HONEY-BEE

1. Contents
 Introduction
 Apiculture potential of the country
 Government efforts towards honey bee sector development
 Honey production
 Honey bee production system in Ethiopia
 Traditional forest,
 Traditional backyard,
 Transitional and
 Improved beekeeping
 Opportunities of honey bee production and period of harvesting
 Challenge of Ethiopian honey bee production development
 Future plans/directions
 Summary
 References

2. Honeybee production system in Ethiopia
Introduction
The beekeeping sub-sector has been an integral part of agriculture in Ethiopia. It has been contributing
to household income and national economy through export, and also acts as poverty alleviation. The
country has huge apicultural resources that made it the leading honey and beeswax producer in Africa.
Honey and bees wax are the major hive products which are widely utilized for different purpose
throughout the country. The products may be used either for household consumption and/or sold to
finance the purchase of basic household commodities such as coffee, salt, cooking oil, sugar, etc. The
products are sometimes used as payments and gifts to others. Hence on different aspects of the
beekeeping it has been revealed that the highest percentage of honeybee population is hived in
traditional, transitional and modern hives, only the smallest proportion is remain as wild. However,
attempts by various investigators and development actors showed that both the production and quality
can be improved in terms of transforming the beekeeping system, processing and marketing.
Objectives
 To assess the existing beekeeping practices in Ethiopia.
 To identify the major constraints in honey bee production.
Background
•Beekeeping is a long standing practices in Ethiopia and it accounts 1.3% of agricultural GDP.
•Currently one out of ten rural households keep honeybees and the activity makes a substantial
contribution to rural income generation.
•Ethiopia is the leading honey producer in Africa and one of the top ten worldwide.
.In the last 15 years (2001-2015), Ethiopia’s honey production increases from 28,000 tons to 54,000 tons
•Beekeeping industry is flourishing in the country
•Participation of private operators, cooperatives and unions reached more than 30 by this time.
•Low level of pesticide applications, which could create opportunity for organic beekeeping
development.

3. Apiculture potential of the country
•6500 melliferrous plant species of which more 1500 identified as bee forage.
•There are 58 National Forest Priority Areas in the Country that are suitable for beekeeping.
•Of the total land mass of the country about 71% is suitable for fruit and other crops growth which serve
as source forage for the bees.
•Regional states like SNNP, Gambella, Benshangul Gumz, Amhara, Tigry and Oromia have big apicultural
potential.
•Existences of about 10 million honeybee colony.
Government efforts towards Sector development
Registration and control of pesticides, special Decree No. 20/1990 to lay a scheme of registration and
control of hazardous chemicals to life and products of honeybees.
Apiculture Resources Development and Protection Proclamation, No. 660/2009 for development and
protection of apiculture resources.
Establishment of the competent authority MoLF to ensure apiculture development by Strengthening
extension delivery system.
Establishment of Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) as an Apex body to coordinate professional
Associations and other stockholders towards the implementation of policies and development activities.
Encouraging and supporting of Associations like Ethiopian Society of Apiculture Science (ESAS) and
Ethiopian Honey and Beeswax Producers and Exporters Association (EHBPEA).
Facilitating conditions for existence of synergic public and private stakeholders (SNV, ACDI/VOCA,
FC,MCF etc).
Ethiopia has developed honey and beeswax Standards (ES 1202 and ES 1203), which comply with ISO
and CODEX Standards
Ethiopia is listed as a Third Country permitted to export honey and beeswax by the European
Commission since 2008 on the approval of residue monitoring plans submitted by third countries in
accordance with Council Directive 96/23/EC, notified under document C(2010) 3548 (2010/327/EU).
Since 2009 Ethiopia has investing a large amount of money to collect samples of honey yearly and
send to laboratories recognized by EU and submit the report of analysis.

