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APIMONDIA SYMPOSIUM
2018 ADDIS ABABA
ETHIOPIA
SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS
ETHIOPIAN APICULTURE BOARD (EAB)
ORGANIZED AND PRINTED WITH
FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM ATA AND
NORAD
1
Contents
Executive Summary 2
Message from the President of Ethiopian Apiculture Board 3
Committee Members 5
Welcome Messages 8
Program of the Symposium 10
Presentations by Sector Actors 25
Keynote Speeches 29
Presentations in Working Groups 33
Topic 1 Papers Pollination and Food Production 34
Topic 2 Papers Threat to Pollinators and to their perfomances 85
Topic 3 Papers Environmental Serveces and Climate Chnage 123
Topic 4 Papers Commercialization and Transformation of Beekeeping 160
Presentations in Final Plenary Session 253
Plenary Closing Session 256
Papers scheduled for presentation but were not presented 258
Contacts Addresses Websites 322
2
Executive Summary
The APIMONDIA Symposium 2018 was held in Addis Ababa with the title ldquoThe role of
bees in food productionrdquo and with the theme ldquoSignificance of beesrsquo pollination in
improved food productionrdquo It is only for the second time that such event was hosted in
Africa in the organizationrsquos 130 yearsrsquo history The conference enjoyed distinguished
and large audience of scientists researchers beekeepers and development partners
from around the globe The numbers show that 991 apiculturists from 25 countries -12
of them African countries- attended the symposium
Three keynote speeches and 48 paper presentations were made under four topics
More presentations were accepted but could not be presented owing to administrative ndash
mainly visa and budgetary ndash problems encountered by the participants All accepted
papers and summaries of the welcome messages and sector presentations are included
in these proceedings
The topics of the Symposium were ldquoPollination and food productionrdquo ldquoThreats to
pollinators or to their performancerdquo ldquoEnvironmental service and climate changerdquo and
ldquoCommercialization and transformation of beekeepingrdquo Results of various studies and
experiences of those who had hands-on experience were shared Discussions and
debates were lively in all groups and all participants have taken something out from the
symposium Areas of concern such as indiscriminate usage of agro-chemicals at large
were shared among participants and recommendations were forwarded to curb
identified problems
The way forward especially for Africa was pointed out The need to create awareness
about the role of pollinators in food production and the threats pollinators are facing
from various factors such as agro-chemical usage monoculture diseases and parasites
and population growth have been stressed and discussed in depth
Sector actors presented themselves and during the closing ceremony presented a
number of female beekeepers with awards for their outstanding achievements which
included service giving and extension activities Finally the requirements to undertake
migratory beekeeping for pollination improvement and ldquoan extra glass of honeyrdquo were
highlighted based on the experience of the worldrsquos migratory beekeepers
It is the hope of the organizers of the Symposium that participants will share the
knowledge and experience gained from this symposium to colleagues and beneficiaries
and make improvements in their areas It is also expected that researchers will gain a
number of ideas for further investigations
3
Message from the President of the Ethiopian Apiculture Board
On behalf of the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) it has been my
great pleasure to present to you the Proceedings of the
International APIMONDIA Symposium which was held in Ethiopia
at Addis Ababa from Nov 30 to Dec 4 2018 on ldquoThe importance
of beesrsquo pollination to increase food productionrdquo This
substantial role of bees in Africa has often been neglected or not
well understood
With Ethiopia being the leading producer of honey and beeswax in Africa and among
the top producers in the world with a wide variety of honey including monofloral and
regionally branded honeys and a largely untapped potential we decided to take a lead
in highlighting the beneficial role of bees and other insects not only in creating income
through apicultural products but also in improving the food supply for our nations
through pollination
Ethiopia is a land of the origin of mankind due to various hominid fossil discoveries
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia and the African Union and is often called the
African Capital due to its historical diplomatic and political significance for the
continent The headquarters of the African Union and the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa both are found in the city
Established by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 1958 and
located at the centre of Addis Ababa the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Conference Centre combines admired architectural elegance with the very latest
technology ndash the ideal site for our International APIMIONDIA Symposium
In addition to the beauties of Addis Ababa the Symposium has offered an excellent
opportunity for experience sharing and networking in various aspects and latest
developments in the beekeeping world And this worked extremely well with the over
900 delegates and speakers from 25 countries of the globe The Symposium included
an exhibition event that ranin parallel in the GHION Hotel Compoundrsquos beautiful Green
Garden for the display of different bee products coming from all over the world We
welcomed over 130 exhibitors who were displaying their products - another opportunity
for experience sharing and discussion among the participants of the Symposium
exhibitors and the public at large
With warm Ethiopian hospitality and excellent facilities the International APIMONDIA
Symposium 2018 at Addis Ababa turned out to be great success and unforgettable
experience We are proud to say that participants acquired sufficient experience from
4
the Symposium with regard to the pollination role of beesrsquo in increasing food production
that contributes a lot to minimize the food supply gaps
Let me close in stating that the event would not have happened ndash and these
Proceedings would not have been printed ndash without the support of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Livestock Resources of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
