User:Amareworku/sandbox

amare worku

Introduction Apiculture is a promising off-farm enterprise, which directly and indirectly contributes to smallholder’s income in particular and nation’s economy in general. It has significant role in generating and diversifying the income of subsistence Ethiopian smallholder farmers mainly the small land holders and landless .Ethiopia is known for its tremendous variation of agro-climatic conditions and biodiversity which favored the existence of diversified honeybee flora and huge number of honeybee colonies .The diversified agro climatic conditions of the country create environmental conditions conducive for the growth of over 7000 species of flowering plants of which most are bee plants .It has the largest bee population in Africa with over 10 million bee colonies, out of which about 5 to 7.5 million are estimated to be hived while the remaining exist in the wild. The annual honey production of Ethiopia is estimated to be 45,300 metric tons which makes the country to rank first honey producing country in Africa and ninth in the world .The total beeswax production estimates about 3,800 tons per year. Such an amount puts the country 4th in beeswax production worldwide. Moreover, Ethiopia has the potential to produce up to 500,000 tons of honey and 50,000 tons of beeswax per year.Ethiopia is leading in Africa in honey production and in beeswax production. Beekeeping is a long lasting practice in Ethiopia. As a result, beekeepers have developed indigenous technical knowledge on traditional hive construction from different locally available materials, on honeybee management practices like honey season identification, swarm catching and attractant methods, swarm control method, honeybee enemy protection; traditional methods of sting protection and reduction of pain .More than one million households are estimated to keep bees using traditional, intermediate and modern hives. Reports indicate that colonies in traditional beehives account for about 97% of the total hived honeybee population. The productivity of traditional hives is extremely low and the average yield is only about 5–8kg/per colony/per annum .However, with this existing practices the annual honey production in the country is increasing and has reached quite higher than 53 thousand tons. In Ethiopia, there are generally two honey harvesting seasons: the major one that lasts from October to November and the secondary one from April to June. However, in addition to these major harvesting periods, there are many small harvesting periods which depend on the type of flowering plants and rainfall patterns in different agroecologies, which experienced beekeepers and local people easily associate the harvesting season with the botanical origin of honey in their locality.