Feasibilities of Beekeeping in Hillside Rehabilitation Areas for Rural Entrepreneurships and Climate Change Adaptation in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Presenter's country

Ethiopia

Start Date

27-5-2016 1:30 PM

End Date

27-5-2016 2:35 PM

Location

Hall II

Submission type

Presentation

Abstract

Mountain sharing program has been implemented since the past decade in the region for employing youth. Cooperative beekeepers of 10 members who usually manage bee colonies of 15 to 20 and rarely exceed 40 colonies commonly exist throughout Tigray. This paper tries to analyze the feasibility and profitability of a hypothetical beekeeping cooperative having 40 colonies established in one of the hillside closure areas of Tigray aiming at honey production. Following literature review on production, productivity and other existing situations, economic analyses were conducted. An investment of 139,470 ETB is estimated to start the business. The cost of honey production per kilogram is 67.46 ETB while the sales price at 50% profit margin is 101.19 ETB, which gives annual profit of 21,924 ETB. The breakeven is 50%, which means 328 kg of honey per year as contrasted to 650 kg/year average capacity at 65% efficiency. Both NPV (+248,281) and IRR (1.09) suggest beekeeping in hillside closure area is economically viable, can be means of rural employment and complement with environmental rehabilitation programs to boost agricultural productivity. However, members of beekeeping cooperatives should be kept proportional with the economic return and activities required to be accomplished. Beekeeping activities in this case can be managed by 2 persons whereas the annual profit is too little to support the livelihood of 10 full time beekeepers. Therefore, most members seem to be idle, which can lead them to abandon themselves in search of alternatives or tempt to abuse the land. Sideline activities such as horticulture and agro-forestry can augment incomes of the beekeepers besides to enriching apiaries and boosting honey production and environmental rehabilitation. Honeybee’s pollination service enhances ecosystem conservation and agricultural productivity. Annual economic value of honeybee pollination on selected crops in Ethiopia is estimated at 23 billion ETB.

Keywords

youth cooperatives, beekeeping, honey, closure area, environmental rehabilitation, climate change

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May 27th, 1:30 PM May 27th, 2:35 PM

Feasibilities of Beekeeping in Hillside Rehabilitation Areas for Rural Entrepreneurships and Climate Change Adaptation in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Hall II

Mountain sharing program has been implemented since the past decade in the region for employing youth. Cooperative beekeepers of 10 members who usually manage bee colonies of 15 to 20 and rarely exceed 40 colonies commonly exist throughout Tigray. This paper tries to analyze the feasibility and profitability of a hypothetical beekeeping cooperative having 40 colonies established in one of the hillside closure areas of Tigray aiming at honey production. Following literature review on production, productivity and other existing situations, economic analyses were conducted. An investment of 139,470 ETB is estimated to start the business. The cost of honey production per kilogram is 67.46 ETB while the sales price at 50% profit margin is 101.19 ETB, which gives annual profit of 21,924 ETB. The breakeven is 50%, which means 328 kg of honey per year as contrasted to 650 kg/year average capacity at 65% efficiency. Both NPV (+248,281) and IRR (1.09) suggest beekeeping in hillside closure area is economically viable, can be means of rural employment and complement with environmental rehabilitation programs to boost agricultural productivity. However, members of beekeeping cooperatives should be kept proportional with the economic return and activities required to be accomplished. Beekeeping activities in this case can be managed by 2 persons whereas the annual profit is too little to support the livelihood of 10 full time beekeepers. Therefore, most members seem to be idle, which can lead them to abandon themselves in search of alternatives or tempt to abuse the land. Sideline activities such as horticulture and agro-forestry can augment incomes of the beekeepers besides to enriching apiaries and boosting honey production and environmental rehabilitation. Honeybee’s pollination service enhances ecosystem conservation and agricultural productivity. Annual economic value of honeybee pollination on selected crops in Ethiopia is estimated at 23 billion ETB.