4. Honey Production
Honey production is one of the direct contributions of beekeeping practices. In terms of economic
contribution and exports commodities, honey is one of the marketed livestock products of Ethiopia. As a
result, there is an increased demand for honey production.
As the honey production capacity is different from the region to region, the most important honey
producing regions are Oromia (38%), Amhara (26%), SNNPR (18%) and Tigray (7%) of total honey
production potential. In general, the potential areas for honey production in the country include
Southwestern, Western and Northwestern parts of the country. These are grouped into high, medium
and low potential areas. More specifically, southwestern and western areas of Kefa zone, Masha, Tepi,
Dembi Dolo, Gerra, Limu, Metu, Yayu-Hurumu, and Seka Chekorsa do have high honey production
potential areas covered with moderate forest trees, shrubs, bushes, herbs and cultivated crops whereas
the southern, southeast and the northwest zones, and Central high lands of the country have medium
potentials for beekeeping. These include most of the areas in west Gojam, south Gondar, Jimma, west
Shewa, Bale, Borena and Gofa. On the other hand, many of the districts in Tigray, Wollo and Hararge
and in some other parts of the country which are covered with marginal forests do have relatively low
potential in honey production.
Honey Bee Production system in Ethiopia
According to Holeta Bee Research Center (2004), there are four different types of beekeeping practices
in Ethiopia namely :
 Traditional forest,
 Traditional backyard,
 Transitional and
 Improved beekeeping.
Traditional Forest and Backyard System
Traditional beekeeping is the major and oldest type of beekeeping practiced in Ethiopia. It is practiced
by traditionally constructed hives which are mostly cylindrical in shape (about 1-1.5 meter in length and
30-50-centimeter width) and single chamber fixed comb. This type of hive can be made from wood,
mud/ clay. It has no internal structures; frames were provided for the bees; the bees created their own
honeycomb within the hives. The comb is often cross-attached and cannot be moved without destroying
it.

5. Traditional Forest Beekeeping
The traditional forest honey production which is practiced in south and southwest areas of Ethiopia
where there is high vegetation cover and high honey bee colonies. In this case the beekeepers hang
several traditional hives on very tall trees for catching swarms in the dense forest mostly far away from
their settlement areas. Honey hunting is common in this part of the country because of the existence of
high population of wild bee colonies which make honey in hollow trees and caves.
The advantage of forest beekeeping is that :
 The bees do not cause harm to the domestic animals and humans and
 The bees can get abundant forage plants in their vicinity.
The disadvantages are :
 Lack of close follow up and
 During honey harvesting period as the beekeeper drops down the hive from the tree, it damages
the honeybee colony.
 It is also dangerous for the beekeeper to climb tall tree in night.
Traditional Backyard Beekeeping
Traditional backyard system which is undertaken in safeguarded area for honeybees mostly at
homestead. This system of beekeeping is mainly practiced in the central, eastern and northern parts of
the country where there is relatively low forest coverage.
More than 95% of our beekeepers use traditional hive management practices which affect honey yield.
–With the yield ranges from 5 to 9 kg honey/colony (Av. 5.5 kg/year)
–Yield from this type of practice of BK accounts.
64% (34,650 tones) of honey and
85.8% (4,290 tones) of beeswax .
The factors responsible for low production of honey are shortage of honeybee forages, disease and
pests.
The advantages of such practices are:
 Construction is very simple, it does not require improved beekeeping equipment;
 It does not also require skilled manpower.

6. The disadvantages are :
 Inconvenience to undertake internal inspection and feeding,
 In some places the size is too small and causes swarming,
 It has no possibilities of supering, there is no partition to differentiate brood chamber and
honey chamber.
Transitional Beekeeping
A transitional system is a system between traditional and frame hive or modern system. Transitional
system had started in Ethiopia in the year of 1976 and the types of beehives used are:
 Kenya top-bar beehives,
 Tanzania top-bar beehive,
 Mud-block beehives and
 Ethio-ribrab hive, But Ethio-ribrab is commonly used in many parts of the country.
The hives can be constructed from timber, mud or locally available materials. Each hive carries 27-30 top
bars on which honeybees attach their combs. Generally, top-bar hive is a single story long box with
slopping sidewalls inward toward the bottom (forming an angle of 115o with the floor), and have 3.2cm
and 48.3cm width and length, respectively, and suggested that for technical and economic reasons.
Transitional (3%)
–Productivity ranges from 9 to 40 kg/year crude honey/colony (Av. 15 kg/year)
–This accounts
6% (3,150 tones ) of honey and
7.7% (387 tones) of beeswax
Transitional (intermediate) beekeeping practice has different advantages such as :
 It can be opened easily and quickly,
 The bees are guided into building parallel combs by following the line of the top bars,
 The top bars are easily removable and this enables beekeepers to work fast,
 The top bars are easier to construct than frames,
 Honeycombs can be removed from the hive for harvesting without disturbing combs containing
broods,
 The hive can be suspended with wires or ropes and this gives protection against pests.
Transitional beekeeping has its own disadvantages such as :
 Top bar hives are relatively more expensive than traditional hives,

