Abstract:
The study was conducted in three selected woredas of Tigray Region in 2011/12.The
objectives of the study were to assess the honey production and marketing system and identify
the constraints and opportunities of the study areas. For this study three woredas(Rayaazebo,Kolla-temben and Medebe-zana) were selected purposively based on beekeeping
potential and were further stratified in to three peasant associations(PAs) based on altitude
variation as high land (>2300), mid land (1500-2300) and low land (<1500)masl. Thirty
beekeepers were selected from each PA using systematic random sampling method to conduct
formal survey with semi structured questionnaire making a total of 270 interviewed bee
keepers. The maximum and minimum colony number in each beekeeper in traditional and
frame hives ranged from 0-40 and 0-24, repectively.The mean amount of honey produced
annually from traditional and frame hive in kg in the study areas were 12.79 and 28.29,
respectively. There was highly significant difference (P<0.001) in the average price of one kg
honey from traditional (45.810 Birr) and frame (51.724 Birr) hives. The mean amount of
honey produced per household in Raya-azebo, Kolla-temben and Medebe-zana woredas were
83.47, 69.97 and 82.22 respectively. There was highly significant difference in the income of
the households (P<0.001).This difference might be due to the quality of their product in
relation to the way they strained the honey, the difference in the physical appearance of the
honey because of impurities and difference in financial strength .The gross marketing margin
share of producers from consumers fall down ward (40%) to the gross marketing margin of
honey collectors, wholesalers and retailers (60%).This might be attributed to the inefficiency
of the honey marketing system due to presence of unproductive market participants such as
unlicensed honey traders. The regression of honey price showed that the honey demand will
change by 8.417 for every coming year. Based on the result of the study, the first two
constraints in the areas were poor marketing system and colony swarming. On the other
hand, the opportunities for beekeeping in the study areas were existence of honey bee
colonies, availability of potential flowering honey plants, presence of experienced beekeepers,
land rehabilitation, availability of credit sources, and increase demand of honey, and
improvement in productivity and overall production of honey. To conclude, the study areas
possess potentials for beekeeping though there are constraints that hinder the beekeeping
sub-sector that need to be solved
