Honeybee Production and Marketing Systems, Constraints - IPMS ...

An introduction of improved hives and working tools to the rural community are beyond thepockets of farmers and not so easily available even for those who could afford it. Manybeekeeping projects that were implemented by government and various organizations to boosthoney and beeswax production were not successful mainly due to inadequate management andabove all the beekeepers lack of awareness and interest. Likewise, it was not implemented on thebases of identification of potentials, constraints, attitudes and economic level of thecommunities. So it is very essential to identify the potential development constraints.As indicated in the Comprehensive Bees and Beeswax Marketing Plan 2 nd draftdocument(MOA, 2003), the country has set a long-term plan to raise the current 43,373 tones ofhoney and 3,658 tones beeswax annual yield to a level of 149,056 tones and 9,928 tones ofhoney and beeswax, respectively. It was also planned to export 80% and 50% of the total honeyand beeswax production, respectively (MOA, 2003).In the 3 years (2003-2005) development strategic plan of the ANRS; objectives have been set toexpand. For instance, it has been planned to increase the number of top-bar hives from 8,081 to996,000; box hives from 1,691 to 66,400, to boost the honey yield from 2.8 million kilograms to19.29 million kilograms and to increase the participation of women in beekeeping by 30%(BOA, 2003a). However, to achieve this development plan, more integrated efforts and highhuman and financial resources were needed. An investigation indicated that the number of thehoneybee colonies in the country has been declining (C.S.A., 1995). Thus, it requires makingefforts to address some of the major problems of beekeeping and to keep it productive in asustainable way. Still the country has potentials with enormous nectar and pollen resources thathave not yet been exploited, and beekeeping could probably be a profitable activity to undertake.The potentiality of apiculture could be backed up by research and the beekeepers' indigenousknowledge which should be assessed. In this regard it is important and right time to conductapicultural research in order to assess the situation at the grass-root level: to identify theopportunities, challenges, socio-economic importance, attitudes and analyze the performance ofthe existing beekeeping situation before any development program interventions.23