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

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the study area.

Table 1. Socio demographic characteristics of bee keepers (N = 384)

Socio demographic characteristics		Districts			Total N (%)
		Meket N (%)	Bugna N (%)	Lasta N (%)
Sex	Male	126 (98.4)	128 (100)	128 (100)	382 (99.5)
	Female	2 (1.6)	-	-	2 (0.5)
Level of education	Illiterate	20 (15.6)	44 (34.3)	43 (33.6)	107 (27.8)
	Read and write	69 (43.7)	19 (14.8)	41 (32)	129 (30.1)
	Primary education	31 (24.2)	48 (37.5)	15 (11.7)	94 (24.4)
	From grade 5–10	21 (16.4)	17 (13.2)	29 (22.6)	67 (17.4)
Marital status	Married	127 (99.2)	124 (96.8)	125 (97.6)	376 (97.6)
	Single	-	4 (3.1)	3 (2.3)	7 (1.8)
	Widowed	1 (0.8)	0	0	1 (0.3)

Table 2. Age, family and land size of the honeybee-keeping respondents (mean±SD)

HHs characteristics	Meket	Bugna	Lasta	Total
Age	44.8 ± 8.3	44.2 ± 11.3	51.2 ± 13.5	46.7 ± 11
Family size	5.2 ± 0.9	5.4 ± 1.4	4.9 ± 1.6	5.2 ± 1.4
Land size	1.0 ± 0.77	0.86 ± 0.6	1.9 ± 1.6	1.3 ± 1.18

HHs - households

Figure 2. Sources of honey bee colony in the study area.

Table 3. Placement of bee colony in the study area (N = 384)

Variables	Response	Meket N= (%)	Bugna N (%)	Lasta N (%)	Total N (%)
Placement of bee colony	Backyard	60 (46.87)	117 (91.41)	124 (96.87)	301 (78.38)
	Under the eve of the house	40 (31.25)	8 (6.25)	4 (3.13)	52 (13.54)
	Inside the house/kushina/	12 (9.38)	0	0	12 (3.13)
	Hanging on trees near homestead	0	3 (2.34)	0	3 (0.78)
	Hanging on trees in the forests	16 (12.5)	0	0	16 (4.17)
	Total	100	100	100	100

Table 4. Honey bee colony holding in the study area

Hive type	Districts	N	Min	Max	Mean$\pm \hspace{0.17em}$ SD
Traditional	Meket	122	1.00	24.00	3.8 $\pm$ 4.2
	Bugna	122	1.00	50.00	9.2 $\pm$ 10.9
	Lasta	101	1.00	80.00	8.8 $\pm$ 16.5
	Total	345	1.00	80.00	7.2 $\pm$ 11.5
Intermediate	Meket	24	1.00	10.00	3.4 $\pm$ 3.9
	Bugna	34	1.00	6.00	1.76 $\pm$ 1.5
	Lasta	62	1.00	3.00	2.2 $\pm$ 0.7
	Total	120	1.00	10.00	2.3 $\pm$ 2.0
Movable frame	Meket	57	1.00	22.00	3.84 $\pm$ 5.7
	Bugna	80	1.00	12.00	4.1 $\pm$ 3.2
	Lasta	61	1.00	12.00	2.4 $\pm$ 2.7
	Total	198	1.00	22.00	3.5 $\pm$ 4.07

Table 5. Major honeybee preferable plants prioritized based on frequency of respondents in the study area

No.	Local name	Scientific name	Family	Rewards	Frequency of respondent	Percentage (%) of respondent
1	Adeyabeba	Bidens pachyloma	Asteraceae	Pollen/Nectar	365	95
2	Mentese	Becium grandflorium	Lamiaceae	Pollen/Nectar	350	91.1
3	Maget	Trifolium Spp.	Fabaceae	Nectar	342	89.3
4	Simiza	Justitia schemperina	Acanthaceae	Pollen/Nectar	340	88.5
5	Menoguaya	Vicia dassycarpa	Asteraceae	Pollen/Nectar	321	83.5
6	Bakela	Vicia faba	Fabaceae	Pollen/Nectar	315	82
7	Meche	Guizotia scabra	Asteraceae	Pollen	310	80,7
8	Saligena	Acacia saligna	Fabaceae	Pollen	280	72.9
9	Tejmatebiya (tiqur telenj)	Hypoestes trifloral	Acanthaceae	Pollen/Nectar	278	72.4
10	Kushile	Echinops spp.	Asteraceae	Nectar	260	67.7
11	Abatimara	Ocimum bacilicum	Lamiaceae	Pollen/Nectar	240	62.5
12	yetebemenja zaf	Jacaranda mimosifolia	Bignoniaceae		235	61.2
13	Nech Girar	Acacia abyssinica	Fabaceae	Pollen/Nectar	210	54.6
14	Anfar	Buddleja polystachya	Loganiaceae	Pollen/Nectar	205	53.3
15	Kenitefa	Pterolobium stellatum	Caesalpiniaceae	Pollen/Nectar	202	52.6
16	Aluma	Achyranthus spp	Amaranthaceae	Pollen/Nectar	200	52
17	Yeset milas/amekela	Hygrophila schulli	Acanthaceae		195	50.7
18	Wanza	Cordia Africana	Boraginaceae	Pollen/Nectar	192	50
19	Qundoberbere	Piper nigrum	Piperaceae	Pollen/Nectar	180	46.8
20	Dedeho	Euclea shimperi	Ebenaceae	Pollen/Nectar	175	45.5
21	Tosigne	Thymus schimperi	Lamiaceae	Pollen/Nectar	171	44.5
22	Sespaniya/shiwushiwuye	Sesbania sesban	Fabaceae	Pollen/Nectar	165	42.9
23	Qega	Rosa abyssincia	Rosaceae	Pollen/nectar	162	42.1
24	Key Bahirzaf	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	Myrtaceae	Pollen/nectar	157	40.8
25	Woyira	Olea europaea	Oleaceae	Pollen/nectar	128	33.3
26	Kuleza	Guizotia villosa	Asteraceae	Pollen/nectar	112	29.1
27	Firtata	Adansonia digitate	Bombacaceae	Pollen/nectar	98	25.5
28	Suf	Carthamus tinctorius	Asteraceae	Pollen/nectar	82	21.3
29	Kitkita	Dodonaea angustifolia	Sapindaceae	Pollen/nectar	60	15.6