the Agricultural Transformation Agency development partners such as SNV Ethiopia
OXFAM GB GIZ and others ndash too many to mention them here We are grateful as well
to our partners APIMONDIA and APITRADE AFRICA for the support of the event in
particular and the apicultural sector in general
On behalf of the National APIMONDIA Symposium Organizing Committee (NASOC)
Hailegiorgis Demissie
President Ethiopian Apiculture Board
5
Apimondia Symposium 2018 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
APIMONDIA Symposium 2018 Organizing International Committee
Mr Philip McCabe President
Mr Peter Kozmus Vice-president
Mr Riccardo Jannoni-Sebastianini Secretary-General
Dr Lukas Garibaldi President of the SC on Pollination and Bee Flora
Dr Norberto Garcia President of the SC on Beekeeping Economy
Mr David Mukomana President of Regional Commission for Africa
Mr Hailegiorgis Demissie President of Ethiopian Apiculture Board
APIMONDIA Symposium 2018 on the Role of Bees in Food ProductionScientifc
Committee
Dr Lukas Garibaldi President of the SC on Pollination and Bee Flora
Dr Norberto Garcia President of the SC on Beekeeping Economy
Mr Bosko Okello APITRADE member
Dr Amsalu Addie Holeta Bee Research Center member
MrGemchis Legesse Ethiopian Society of Apicultural Sciences member
Dr Juergen Greiling EABSenior advisor member
Mr Kibebew Wakjira Holeta Bee Research Center member
Dr Tekeba Nega EMDIDI memebr
Local Organizing Committee Members
1 National APIMONDIA SYMPOSIUM Organizing Committee (NASOC)
NASOC Chair
Mr Hailegiorgis Demisew EAB president
NASOC Committee Members
Dr Amsalu Bezabih HBRC Holeta National Bee Research Coordinator
COMMITTEES
6
Mr Mulufird Ashagrie Ex-Apimonidia Regional Commission for Africa
Mr Negash Bekena Secretary GM of EAB
Mr Demisew Wakjira MoA Honey amp Silk Directorate Director
Mr Solomon Dagnew MoA Advisor to the Minister
Mr Dendana Chemeda MoTI Agro-processing Directorate Director
Mr Assefa Amaldegn ATA Honey Sector Project Coordinate
Mr Alemseged Gkidan EHBPEA Manager
2 Sub-Committees Under the NASOC
Fund Raising Committee Chair
Mr Mulufird Ashagirie Ethiopian Apiculture Board
21 - Fund Raising Committee Members
Mr Hailegiorgis Demissie Board Chairman Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Mr Demisew Wakjira Ministry of Agriculture
Dr Amsalu Bezabih HBRC Holeta
Mr Asefa Amaldegne ATA (Agriculture Transformation Agency)
Mr Negash Bekena General Manager Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Dr Juergen Greiling Senior Advisor Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Mr Hailu Kebede Rehobot Promotion (PCO)
22- Participants Mobilization Committee Chair
MrHailu Kebede Rehobot Promotion (PCO)
Participants Mobilization Committee Members
Mr Hailegiorgis Demissie Board Chairman Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Mr Mulufird Ashagrie Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Mr Demisew Wakjira Ministry of Agriculture
Mr Dendena Chemeda MOI (Ministry of Industry)
Mr Alemseged GKidan EHBPEA
Dr Belay GMichael Private consultant
Mr Negash Bekena General Manager Ethiopian Apiculture Board
7
23 - Event Promotion Committee Chair
Mr Hailu Kebede Rehobot Promotion
Event Promotion Committee Members
Mr Alemseged GKidan EHBPEA
Dr Amsalu Bezabih HBRC Holeta
Mr Solomon Dagne MoA
Mr Negash Bekena General Manager Ethiopian Apiculture Board
24 - Logistic and Hospitality Committee Chair
Mr Talila Keno Planning Head Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Logistic and Hospitality Committee Members
Mr Hailu Kebede Rehobot Promotion
Mr Tamiremariam WMeskel Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Dr Juergen Greiling Senior Advisor Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Mr Tewodros Kebede MAK LINK Technology
25 - Finance Committee Member Chair
Mr Negash Bekena General Manager Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Finance committee members
Mr Hailu Kebede Rehobot Promotion
Mrs Alem Getachew Ethiopian Apiculture Board
Dr Amsalu Bezabih HBRC Holeta
Mrs Enani Kebede HBRC Holeta
Ms Abinet Fekadu Ethiopian Apiculture Board
________________________
Mr Philip McCabe has been a strong advocate and supporter of the APIMONDIA
SYMPOSIUM 2018 held in Ethiopia but unfortunately he died on the 20th of October 2018 It
has been a great loss for APIMONDIA but we will carry out on his work and follow his example
8
Welcome Messages
APIMONDIA ndash Dr Peter Kozmus
Dr Peter Kozmus Vice President and Acting President of APIMONDIA expressed great
pleasure for being able to attend the Symposium in Addis Ababa Dr Kozmus vowed to
follow the examples of the late APIMONDIA President Philip McCabe and pointed out
the plan to commemorate him on 7th of December 2018 by beekeepers
Bees have a crucial role in food production according to Dr Kozmus and that is
especially true in Ethiopia He stated that ninety percent of beesrsquo potentials is yet to be
tapped and said it is still difficult as usual to be a beekeeper globally for various
reasons such as loss of interest from youngsters to join the profession He also pointed
out global warming and environmental changes pesticides and bee diseases to be
major challenges in apiculture
Dr Kozmus expressed the immense importance of Symposia and Congresses in being
platforms for listening to new results from researchers and scientists in apiculture and
stressed the need for knowledge transfer to beekeepers
He also had something to say about the book lsquoNo bees No lifersquo which he co-authored
with 65 other contributors He said the book discussed beekeeping in Africa in 350
pages The book influenced the decision to mark May 20th as World Bee Day
Dr Kozmus concluded his welcoming remarks by wishing all participants a successful
symposium
ATA ndash Khalid Bomba
The third welcome message was delivered by Khalid Bomba Chief Executive Officer at
Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) Having welcomed attendees to the
symposium Mr Bomba said the symposium wouldnrsquot have been possible without the
participation and hard work of various partners and he thanked them all
Khalid Bomba said that bee keeping is as ancient as Ethiopia and that beekeeping is
part of the countryrsquos culture 2 million of her citizens being beekeepers According to Mr
Bomba bees contribute to the special taste of Ethiopian coffee In addition to its
commercial benefit apiculture remains important in the country in ensuring food
