Participatory rural appraisal investigation on beekeeping in Arsi Negelle and Shashemene districts of West Arsi zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

摘要

Thestudywasconductedin2007inArsiNegelleandShashemenedistrictsofWestArsizoneofOromiaregionalstate,Ethiopia.Theobjectiveofthestudywastoidentifymajorbeekeepingchallengesandopportunities.Forthisstudy5peasantassociations(PAs)wereselected.FromeachPAagroupof30to40beekeepingfarmerswasusedforimplementationofdifferentparticipatoryruralappraisal(PRA)toolsselectedfordatacollection.Thecollecteddatawereanalyzedusingsimpledescriptivestatistics.Guizotiascabra,Hypoestesforskali,crotonmacrostachyarethemajorhoneybeeflorainthestudyarea.nbsp;Inbothdistricts,honeyisharvestedtwotimesayearwhichvariedinperiodofharvestbetweenhighlandandlowlandareasofthedistricts.ThemajorhoneyflowseasonisNovembertoDecemberandtheminorhoneyflowisfromMaytoJune.Inbothdistricts#8217;highlandareas,themajorhoneyflowseasonisMarchtoMaythatismainlyattributedtothefloweringseasonofcrotonmacrostachyandtheminorhoneyflowseasonisNovembertoDecember.Shortageofhoneybeeforage,shortageofhoneybeecolonies,agrochemicalpoisoningarethemajorbeekeepingconstraintsinbothdistricts.Moreover,availabilityofhoneybeeenemies(ants,honeybadger,bee-eaterbirds,waxmoth,spiderandbeetles)werereported.Thepreferencerankingmatrixindicatedthatfarmersofbothdistrictsknowlittleabouttransitionalhives.Beekeepingisconsideredasoneofincomesourceforthebeekeepersandithasthe3rdand4thrankamongtheotherincomesourcesinArsiNegelleandShashemenedistrictsrespectively.nbsp;Despitethedifferentchallengesencounteredinthissub-sector,opportunitiesforbeekeepingdevelopmentintheareasstillexistduetothepresenceofnaturalresources,highdemandforhiveproductsanddevelopmentpolicyattentionfromthegovernmentasoneofthestrategiestoreducepoverty.