Abstract:
Despite the long tradition of beekeeping in Ethiopia and having potential for beekeeping the
beekeepers in particular and the country in general are not well benefited from the subsector. The main objective of this study is to assess factors affecting adoption of modern
beehive practices in the study area. The specific objectives are to assess beekeeping
production system practiced in study area and to identify factors affecting adoption of modern
beehive technologies in the study area. Stratified sampling technique was employed to identify
the sample respondents. The sample respondents were categorized into adopters and nonadopters of modern bee hive. Based on probability proportional to size 59adopters and 71
non-adopters were identified out of 130 total sample respondents. The data were collected
using structured interview schedule, group discussion, key informant discussion and
observation; and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and logit model. The binary logit
model reveals that education level of household head, beekeeping experience, extension
contact, apiary visit, perception, credit, were positively and significantly influencing adoption
of modern bee hive, whereas age, sex, family size, land holding, livestock holding, market
availability, honey bee pests, and availability of accessories were not significantly influencing
adoption of modern bee hive. The modern beehive has a production potential of20-30kg per
colony of honey while the traditional beehive produce5-10kg per colony of honey. Though
different organizations strive to disseminate modern beehive, the adopters are not
comparable with efforts have been excreted, and this might have different reasons such as
institutional, socioeconomic and biophysical. Such information’s might be different from
according the circumstances in which the farmers are living and working, and still no
information has been generated on socioeconomic, institutional and biophysical determinants
of adoption of modern beehives in Gambella. The overall finding of the study underlined the
importance of institutional support in the areas of availing beekeeping accessories, bee
forage and improving beekeepers perception on the technology to enhance adoption of
modern bee hive technology. Therefore, agricultural policy and development interventions
should be given emphasis to the improvement of such institutional support.