7.  Combs suspended from the top bars are more apt to break off than combs which are building
within frames.
Modern (frame-hives)(improved) Beekeeping Practices
The frame hive beekeeping methods aim to obtain the maximum honey crop, season after season,
without harming bees. Modern movable- frame hive consists of precisely made rectangular box hives
(hive bodies) superimposed one above the other in a tier. The number of boxes is varied seasonally
according to the population size of bees.
It uses different types of frame beehives such as :
 Zandar, Langstroth, Dadant, Modified Zandar, and Foam beehives exist in the Ethiopia. These
beehives differ in number of frames and size of the hive.
 Zandar and Langstroth hives are the most common that exist in the country.
 Dadant, Modified Zandar, and foam hive are found rarely.
 The most commonly used frame beehive type in Ethiopia is Zandar type.
Improved beekeeping hives have components like :
 Brood chamber,
 Super (honey chamber),
 Inner and outer cover.
Box (frame)hive (7%)
–Present national average 33kg/hive/annum (20-80 kg/year)
–Using improved techniques, one can harvest 50-80kg/hive/yr)
30% (16,170 tones ) of honey and
6.5% (323 tones ) of beeswax.
Total honey and beeswax production are respectively 53,970 and 5000 tons.
Improved box hive has advantages over the others in that :
 It gives high honey yield in quality and in quantity,
 Its possibilities of swarming control by supering the bees from place to place for searching
honeybee flower and pollination services.
On the other hand, its disadvantages are :
 The equipments are relatively expensive,

8.  Requires skilled manpower and
 The equipment needs very specific precaution.
Opportunities of Honey Bee Production and Period of harvesting
The direct contribution of beekeeping includes the value of the outputs produced such as honey, bee
wax, queen and bee colonies, and other products such as pollen, royal jelly, bee venom, and propolis in
cosmetics and medicine. Plentiful forage availability coupled with favorable and diversified agro-climatic
conditions of Ethiopia create environmental conditions conducive for the growth of over 7000 species of
flowering plants which has supported the existence of large number of local bee colonies in Ethiopia. It
is estimated that over two million bee-colonies in the countries exists in the forest and crevices. . It has
the largest bee population in Africa with over 10 million bee colonies, out of which about 5 to 7.5 million
are estimated to be hived while the remaining exist in the wild.
In Ethiopia, there are generally two honey harvesting seasons: the major one that lasts from October to
November and the secondary one from April to June. However, in addition to these major harvesting
periods, there are many small harvesting periods which depend on the type of flowering plants and
rainfall patterns in different agro-ecologies, which experienced beekeepers and local people easily
associate the harvesting season with the botanical origin of honey in their locality.
Challenge of Ethiopian Honey Bee Production Development
Major constraints of honeybee productions are :
 Frequent occurrence of drought,
 Lack of bee forage,
 Existence of pests and predators : the major pests and predators are honey badgers, ant like
insects, wax moth, birds, spiders, monkeys, snakes and lizards.
 Herbicides, Pesticide poisoning ,
 Death of colony, water shortage, High cost of modern bee hives
 Honey storage materials and swarming.
 Disease, and parasites attack.
 Inadequate trained personnel to solve problems related to skill and technology
 Limited bee products (Honey and beeswax) and little effort on production of products other
hive products.
 Very poor technology multiplication and uptake (extension system, structure, etc) only about
10% of beekeeping is using improved technologies.
 Prohibitive cost for residue monitoring analysis.
 Limited access to financial services for individual beekeepers, cooperatives, unions and others.

