and frequency of honey harvest, months of dearth period for colonies, honey potential of the area, number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were collected. Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers. The study revealed that out of 820,956 ha land mass of the zone, about 59% was found to be with the highest potential for beekeeping with the remaining portion with medium potential. Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 1.66 times and two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified. Estimated honey reserve potential of the zone is about 89.2 thousand tons/year with colony carrying capacity of 520 bee colonies per single apiary. However, the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary is found to be 260 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of an apiary is 0.5. From this analysis, current average honey production from traditional transitional and modern were found to be 3.5, 14.6 and 21.0 kg/colony/year, respectively with pulled average of 10.6 kg/ colony/year in the study area. With the current bee colony holding size and production level, each beekeeper produces about 244 kg/year, while it has a possibility of achieving 700 kg honey per year. From this, the annual yield loss per individual beekeeper can be estimated to 460 kg honey which can further explored to over $820 financial loss. Bee colony miss-management is identified as fundamental major cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study area than the carrying capacity of individual apiary. It is recommended from this study that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the production potential of their beekeeping endeavor.

Published in	International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13
Page(s)	14-21
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Colony Carrying Capacity, Flowering Calendar, Horro Guduru Wollega and Honey Yield Potential

References

[1]	A. Sebsib and T. Yibrah, “Beekeeping Practice, Opportunities, Marketing and Challenges in Ethiopia: Review,” J. Dairy Vet. Sci., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 1–21, 2018.
[2]	CSA, “Federal democratic republic of Ethiopia, Central statistical agency. Agricultural sample survey 2016/17, report on Livestock and livestock characteristics,” 2017.
[3]	D. Paulos, “Ethiopian Honey: Accessing International Markets with Inclusive Business and Sector Development. SNV Ethiopia.,” Seas Chang., pp. 1–7, 2012.
[4]	21st to 26th September, 2016,” in 5th ApiExpo Africa 2016, 2016, pp. 1–32.
[5]	B. Masuku, “Socioeconomic analysis of beekeeping in Swaziland: A case study of the Manzini Region, Swaziland,” J. Dev. Agric. Econ., vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 236–241, 2013.
[6]	A. Al-Ghamdi, N. Adgaba, A. Getachew, and Y. Tadesse, “New approach for determination of an optimum honeybee colony’s carrying capacity based on productivity and nectar secretion potential of bee forage species,” Saudi J. Biol. Sci., vol. 23, pp. 92–100, 2016.
[7]	M. Giovanetti and G. Aronne, “Honey bee interest in flowers with anemophilous characteristics: First notes on handling time and routine on Fraxinus ornus and Castanea sativa,” Bull. Insectology, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 77–82, 2011.
[8]	V. N. Kulakov, Melliferous resources of the Russian federation. Moscow, Russia: Russian State Agricultural University-Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, 2015.
[9]	A. Admasu, W. Kibebew, K. Ensermu, and B. Amssalu, Honeybee forages of ethiopia. 2014.
[10]	R. Fichtl and A. Adi, Honeybee Flora of Ethiopia. Margraf Verlag, Germany, p. 510. 1994.
[11]	G. Yetimwork, T. Berhan, and B. Desalegn, “Honeybee production trend , potential and constraints in Eastern Zone of College Tigray,” Agric. Biol. J. North Am., vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 22–29, 2015.
[12]	DAMMA, “Developing Apiculture Management and Market Access, Annual Bulletin, 2016,” 2017.

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APA Style

Kibebew Wakjira, Alemayehu Gela. (2019). Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 4(1), 14-21. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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ACS Style

Kibebew Wakjira; Alemayehu Gela. Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2019, 4(1), 14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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AMA Style