security employment biodiversity forest conservation and environmental protection
Mr Bomba expressed his hope that Ethiopia will get a lot of inputs from the Symposium
essential for its apiculture modernization effort and his expectation that the Symposium
will suggest solutions to key issues in apiculture such as the production
commercialization branding and technology development
9
He concluded his remarks by thanking APIMONDIA and the Ethiopian Apiculture Board
(EAB) for making the Symposium happen and called upon the next speaker HE Umar
Hussen Federal Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (FMoALR)
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources ndash HE Umar Hussen
HE Umar Hussen expressed pleasure to address the second APIMONDIA Symposium
hosted on Africarsquos soil in the institutionrsquos 130 years history and said that the Symposium
signals Ethiopia and Africa are ready to participate in APIMONDIA activities The
minister said that the exhibition part of the symposium is as important as the
presentation and discussion parts for experience sharing and learning
HE Mr Uman Hussen warned that bees are in danger and that all actors have to be
brought around the table and deal with current issues in apiculture Having thanked all
actors for making this happen HE the Minister said the government of Ethiopia honors
such concerted effort
The Minister then told participants of the Symposium that Ethiopia is interested to bid for
the 2023 APIMONDIA Congress
He finally wrapped up his remarks wishing that the Symposium will be a success and
that there will be enough deliberation time
10
Program for the APIMONDIA Symposium 2018
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Time amp
Day
Title amp Presenter Venue Duration Session
Manager
Day -0 Thursday 29 November 2018 GHION
GREEN
PARK
800-
1300
Registration of exhibition
participants
300rsquo Event organizer
Day -1 Friday 30 November 2018 UNECA
Con-
ference
Hall
800-
1000
Registration of congress participants 120rsquo Event organizer
1000-
1030 Tea Coffee Refreshment Foyer 30rsquo
Room
No1
Plenary - Opening Speeches
Welcome messages Room
No 1
MC
___________
Ato Mulufird
Ashagrie
EAB
1030-
1045
Hailegiorgis Demissiendash President of
the Ethiopian Apiculture Board
(EAB) ndash Welcome message
15rsquo
1045-
1100
Dr Peter Kozmus - Vice - President
of APIMONDIA - Welcome message
15rsquo
1100-
1115
Khalid Bomba- Director General
Agricultural Transformation Agency
(ATA)ndash Welcome message
15rsquo
11
1115-
1130
HE Umar Hussen ndashMinister of
Agriculture amp Livestock Resources
(MoA) of the FDRE - Opening
remarks amp official opening
15rsquo
1130-
1230
HE Umar Hussen - Official opening of the
Api-Expo (Exhibition) at GHION Green Park
60rsquo Event organizer
1230-
1430 Lunch break 120rsquo
Group Sessions 1 - 4 Keynotes 1
2 4
Room
No 1
Topic 1 Pollination and Food
Production
Room
No 1
Prof Samina
Qamer
(Feisalabad
Pakistan)
1430-
1500
Keynote Speech Topic 1 Pollination and
Food Production ldquoUnderstanding the
causes of low pollination in cropsrdquo
By ndash Prof Dr Saul Cunningham
30rsquo
1500-
1515
Discussion 15rsquo
1515-
1545
Presentation 11 amp discussion
Impact of Pollinator Services on Global
Food amp Nutrition Security 20252050
By - Manfred J Kern
30rsquo
1545-
1615
Presentation 12 amp discussion
Overview of Insect Pollinators in
Sustainable Agriculture Planning
Unexploited Opportunity in Ethiopia
By ndash Tolera Kumsa
30rsquo
1615-
1645 Tea Coffee Refreshment Foyer 30rsquo
12
Room
No 5
Topic 2 Threats to pollinators or
to their performance
Room
No 5
Dr Tolera Kumsa
HBRC w
Dr Juergen
Greiling
1430-
1515
Panel discussion ldquoThreats to Pollinators or
to their Performancerdquo
Dr Juergen Greiling EAB Dr Abebe
Jenberie Bahir Dar University Alemayehu
Gela HBRC amp session participants
45rsquo
1515-
1545
Presentation 21 amp discussion
Selection of Apis mellifera for hygienic
behavior vis-a-vis mite and disease
incidence after five decades of its
introduction in India
By - Mohammed Mustafa Ibrahim
30rsquo
1545-
1615
Presentation 22 amp discussion
Defense mechanisms of Ethiopian
honeybee (Apis mellifera jementica)
against varroa mite (Varroa destructor)
By ndash Haftom Gebremedhn
30rsquo
1615-
1645 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
1645-
1715
Presentation 23 amp discussion
Monoculture intensification as a threat
for apiculture current state review
By ndash Addisu Bihonegn
30rsquo
Room
No 3
Topic 3 Environmental Service and
Climate Change
Room
No 3
Ato Taye Negera
HBRC
1430-
1500
Presentation 31 amp discussion
Bee forage diversity in Ethiopian flora amp
its implication for apiculture development
30rsquo
13
By ndash Admassu Addi
1500-
1615
Q amp A 45rsquo
1615-
1645 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
Room
No 2
Topic 4 Commercialization and
Transformation of Beekeeping
Room
No 2
Ato Tatek
Tesfaye SNV
1430-
1500
Keynote Speech Topic 4
Commercialization and Transformation of
Beekeeping
Title Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation
and Livelihood Security
By ndash Dr Amssalu Bezabih
30rsquo
1500-
1515
Discussion 15rsquo
1515-
1615
Presentation 41 amp discussion
Pollen the perfect food for the bee but
also for humans
By - Peter Gallmann
60
1615-
1645 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
Day -2 Saturday 1 December 2018 UNECA
Conferenc
e Hall
Room
No1
Plenary - Short messages Room
No1
Ato Dendana
Chemada NASOC
830-
845
ATA ndash DrPavlos Troulis ldquoThe need for the
transformation of the beekeeping sector
15rsquo
14
in Ethiopia amp expanding market linkage ndash
ATArsquos contributionrdquo
845-
900
SNV ndash Wr Yetnayet Girmaw ldquoLessons
from SNVrsquos Apiculture Development
Programmerdquo
15rsquo
900-
915
ICIPE ndash Dr Workneh Ayalew Honeybees
and other commercial insects for economic
prosperity and environmental healthrdquo
15rsquo
915-
1030
Discussion 75rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
Group Sessions 1 - 4 Keynote 3
Room
No2
Topic 1 Pollination and Food
Production
Room
No 2
Ato Gemechis
Legesse ESAS
11 00-
11 30
Presentation 13 amp discussion
Effect of honey bee pollination on the
fruit setting and yield of Brassica spp
crop Pakistan
By ndash Samina Qamer
30rsquo
1130-
1200
Presentation 14 amp discussion
Old secrets about secretions of the
honeybee
By - Peter Gallmann
30rsquo
1200-
1230
Presentation 15 amp discussion
Facts about insects negative and
positive roles of insects in human
livelihood
By ndash Emana Getu
30rsquo
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
