Assessment of Honey Production System, Quality and Beekeeping Practices in Bako Tibe District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

he study was conducted to assess honey production system and beekeeping practices in Bako Tibe districts. The main purposes of the assessment was to identify and document the existing honey production system, honey quality and beekeeping practice of the district, while identifying major constraints and opportunities in the study area. For this purpose, data were collected from six Kebele selected purposively from three different agro-ecological zones (Lowland 3, Mid-land 2 and Highland 1) based on stratified sampling techniques. Thus, 60, 40 and 20 beekeepers were selected respectively from each agro-ecological zone using proportional allocation giving a total of 120 beekeepers and interviewed using questionnaire, Fuscous group discussions. For honey quality test, 13 honey samples each weighing about100gm from the three different agro-ecology zones were collected from beekeepers randomly for physico-chemical evaluation (moisture content, PH, acidity and ash content) and for plant source identification. From this study, three types of beekeeping systems were documented, namely: (1) Traditional beekeeping systems (2) Transitional beekeeping systems and (3) Modern beekeeping systems. About 91.7% of respondents practiced traditional beekeeping. Only 8.3% of the respondents’ practice traditional, transitional and modern beekeeping system. The mean bee colony holding sizes of the respondents were about 14.6 /household. Honey yield/hive from traditional, transitional and improved hive were 10.1kg/year, 18.5kg/year and 29.6kg/year, respectively. There were two honey flow seasons in the study area, namely November to December and April to May. Based on the results of this study, the major challenges of beekeeping were, Bee disease, pests and predators, pesticide poisoning, bee forage, lack of beekeeping equipments and materials, markets, lack of honey storage facilities, lack of skill poor extension service. The physico chemical composition of honey was significant (P<0.05) in PH and Acidity when compared to the different agro-ecological zone and within hive types, where as moisture contents significant only within agro-ecological zone only , while ash, content were not significant (p>0.05)with in both agro-ecology and hive types. Almost all parameters measured for honey samples (Moisture=19.81%, PH=3.4.23, Free acidity=21.43milli.equiv.acid/kg and Ash= 0.11 %) were within the acceptable range of the world and national standard. Due to high potential of the study area for apiculture and good quality standard of the honey, it is recommended to exploit the potential for export market with better intervention. Further study is also required to characterize the honeybees of the area and major pests and diseases of economic importance and their control.