Bee flora identification, constraints and opportunities of beekeeping in North Wollo, Amhara, Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to identify honeybee flora species, identify the constraints and opportunities of honey production in three purposively selected districts of North Wollo, Amhara, Ethiopia from September to November 2021. In total, 384 beekeepers were purposively selected for the interview based on accessibility and beekeeping potentials. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires, key informant interview and focal group discussions were used for data collection. Beekeepers indicated that the major source of bee colony was buying, catching swarm and gift from others with decreasing order. Beekeepers kept their bee colony in the backyard area. They keep traditional, movable frame and top bar hive, respectively, in descending order. Majority of the beekeepers follow traditional production systems. Twenty-nine honeybee flora species and twelve poisonous plants are also identified. Use of agrochemicals, lack of beekeeping equipment, diseases, pests and predators were the main challenges to beekeeping identified in the study area. Conversely, the suitability of an environment with different agro-ecology, the availability of diversified honeybee flora and the attractive price of honey are the best-observed opportunities to increase honey production and productivity. In conclusion, great attention should be given to training and extension programs for beekeepers focusing on honeybee management, pest and predator prevention, and/or control methods. Supporting beekeeping equipments, strict rules and regulations on the use of agrochemicals should be necessary. Further research should be done on the abundance of honey bee flora and the level and effect of poisonous honeybee floras in order to increase the productivity and income of beekeepers.

Keywords:

• bee colony
• bee flora
• beehive
• beekeeping
• North Wollo
• Eastern Amhara

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Beekeeping is one of the important agricultural activities in Ethiopia. It is still an untapped sector of agriculture in the country. Beekeeping activities in Ethiopia are mainly constrained by the inability to transform, promote, and scale up to rapid growth, a lack of commercial development of beekeeping and beekeeping technology, limited credit service, a lack of market accessibility and knowledge extension, a shortage of bee forage and pests and predators. North Wollo zone is one of the potential areas in the country. However, there are different challenges in the study areas. It includes improper use of agrochemicals, lack of beekeeping equipment, diseases, pests and predators. The finding of this study enables to search solutions for those challenges and to use the existing opportunities properly that helps to increase the productivity and income of the beekeepers. This study was conducted to identify major honey bee floras and poisonous plants, opportunities and constraints.

Acknowledgments

The authors highly acknowledge the development agents and respondents for interviewing, filling questionaries, conducting focus group discussions and key informant interviews. They also thank Zelalem Regassa for drawing map of the study area using GIS and remote sensing satellite data.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Author contributions statement

W.T: Software, data collection, validation, formal analysis and writing original draft. Both authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. M.M: Investigation, conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2023.2292370

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Woldia University.

Notes on contributors

Wubshet Tefera

Wubshet Tefera is a lecturer at Woldia University, Ethiopia in the department of animal science since 2014. He has taught different courses, such as beekeeping, dairy production, livestock product processing and other animal science course for animal science students. His research areas include aflatoxin contamination in cow milk and feed, physico-chemical properties of honey, honey bee flora identification and honey bee pollen analysis. He has published articles in reputable journals.

Mebratu Melaku

Mebratu Melaku is an Assistant professor, senior lecturer, and researcher in the Department of Animal Science at Woldia University. He has several years of experience in teaching various animal production courses, conducting research, and being involved in community service duties, including serving as head Department for 3 ½ years. His research focuses on sustainable animal production, and has publication records from high-impact journals. He is currently a PhD fellow at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science in Beijing, China.