Biressaw Serda, Tessema Zewudu, Moges Dereje and Mohammed Aman
Beekeeping is a long-standing practice in the rural communities of Ethiopia and appears as ancient history of the country. A cross sectional study, in which 97 households were purposively included, was conducted in Haramaya district to assess the current beekeeping practices, production potentials and production constraints. Most (99%) of the beekeepers in the study area have owned only traditional hives and produce honey for home consumption. The beekeeping practice was dominated by male. A mild stimulant, Kate edulis (khat), is the main income source for the residents. Lack of adequate bee forages, poor market, lack of trained development agents and bee pests are the major problems facing the beekeeping sub sector in the area. The most important constraints of beekeeping in the study area were insecticides, birds and bee diseases (1st), Misuse of pesticides (2nd), Insecticides, birds and pesticides together (3rd), Pests, insecticides and predators (4th), lack of training (5th), shortage of bee forage (6th), shortage of water (7th) and absconding (8th). There are enormous opportunities to boost the production of honey in the villages. Thus, introducing modern beehives, limiting the use of pesticides in 'khat' production and awareness creation and assistance to empower women in the beekeeping activity are needed interventions.
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