15
1400-
1430 Presentation 16amp discussion
ldquoHow to Prepare a Business Plan for Bee
Productsrsquorsquo
By ndash Tigist Zegeye
30rsquo
1430-
1500
Presentation 17 amp Discussion
ldquoRole of honeybee pollination on the
yield of agricultural crops in Ethiopiardquo
By- Tura Bareke
30rsquo
1500-
1530
Discussion Research needs to quantify
pollination effects QampA
30rsquo
1530-
1615 Tea Coffee Refreshment 45rsquo
Room
No3
Topic 2 Threats to pollinators or
to their performance
Room
No3
Dr Admassu Addi
HBRC
930-
1000
Presentation 2 4 amp discussion
Hot and sort after Body temperature
correlates with pheromone production in
honey bee workers
By - Abdullahi A Yusuf
30rsquo
1000-
1030
Discussion Q amp A 30rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
1100-
1130
Presentation 25 amp discussion
Assessment on the effects of
agrochemical applications on honeybee
production in selected zones of Tigray
Region Northern Ethiopia
By ndash Guesh Godifey
30rsquo
1130-
1230
Discussion Q amp A
16
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
1400-
1430
Presentation 2 6
Density and distribution of nesting sites
of honeybees in the Dinder Biosphere
Reserve Sudan
By - Lubna Hassan
30rsquo
1430-
1500
Presentation 27 amp discussion
Underpinning the impacts of on-going
agro-chemical use on honeybees in
North-Western Ethiopia The overview of
lsquozero-sumrsquo strategyrdquo
BY ndash Abebe Jenberie
30rsquo
1500-
1530
Discussion Agrochemical application
threat QampA
30rsquo
1530-
1615 Tea Coffee Refreshment
45rsquo
Room
No 5
Topic 3 Environmental Service
and Climate Change
Room
No 5
Dr Workneh
Ayalew ICIPE
930-
1000
Keynote speech Topic 3 Environmental
Service and Climate Change
Insect pollinators and pollination
services in changing environments
By - Prof Dr Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
30rsquo
1000-
1030
Discussion 30rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30
17
1100-
1130
Presentation 32 amp discussion
Proximate composition and antioxidant
power of bee pollen collected from moist
Afromontane forest in southwest
Ethiopia
By ndash Admassu Addi
30rsquo
1200-
1230
Presentation 34 amp discussion
Beekeeping benefits to communities
with challenging environments
By - Kerry Clark
30rsquo
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
1400-
1430
Presentation 35 amp discussion ldquoThe status of honey quality produced in Gedebano Gutazer Wolene Central Ethiopiardquo By ndash Akalework Gizaw
30rsquo
1430-
1530
Discussion QampA 30rsquo
1530-
1615 Tea Coffee Refreshment 45rsquo
Room
No 1
Topic 4 Commercialization and
Transformation of Beekeeping
Room
No1
Wr Yetnayet
Girmaw SNV
930-
1000
Presentation 4 2 amp discussion
Building a honey value chain in Ethiopia
strong enough to face international
competition
By ndashGemechis Jaleta
30rsquo
18
1000-
1030
Presentation 43 and discussion
Honey and Geographical Indications (GI)
Why is honey a good pilot product for the
implementation of geographical
indications labeling in Ethiopia
By ndash Degefie Tibebe
30rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
1100-
1130
Presentation 44 amp discussion
Enzyme activity amino acid profiles and
hydroxymethylfurfural content in
Ethiopian monofloral honey
By - Abera Belay
30rsquo
1130-
1200
Presentation 45 amp discussion
Production and composition analysis of
stingless bees honey from West Showa
zone of Oromia region Ethiopia
By - Alemayehu Gela
30rsquo
12 00 ndash
1230
Discussion Q amp A 30rsquo
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
1400-
1430
Presentation 46 amp discussion
Challenges of beekeeping and honey
trade among smallholder beekeepers and
SMErsquos in Africa
By ndash Chibugo Okafor
30rsquo
1430-
1500
Presentation 4 7 amp discussion
Integration of African youths in
apiculture for food security and wealth
creation
30rsquo
19
By - Adeyemo Yusuf Adeniyi
1500-
1530
Discussion QampA 30rsquo
1530-
1615 Tea Coffee Refreshment 45rsquo
Day -3 Sunday December 2nd 2018
Room
No1
Plenary -Short messages
Room
No1
Ato Demisew
Wakjira MoA
with
Dr Abebe
Jemberie
BD University
830-
845
OXFAM in Ethiopia ndashMr Gezahegn Kebede
ldquoFemale Beekeepers collaborating with Bees as
Guardians of Food Securityrdquo
15rsquo
845-
900
GIZ ndashDr Juergen Greiling Apiculture a
tool for SLM amp biodiversity protection
15rsquo
900-
915
APIMONDIA - Mr Riccardo Jannoni ndash
Sebastianini ldquoAPIMONDIA ndash a vision of
international beekeepingrdquo
15rsquo
915-
930
QuestionsComments Discussion Way
forward learning amp application
15rsquo
Group session - Group 4 - In two
parallel groups
Topic 4 Commercialization and
Transformation of Beekeeping
20
Room
No2
Subgroup -14 Room
No 2
Ato Yeshitila
Eshete EMDIDI
930-
1000
Presentation 4 amp discussion
Beekeeping management practices and
gap analysis of different agro-ecological
zones of Tigray region Northern
Ethiopia
By ndash Guesh Godifey
30rsquo
1000-
1030
Presentation 49 amp discussion
Strengthening extension service
delivery the lead beekeeper model of
ASPIRE
By ndash Yetnayet Girmaw
30rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
1100-
1130
Presentation 410 amp discussion
Glycemic index of Ethiopian monofloral
honey
By - Abera Belay
30rsquo
11 30-
1200
Presentation 4 11 amp discussion
Queen excluders enhance honey
production in African honey bees Apis
mellifera by limiting brood rearing during
peak nectar flow
By ndash Nuru Adgaba
30rsquo
12 00 ndash
12 30
Discussion QampA
30
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
Topic 4 Commercialization and
21
Transformation of Beekeeping
Room
No 3
Subgroup - 24 Room
No3
Dr Ueli Mueller
GIZ-BFP
930-
1000
Presentation 412 amp discussion
SAMS - international partnership on
innovation in smart apiculture
management services
By ndash Kibebew Wakjira
30rsquo
1000-
1030
Presentation 413 amp discussion
The role of cooperative beekeeping in
hillside rehabilitation areas for rural
livelihood improvement in northern
Ethiopia
By ndash Teweldemedhn Gebretinsae
30rsquo
1030-
1100 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
1100-
1130
Presentation 414 amp discussion
Assessment of colony carrying capacity
and factors responsible for low
production and productivity of
beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega
Zone of Oromia Ethiopia
By ndash Kibebew Wakjira
30rsquo
1130-
1200
Presentation 415 amp discussion
Beekeeping in rural developmentrdquo
By - Peter Keating
30rsquo
1200-
1230
Presentation 4 16 amp discussion
Potential new income from payment for