9.  Illicit cross border trades
 Large volume of honey and beeswax is illegally smuggled through different corners of the
country.
 Limited promotional activities for hive products in both local and export markets.
 Limited/little market information and assessment for both local and export market dynamics
Future Plans/directions
•Focus on beekeepers skill, knowledge and capacity dvt
•Create enabling environment for processors and exports
•Partnership with development partners for market and value chain research and development
•Enhancing the local consumption of honey through branding Tej as a national drink
•Design ways to collect and disseminate business information timely for beekeepers, processors, traders
etc.
•Establish strong research capacity and capability to improve efficiency in generating suitable
technologies.
•Increase ability of smallholder producers to organise themselves into effective commercial entities and
encourage their participation in local and galobal trade.
•Facilitate access to finacial services for those operating in the industry.
•Establish accredited laboratory for residue monitoring analysis and ensure traceability.

10. Table 1: Summary of number of beehives, production potential and average frequency of
harvesting honey per year in Ethiopia.
All types of Beehives In number Production (Kilograms) Average Frequency
(Harvests/Year)
Traditional Beehives (Forest
and backyard
5,902,624 42,927,921 1.64
Intermediate/transitional
Beehives
80,832 2,036,969 1.94
Modern Beehives 205,873 2,741,211 1.58
Total 6,189,329 47,706,101 1.64
Summary
Beekeeping, also called apiculture, is management of honey bee colonies for pollination of crops and
honey and other products. Ethiopia has huge potential for honey production which is clearly observed in
the last few years with significant increment, even though the subsector is still practicing with traditional
low productive systems. Research and extension made so far have tried to improve this scenario in the
country. Various investigations in particular have identified the problems in the production of the
Ethiopian honeybee. The countries apicultural research is not only focusing the challenges and
opportunities of honeybee production but also it is acquiring the developing arm to investigate and
analyze the quality and characteristics of honey produced from different plant species and different
seasons. But this is not to mean that it is efficient, it is apparent that a lot more is to be done in
improving the quality of the honey produced.
Therefore, it requires intervening to change beekeeping practices through adopting improved
technologies and management practices and practical skill trainings. Some of the major possible
intervention areas are recommended here below:
1. Designing effective honeybee pests and predators controlling methods.

11. 2. Introduction of full package improved beekeeping technologies with adequate practical skill training
on all bee keeping trends and queen rearing practices on which farmers get and enhance a bunch of
queens and new colonies without climbing trees to get colonies.
3. promoting beekeepers important indigenous knowledge and promoting the construction of non
timber hives with low costs.
4. Multiplying areal major honeybee plants in large scale and distributing to farmers of the area in a
package form with a respective seasons.
5. Avoid discarding of bee colonies after honey harvest: beekeepers of the area should be aware on the
possibilities of maintaining their colonies for successive harvesting.
6. Availing the strategies to support farmers with beekeeping business through credit availability,
cooperative formation, input supply and market facilitation should be put in place with value chain
approach.
7. Improving pre- and post-harvest handling of bee products.
8. Improve the utilization of stingless bee’s resources: effort should be made how to identify,
domesticate, document and utilize stingless bee resources without damaging the colony.
References
 Sisay Fikru, Review of Honey Bee and Honey Production in Ethiopia.
 Alemayehu Weldearegay and Abera Anja, Assessment of beekeeping production system and
constraints in Sude Woreda, Arsi Zone Oromia Ethiopia.
 Teklu Gebretsadik , Dinku Negash, HONEYBEE PRODUCTION SYSTEM, CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF GEDEO ZONE, SOUTHERN NATION, NATIONALITIES
AND PEOPLES REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA.
 Haftu Kebede Sebho, Yoseph Baraki, Challenges and Prospects of Honey Bee Production in
Ethiopia: A Review.
 Demisew Wakjira Akessa, Beekeeping in Ethiopia.
 Kenesa Teferi, Status of Beekeeping in Ethiopia- A Review.
 Haftey Sahle, Gashaw Enbiyale, Ayalew Negash, Tsehaye Neges, Assessment of honey
production system, constraints and opportunities in Ethiopia.