Kibebew Wakjira, Alemayehu Gela. Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2019;4(1):14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13,
  author = {Kibebew Wakjira and Alemayehu Gela},
  title = {Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia},
  journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
  volume = {4},
  number = {1},
  pages = {14-21},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  abstract = {The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in view of investigating colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and productivity of beekeeping in the area. Individual questioner survey, focus group discussions and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data. Moreover, data on suitable land size for beekeeping, seasons and frequency of honey harvest, months of dearth period for colonies, honey potential of the area, number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were collected. Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers. The study revealed that out of 820,956 ha land mass of the zone, about 59% was found to be with the highest potential for beekeeping with the remaining portion with medium potential. Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 1.66 times and two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified. Estimated honey reserve potential of the zone is about 89.2 thousand tons/year with colony carrying capacity of 520 bee colonies per single apiary. However, the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary is found to be 260 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of an apiary is 0.5. From this analysis, current average honey production from traditional transitional and modern were found to be 3.5, 14.6 and 21.0 kg/colony/year, respectively with pulled average of 10.6 kg/ colony/year in the study area. With the current bee colony holding size and production level, each beekeeper produces about 244 kg/year, while it has a possibility of achieving 700 kg honey per year. From this, the annual yield loss per individual beekeeper can be estimated to 460 kg honey which can further explored to over $820 financial loss. Bee colony miss-management is identified as fundamental major cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study area than the carrying capacity of individual apiary. It is recommended from this study that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the production potential of their beekeeping endeavor.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia
AU  - Kibebew Wakjira
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Y1  - 2019/02/13
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DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13
T2  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JF  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JO  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
SP  - 14
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3061
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AB  - The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in view of investigating colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and productivity of beekeeping in the area. Individual questioner survey, focus group discussions and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data. Moreover, data on suitable land size for beekeeping, seasons and frequency of honey harvest, months of dearth period for colonies, honey potential of the area, number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were collected. Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers. The study revealed that out of 820,956 ha land mass of the zone, about 59% was found to be with the highest potential for beekeeping with the remaining portion with medium potential. Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 1.66 times and two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified. Estimated honey reserve potential of the zone is about 89.2 thousand tons/year with colony carrying capacity of 520 bee colonies per single apiary. However, the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary is found to be 260 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of an apiary is 0.5. From this analysis, current average honey production from traditional transitional and modern were found to be 3.5, 14.6 and 21.0 kg/colony/year, respectively with pulled average of 10.6 kg/ colony/year in the study area. With the current bee colony holding size and production level, each beekeeper produces about 244 kg/year, while it has a possibility of achieving 700 kg honey per year. From this, the annual yield loss per individual beekeeper can be estimated to 460 kg honey which can further explored to over $820 financial loss. Bee colony miss-management is identified as fundamental major cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study area than the carrying capacity of individual apiary. It is recommended from this study that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the production potential of their beekeeping endeavor.
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Kibebew Wakjira

Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Ethiopia
Alemayehu Gela

Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center, Holeta, Ethiopia

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APA Style

Kibebew Wakjira, Alemayehu Gela. (2019). Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 4(1), 14-21. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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ACS Style

Kibebew Wakjira; Alemayehu Gela. Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2019, 4(1), 14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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AMA Style

Kibebew Wakjira, Alemayehu Gela. Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2019;4(1):14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13,
  author = {Kibebew Wakjira and Alemayehu Gela},
  title = {Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia},
  journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
  volume = {4},
  number = {1},
  pages = {14-21},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20190401.13},
  abstract = {The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in view of investigating colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and productivity of beekeeping in the area. Individual questioner survey, focus group discussions and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data. Moreover, data on suitable land size for beekeeping, seasons and frequency of honey harvest, months of dearth period for colonies, honey potential of the area, number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were collected. Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers. The study revealed that out of 820,956 ha land mass of the zone, about 59% was found to be with the highest potential for beekeeping with the remaining portion with medium potential. Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 1.66 times and two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified. Estimated honey reserve potential of the zone is about 89.2 thousand tons/year with colony carrying capacity of 520 bee colonies per single apiary. However, the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary is found to be 260 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of an apiary is 0.5. From this analysis, current average honey production from traditional transitional and modern were found to be 3.5, 14.6 and 21.0 kg/colony/year, respectively with pulled average of 10.6 kg/ colony/year in the study area. With the current bee colony holding size and production level, each beekeeper produces about 244 kg/year, while it has a possibility of achieving 700 kg honey per year. From this, the annual yield loss per individual beekeeper can be estimated to 460 kg honey which can further explored to over $820 financial loss. Bee colony miss-management is identified as fundamental major cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study area than the carrying capacity of individual apiary. It is recommended from this study that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the production potential of their beekeeping endeavor.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Assessment of Colony Carrying Capacity and Factors Responsible for Low Production and Productivity of Beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia
AU  - Kibebew Wakjira
AU  - Alemayehu Gela
Y1  - 2019/02/13
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13
T2  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JF  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JO  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
SP  - 14
EP  - 21
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3061
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20190401.13
AB  - The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in view of investigating colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and productivity of beekeeping in the area. Individual questioner survey, focus group discussions and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data. Moreover, data on suitable land size for beekeeping, seasons and frequency of honey harvest, months of dearth period for colonies, honey potential of the area, number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were collected. Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers. The study revealed that out of 820,956 ha land mass of the zone, about 59% was found to be with the highest potential for beekeeping with the remaining portion with medium potential. Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 1.66 times and two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified. Estimated honey reserve potential of the zone is about 89.2 thousand tons/year with colony carrying capacity of 520 bee colonies per single apiary. However, the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary is found to be 260 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of an apiary is 0.5. From this analysis, current average honey production from traditional transitional and modern were found to be 3.5, 14.6 and 21.0 kg/colony/year, respectively with pulled average of 10.6 kg/ colony/year in the study area. With the current bee colony holding size and production level, each beekeeper produces about 244 kg/year, while it has a possibility of achieving 700 kg honey per year. From this, the annual yield loss per individual beekeeper can be estimated to 460 kg honey which can further explored to over $820 financial loss. Bee colony miss-management is identified as fundamental major cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study area than the carrying capacity of individual apiary. It is recommended from this study that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the production potential of their beekeeping endeavor.
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
ER  -

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