pollination services biocontrol agent
vectoring and agro-tourism in Ethiopia
compared with current practices for
30rsquo
22
Canadian beekeepers
By - James White
1230-
1400 Lunch break 90rsquo
Room
No1
Plenary Session Room
No1
Prof Lucas
Alejandro
Garibaldi
APIMONDIA
1400-
1430
Elise Nalbandian -OXFAM in Ethiopia
ldquoGROW Campaign and Award to Female
Food Producersrdquo
30rsquo
1430-
1450
Nuru Adgaba - EAB Promoting the role
of bee pollination in crop production
and ecosystem functioning under local
conditionsrdquo
20rsquo
1450-
1515
David Mukomana - APIMONDIA Regional
Commissioner for Africa ldquoWhere to for
Africardquo
25rsquo
1530-
1600 Tea Coffee Refreshment 30rsquo
Room
No1
Plenary Official closing Room
No1
Mr Riccardo
Jannoni-
Sebastianini
APIMONDIA
with
Hailegiorgis
Demissie
EAB
1600-
1610
Negah Bekena - NASOC lsquorsquoThanks amp way
forward ldquo
10rsquo
23
1610-
1630
Judge group ldquoAwards female individuals
regions amp companiesrdquo
(Female Beekeepers Food Heroes Award)
20rsquo
1630-
1645
Harun Baya - APITRADE AFRICA ldquoA bright
future for apiculture in Africardquo
15rsquo
1645-
1700
Peter Kozmus - APIMONDIA Closing 15rsquo
Day -4 Monday 3 December 2018
930-
1700
Technical Tours
Options 1 Holetta Bee Research Centre
HBRC apiary site
2 City tour city apiary site a processorrsquos
exporterrsquos plant
Event Organizer
Day 5 Tuesday 4 December 2018
Extended tours
Different options for choice as per the
taste interest time and availability of the
participants have been arranged
PEGUMEN was our partner to promote
the selected sites The arrangement was
expected to be made by this tour
operator
PAGUMEN Travel
EXHIBITION
Days 1
ndash 3
Friday 30 November 2018 ndash
Sunday 2 December 2018
0800-
1700
Exhibition at GHION Green Park
24
Presentations by Sector Actors
This section gives short descriptions of the presentations by sector actors
25
ATA ndash Dr Pavlos Troulis
The presentation of this sector actor the Agricultural Transformation Agency was
entitled ldquoThe need for the transformation of the beekeeping sector in Ethiopia and
expanding market linkage ATArsquos contributionrdquo
The presenter Dr Pavlos Troulis started the presentation by illustrating the various
actors in the apiculture ecosystem ranging across sectors He said the apiculture VC
provides capacity building at the production level infrastructure and marketing He then
went on discussing focal areas mission vision and the unique model of enterprise
development of the Ethiopian Agribusiness Acceleration Platform (EAAP)
EAAP aims to have demonstrably transformed the apiculture value chain by mid-2020
according to the presenter The four core services to drive enterprise and industry-wide
acceleration and the three programme areas along with the achievements gained under
each track were explained in the presentation
Dr Pavlos said that ATA wants to create a sustainable long term model to link four key
stakeholders namely RuSACCos input suppliers beekeepers and processors and
increase overall productivity in apiculture He ended his presentations by discussing the
different solutions that EAAP will deliver according to the type of actor in the sector
SNV ndash Wro Yetnayet Girmaw
The sector presentation entitled ldquoLessons from SNVrsquos apiculture development programrdquo
was presented by Yetnayet Girmaw Agriculture Sector Leader at SNV Ethiopia Having
introduced SNV Ethiopia and its general profile Yetnayet pointed out that Ethiopia is
endowed with natural resources for beekeeping and that it has 10 to 12 million colonies
and more than 18 million beekeepers with an annual production potential of approx
500000 tons and 50000 tons of honey and wax respectively out of which less than
20 are actually utilized
The presentation then mainly discussed the ASPIRE program of SNV which stands for
ldquoApicultural Scaling-Up Programme for Income and Rural Employmentrdquo and its pre-
decessor programme BOAM (Support to Business Organizations and their Access to
Markets) their intervention approaches and the key results achieved by SNVrsquos long
standing investment in the Ethiopian apiculture sector She listed out the lessons
learned from the programme such as the critical need for governmentrsquos support on the
one hand and beekeepingrsquos contribution to sustaining the investments in area closures
and afforestation on the other
Yetnayet stated that the way forward involves smallholder beekeepersrsquo transformation
and a comprehensive approach which among other things appreciates the multiple roles
of apiculture strengthening the private sector role dealing with quality and bee health
issues and scaling up for higher impact
26
ICIPE ndash Dr Workneh Ayalew
The third sector actor presentation was by Workneh Ayalew (PhD) of the International
Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) entitled ldquoHoneybees and other
commercial insects for economic prosperity and environmental healthrdquo Having briefly
discussed ICIPErsquos mission its overall goal and its environmental health theme Dr
Workneh pointed out the key features of insects ICIPErsquos work in commercial
beekeeping utilization of stingless bees for honey production and crop pollination and
commercial silk production were highlighted in his presentation Dr Workneh went on
discussing the roles insects can play in improving food and nutritional security waste
management and concluded his presentation by thanking donors directly providing
financial support to ICIPE
GIZ ndash Dr Juergen Greiling
Dr Juergen Greiling Integrated Expert and Senior Advisor to EAB made a presentation
on ldquoApiculture a tool for SLM and biodiversity protectionrdquo GIZ has been supporting the
development effortsin Ethiopia since 1964 and is currently engaged in three priority
areas namely Labor-Market-Oriented Education and Training Sustainable Land
Management Agriculture and Food Supply (ldquoThe Sustainable Use of Rehabilitated
Land for Economic Development (SURED) Programmerdquo)and Biodiversity Protection
(ldquoThe Biodiversity and Forest Programmerdquo (BFP)
GIZ has currently got more than 100 international and more than 600 national staff plus
Integrated Experts who work directly with partner organizations In his case the partner
organization is the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) an organization which is closely
working with the SURED and BFP programs Dr Greiling went on discussing these two
projects - SURED (Sustainable Use of Rehabilitated Areas for Economic Development)
