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

indigenous knowledge, further research is required. However, due to the need for additionalcolonies, 5% of the beekeepers did not apply any reproductive swarming control methods.4.2.13 Inspection of honeybee coloniesSample respondents were interviewed to describe the frequency of inspecting their apiary andhoneybee colonies and 33.3%, 20.8% and 16.7% of the respondents replied that they take a lookexternally into the hives every day, every month and weekly (Table 17). Moreover 46.7%, 20.6%and 7.5% of respondents inspect internally if necessarily, every month and every fifteen daysrespectively. Though, inspection of hives and apiary is indispensable to safeguard honeybeecolonies from different natural disasters and various hazards (pests, diseases and chemicalpoisoning), respondent beekeepers believe in that visiting the apiary and the hive externally orinternally during rainy season causes diseases. For this reason, during rainy seasons the apiary iscovered with grasses which may intern serve as a hiding place of pests of honeybees.Experiences show that external colony inspection can be done at any season, however, caution isrequired in what season and at what frequency the internal inspection should be conducted. Inthis regard, training beekeeper farmers is essential.Table 17: Percent distribution of frequency of external inspection of apiary by farmersTotal sample (n=120)Type of inspectionInspection frequency External (%) Internal (%)Every day 33.3 -Every three day 5.0 0.9Weekly 16.7 18.7Every fifteen days 10.0 7.5Every month 20.8 20.6Not at all - 5.6If necessary 14.2 46.7Total 100 10057