Table 6. Major honeybee plants floral calendar in the study area

		Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug
1	Rosa abyssincia
2	Acacia abyssinica
3	Eucalyptus camaldulensis
4	Bidens pachyloma
5	Vicia dassycarpa
6	Vicia faba
7	Cordia Africana
8	Piper nigrum
9	Euclea shimperi
10	Acacia saligna
11	Guizotia scabra
12	Sesbania sesban
13	Trifolium Spp.
14	Justitia schemperina
15	Becium grandflorium
16	Olea europaea
17	Buddleja polystachya
18	Guizotia villosa
19	Adansonia digitate
20	Carthamus tinctorius
21	Hypoestes trifloral
22	Echinops spp.
23	Dodonaea angustifolia
24	Thymus schimperi
25	Ocimum bacilicum
26	Pterolobium stellatum
27	Achyranthus spp
28	Hygrophila schulli
29	Jacaranda mimosifolia

Table 7. Poisonous honey bee plants in the study area

No.	Local name	Scientific name	Family	Flowering time	Symptom
1	Azo areg	Clematis simensis	Ranunculaceae	April–June	Weakness
2	Quliquwal	Euphorbia abyssinica	Euphorbiaceae	October	Weakness ad death of bees,
3	Bisana	Croton macrostachyus	Euphorbiaceae	May–June	Weakness and death of bees
5	Endod	Phytolacca dodecandra	Phytolaccaceae	January–March	Weakness
6	Chiret	Agave spp.	Agavaceae	September	Weakness
7	Digita	Calpurnia aurea	Fabaceae	July–September	Weakness and death of bees
8	Yeferenj suf	Helianthus annuus	Asteraceae	September	Death of bees
9	Eret	Aloe pulcherrima Gilbert	Aloaceae	September	Death of bees, disease on feeding persons
10	Tinjut	Otostegia fruticosa	Lamiaceae	September–November	Weakness and death of bees
11	Embacho	Rumex nervosus	Polygonaceae	March	Weakness
12	Astenagirit/ese fars	Datura stramonium	Solanaceae	August– December	Weakness and death of bees

Table 8. Constraints of beekeeping production in North Wollo zone (N = 384)

№	Attributes	1	2	3	4	5	6	Index	Rank
1	Agro-chemicals	260	74	15	6	19	6	0.341	1
2	Lack of beekeeping equipment	112	93	36	15	10	6	0.225	2
3	Disease, Pest and predators	69	48	36	21	17	12	0.151	3
4	Market distance and linkage problem	35	62	17	7	19	14	0.110	4
5	Lack of credit service	12	60	24	8	84		0.109	5
6	Lack of training	10	19	36	14	12	8	0.062	6

Index = sum of (6*ranked 1st + 5* ranked 2nd +4* ranked 3rd + 3*ranked 4th+ 2* ranked 5th +1* ranked 6th) for individual reason/grand total.

Table 9. Opportunities of beekeeping production in North Wollo zone (N = 384)

№	Attributes	1	2	3	4	5	6	Index	Rank
1	Suitability of environment	196	87	45	25	17	10	0.317	1
2	Increasing trend of honey price	97	90	83	61	11	15	0.263	2
3	Presence of honeybee flora	81	40	69	41	15	13	0.187	3
4	Becomes Good source of income	31	17	17	18	14	15	0.072	5
5	No minimum cost of management	10	5	25	17	13	3	0.044	6

Index = sum of (5*ranked 1st + 4* ranked 2nd +3* ranked 3rd + 2*ranked 4th+ 1* ranked 5th) for individual reason/grand total.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.