and BFP (Biodiversity and Forestry Program) the concepts behind them and their
objectives and status The experience gained shows that apiculture contributes
substantially to household income and while it serves as an extra income if treated as a
stand-alone it offers the potential to create employment if treated in an integrated
manner ndash for instance by using rehabilitated sites for forage and vegetable production
including beekeeping Intensification of apiculture and up-scaling are also highly
justified Dr Greiling concluded his remark by suggesting that interested individuals
listen to a presentation by Teweldemedhin Gebretinsae (The role of cooperative
beekeeping in hillside rehabilitation areas for rural livelihood improvement in northern
Ethiopia) for more information
OXFAM ndash Gezahegn K Gebrehana
Ato Gezahegn K Gebrehana Country Director at Oxfam in Ethiopia presented a paper
entitled ldquoFemale beekeepers collaborating with bees as guardians of food securityrdquo He
started his presentation by listing out the excuses made by the society to exclude
27
women from engaging in beekeeping and the imbalances created because of other
constraints beyond the excuses According to Ato Gezahegn it is the belief of OXFAM
that improving the status of women within the household and at the community level
would deliver significant improvements to agricultural production food security child
nutrition health and education Hence the intervention named ACTION was
commenced to introduce a new business model for honey value chain development and
contributedto canceling out the imbalances between men and women Ato Gezahegn
went on discussing the rationale behind choosing women for beekeeping the project
intervention areas and the project strategy Initial stages of the intervention and details
of what has been done such as capacity building making the environment bee friendly
and formation of cluster level association were listed out in the presentation The key
lessons learned and challengesconstraints faced in terms of inputs production
marketing financial access management amp organization and policy were also
discussed in the presentation Ato Gezahegn then highlighted the opportunities in
apiculture such as Ethiopiarsquos inclusion in the list of countries allowed to export honey to
the EU the high potential of the region for beekeeping and natural resource
management efforts of the government The presentation was ended by pointing out the
similarity in the behaviors of women and bees in their cooperation and collaboration as
guardians of food security
APIMONDIA ndash Riccardo Jannoni ndash Sebastianini
Riccardo Jannoni - Sebastianini Secretary General of APIMONDIA made a
presentation entitled ldquoAPIMONDIA- a Vision of International Beekeepingrdquo In his
address he provided basic background information about bees and features of
apiculture and went on discussing the relationships among mankind bees and the
environment He highlighted what he called lsquocritical issuesrsquo for bees and apiculture and
discussed what the future should be and the possible role of APIMONDIA in that
regard An important feature would be the creation of a (like this one) focused
publications for discussion analysis and periodic exchange of experiences promotion
of strategic working groups the definition of integrated intervention protocols and
sustainable actions and active involvement of governmental political and social
institutions He stated thatAPIMONDIA is trying to implement a range of initiatives in
Africa He pointed at the experience from other countries to attract the youth to
apiculture such as summer camps to attract interest and the need to work with
politicians to ensure that beekeeping is reflected in the educational and vocational
curricula of countries
Mr Jannoni - Sebastianini ended his presentation by expressing his hope that
Ethiopiarsquos bid to host the 2023 APIMONDIA congress will be successful
28
Keynote Speeches
This section discusses the keynote speeches made under each of the four topics
29
Title - ldquoUNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES OF LOW POLLINATION IN CROPSrdquo
Presenter - Saul Cunningham Email saulcunninghamanueduau
The presenter illustrated an example of an Australian farm where bee hives were
present and there was a higher yield closer to the hives whereas the yield got lower as
it gets further from the hives There is a 17 yield improvement near the hives further
away there was still pollination but it was not maximized
Under-pollination is common in agriculture according to Dr Cunningham and the
reasons are shortage of pollinators and pollen quality
Dr Cunningham then went on discussing a study his team made on the almond industry
in Australia and explained the methodologies used and the results obtained Some of
the conclusions made are pollinator shortage occurs when large fields of crops replace
pollinatorrsquos habitat bees mostly move short distances when foraging even when bees
are at high density effective outcrossing might be rare and achieving maximum
pollination might be very difficult This demonstrates that the optimum outcome in terms
of profit is sometimes less than maximum yield This is the context for the idea that you
do not always ldquochase the maximumrdquo
Title - ldquoThreats to pollinators or to their performancerdquo (Panel Discussion)
Presentor - Dr Juergen Greiling Email Juergengreilingcimonlinede
The presentation was meant to be panel discussion stimulation Dr Greiling started
stating the seriousness of the threats by citing an example from South Africa where
several million bees died after being exposed to a mixture of molasses and ant poison
While the sweetness of the molasses attracted the bees the intense poison killed the
bees in a short time Having described controversial issues such as ldquoAfrican wayrdquo vs
frame hives ldquotraditionalrdquo vs ldquoimprovedrdquo he invited panel colleagues for statements and
views and the audience for feedback questions and discussion
Dr Abebe Jemberie from Bahirdar University took the stage and described how bees
are threatened by a lot of factors These factors include habitat degradation the
introduction of non-native species to an environment diseases and pests misuse of
agrochemicals intensity of farming and poor nutrition Combination of these factors are
affecting bees according to Dr Abebe and if things continue this way pollinators will
perish by 2035 And if pollinators perish so will human kind because the food we eat
