Participatory rural appraisal investigation on beekeeping in Arsi Negelle and Shashemene districts of West Arsi zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Gebeyehu, Arse / Tesfaye Kebede / Sebsibe Zuber / Tekalign Gutu Sakketa / Gurmessa Umeta / Tesfaye Lemma / Feyisa Hundessa
External Publications (2010)

in: Livestock Research for Rural Development 22 (7), 1-9

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The study was conducted in 2007 in Arsi Negelle and Shashemene districts of West Arsi zone of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to identify major beekeeping challenges and opportunities. For this study 5 peasant associations (PAs) were selected. From each PA a group of 30 to 40 beekeeping farmers was used for implementation of different participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools selected for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Guizotia scabra, Hypoestes forskali, croton macrostachy are the major honeybee flora in the study area.
In both districts, honey is harvested two times a year which varied in period of harvest between highland and lowland areas of the districts. The major honey flow season is November to December and the minor honey flow is from May to June. In both districts’ highland areas, the major honey flow season is March to May that is mainly attributed to the flowering season of croton macrostachy and the minor honey flow season is November to December. Shortage of honeybee forage, shortage of honeybee colonies, agrochemical poisoning are the major beekeeping constraints in both districts. Moreover, availability of honeybee enemies (ants, honey badger, bee-eater birds, wax moth, spider and beetles) were reported. The preference ranking matrix indicated that farmers of both districts know little about transitional hives. Beekeeping is considered as one of income source for the beekeepers and it has the 3rd and 4th rank among the other income sources in Arsi Negelle and Shashemene districts respectively.
Despite the different challenges encountered in this sub-sector, opportunities for beekeeping development in the areas still exist due to the presence of natural resources, high demand for hive products and development policy attention from the government as one of the strategies to reduce poverty.

About the author

Sakketa, Tekalign Gutu

Agricultural / Development Economics