depends on beesrsquo pollination
Participants forwarded questions and comments Issues raised mainly revolved around
the indiscriminate usage of agro chemicals usage of banned or controversial
chemicals varoa mite and knowledge and awareness by beekeepers as well as crop
producers The need for a disciplined and systematic usage of pesticides and integrated
30
pesticide management was raised as well The usage of pesticides in Ethiopia was
called lsquoharmful to both the crops and the beesrsquo
Suggested solutions include separating of beekeeping areas wherein there will be no
crops or chemicals and lessening the damage of chemicals by keeping bees safe in
their hives
Title - ldquoInsect pollinators and pollination services in changing environmentsrdquo
Presenter - Prof Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter Emai ingolfsteffanuni-wuerzburgde
Professor Steffan-Dewenter talked about the combined risks of climate and land use
change with of focus on his research experience in Africa He introduced the global
threats of pollinator diversity andtheir functional role for the pollination of crops and wild
plants A focus on the Western honeybeeApis mellifera addressed the dual character
of honeybees as managed and wild-living species the dependence of foraging
distances on floral resources and future climate change driven risks for honeybees and
their interactions with floral resources and parasites
His conclusions were that climate change and habitat loss are major risks for pollinator
diversity and ecosystem services and that pollinator diversity matters due to
complementarity of species traits higher resilience against extreme weather events and
buffering of risks due to species extinctions or local population declines He emphasized
that yield gaps occur due to lack of pollinators but that also other ecosystem services
such as biological pest control and soil quality need to be integrated in novel
approached for ecological management of bee-friendly agro-ecosystems
Title - ldquoBeekeeping for poverty alleviation and livelihood securityrdquo
Speaker - Dr Amsalu Bezabih (Apiculture and Senior Beekeeping researcher and
expert) Email amsalubyahoocom
Dr Amsalu started his keynote speech by explaining that the problems of
underemployment and environmental degradation have been major causes of
widespread poverty Furthermore poor yield and continuous environmental pollution
were mentioned as contributing factors
One of the major strategies of alleviating poverty according to Dr Amsalu is to design
agricultural technologies requiring low input One of those is beekeeping with its minimal
land requirement and less competition for resources needed by livestock and crop
The speaker discussed the importance of value addition and mentioned bee products
other than honey and wax as adding value for medicine cosmetics high nutrient foods
and beverages He also explained how income can be generated from making and
selling beekeeping equipment and other secondary products and renting out bee
colonies for pollination The income generated from beekeeping activities can be used
31
to pay for social services such as education electricity health and transport alleviating
poverty in effect
Dr Amsalu discussed the positive impact of beekeeping on the health of the
environment crop production food production and sustainable livelihood In
conclusion he said that beekeeping is the bestldquoglobal fit ldquo for the alleviation of poverty
and the provision of sustainable livelihoods to many small-scale farmers and other rural
and non-rural people
Various questions were raised including how bees could be productive in highly
degraded areas Dr Amsalu explained that the adaptation skill of bees is the key for
that
32
Presentations in working groups
In the presentations the idea was to include full papers but this was not possible in
some cases and only abstaracts were included
All contributions are included as received from the authors (no editing was done)
33
Topic 1 - Pollination and Food Production
34
Impact of Pollinator Services on Global Food amp Nutrition Security 2025 2050
Manfred J Kern Managing Director agriExcellence eK Germany
Email ManfredKernagriexcellencede
Global Symbol for Pollination (Bissier 1937)
ldquoDo we have enough fruits and vegetables to meet global health need by 20252050rdquo
ldquoWhat global health risk factors can be tackled by fruits and vegetables (400 gday)rdquo
ldquoWhat levels of income will trigger the consumption of fruits and vegetablesrdquo and ldquoWhy
pollination services (commercial pollinationwild pollinators) are essential to safeguard
the increasing future demand for fruits and vegetablesrdquo These are cardinal questions
which must be answered properly and in time
Improvements in future agriculture are key requisites for safeguarding food and nutrition
security in 2025 and 2050 Global crop production will have to be doubled between
1995 and 2025 due to population increase modified eating habits increased calorie
meat and vegetable consumption (fig 1) (Kern M 1998 2011 2012)
Fig 1 Global Food-Forecast 1995-2025
35
Between 2015 and 2050 the production of food crops fruits vegetables stimulants and
nuts will have to be more than doubled in order to feed 93 billion people living on earth
(fig 2) (Kern M 2016a)
Key factors which have to be considered are loss of arable land caused by
urbanization industrialization desertification water shortages shrinking resources
climate change species extinction pollination services increasing purchasing power
changes in eating habits increasing vegetable and meat consumption increasing pet
food market renewable energy economic disparities political instabilities migration
global trade new cutting edge technologies in agriculture digital information systems
and last but not least lsquoblack swansrsquo such as epidemics pandemics agro-terrorism
(Kern M 2016b) and earthquakes or wars
Fig 2 Global FoodCrop Production-Forecast 2015-2050
Demand and supply of global agricultural food production is often calculated on the
basis of calories and protein only Fruits and vegetables are hardly addressed or
neglected although the impact on human health is well known but not well reflected
Beside the demand and supply issues the actual purchasing power of the population
and the GDP (Gross Domestic Market) per capita are key prerequisites for healthy
nutrition Below $US 5000 a year subsistence foods such as cereals fats oils and
vegetables dominate in the diet Above $US 5000 a year some of these foods are
replaced by dairy-products and meat Above $US 15000 a year health and nutrition
factors eg high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables are key factors for consumers
These trends are still relevant everywhere in the world (fig 3)
36
Fig 3 Trigger Levels of GDP per Capita for Different Types of Food
An assessment of global demand for fruits and vegetables between 2015 and 2050
shows that there is currently a total deficit of -83 of which -23 is due to suboptimal
utilization of the level recommended by WHO for the consumption of fruits and
vegetables (400 gcaputday) -33 to post- harvest losses and -25 to lsquohidden
hungerrsquo issues By 2050 total demand of fruits and vegetables will have increased by
more than 200 (fig 4) Siegel et al (2014) claimed that by 2050 that there will be a
growing gap between supply and demand for fruits and vegetables in low income
countries over the course of time
37
Fig 4 Assessment of Global Demand for Fruits and Vegetables 2015-2050
At the present time agricultural crop production is mainly based on self-pollination (eg
wheat corn rice) and 35 percent on pollination by insects birds and bats (eg fruits
vegetables nuts beans stimulants) For reference a fruitful survey concerning the
dependence of crops on insect pollination is given by Stathers (2014) (fig 5a 5b)
Fig 5a Dependence of Crops on Insect Pollination
38
Fig 5b Dependence of Crops on Insect Pollination
39
Reflecting the trend during the last 50-year period agricultural production independent of animal pollination has doubled while agricultural production requiring animal pollination has increased fourfold (UNEP 2010) By 2050 crops independent of animal pollinators will increase by factor two and crops dependent on animal pollinators will increase by a factor of three (fig 6) Calculations and forecasts in this vision paper have been based on around 600 actual lead papers and books from different fields in order to assess the demand and value of pollination services in global agriculture by 2050
Fig 6 Assessment of Global Animal Independent and Dependent Crop Pollination
196020102050
For everyone it should be crystal clear that pollination services are key processes providing foodnutrition security and wider ecosystem stability Furthermore that different insect groups from Hemiptera Coleoptera Lepidoptera Hymenoptera and Diptera are responsible for the pollination of crops fruits and vegetable which means that pollination services rendered by non-bees are comparable with those provided by bees (Rader et al 2016) The global value of pollination services performed by insects such as bees bumblebees hoverflies butterflies and beetles has been calculated by several authors at $US 150 ndash 250 billion per year This is close to 10 percent of the global value of agricultural production In 2009 WHO claimed that low fruit and vegetable intake (below 400 gcaputday) is globally one of the leading risk factors contributing to mortality Lim et al (2012) estimated that low fruit and vegetable intake contributes to approximately 160 million disability-adjusted life years and 17 million deaths worldwide annually It is becoming increasingly evident that cardiovascular diseases gastrointestinal cancer and diabetes are closely linked to unhealthy nutrition
40
By 2050 the global economic impact of pollinators related to cost savings in the field of human health will be $US 735-811 billion (23 Global GDP) (Springmann et al 2016) (fig 7) Nevertheless up to now the gigantic value of pollination by animal pollinators as a key mechanism for sexual reproduction of the worldrsquos wild and cultivated flowering plants as well as the role of pollinators as ecosystem architects and their contribution to the beauty of nature cannot be assessed in terms of economic statistics
Fig 7 Global Economic Impact of Pollinators 2016
This global value of pollination services is endangered by anthropogenic disturbances
For example Winfree et al (2009) have described more than 130 bee responses to
anthropogenic disturbances the major factors being habitat loss landscape change
agricultural landscape change incorrect use of pesticides increasing human land use
introduction of alien species parasites pathogens pandemics global trade
beekeeping and transport and climate change Finally key critical issues are 1
increasing human land use 2 habitat loss 3 parasites pathogens pandemics 4
climate change For further reference an actual assessment report on pollinators
pollination and food production is given by Potts et al (2016)
As described pollination is an ecological and economic key process and pollinators are
keystone species providing vital ecosystem services today and in future Consequently
the restoration of pollination services and pollination fauna is an essential task for
humankind
A broad selection of global regional and national governmental and non-governmental
initiatives relevant to pollinators and pollinator services has been provided by Gill et al
(2016)
41
Some other actions are pointed out here In 2016 the University of Vancouver in
Canada started the first commercial beekeeping program for students with the aim of
bolstering British Columbiarsquos beekeeping industry by providing training that will allow the
students to meet the provincersquos growing pollination demands (British Columbia
Government 2015)
In Ireland sixty-eight governmental and non-governmental organizations have agreed
on a shared plan named ldquoAll-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020Junior Version 2015-
2020rdquo that identifies 81 actions to make Ireland pollinator friendly (National Biodiversity
Data Centre 2015)
In Germany 2016 a new institute for bee protection was opened at the Julius Kuumlhn-
Institute in Braunschweig (Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants 2016) The
main task is to investigate honeybees bumblebees and wild bees for damage or
poisoning caused by direct or sub-lethal effects of pesticides and other agricultural
substances and to advise the Federal Government on issues of pollinator risk reduction
During 2016 the German food distributor company EDEKA was providing seeds ldquoSeeds
for flowering the South-West of Germany and to help pollinatorsrdquo free of charge to every
customer in order to help pollinators Schools and private groups installed so called
insect hotels for wild pollinators on a lot of locations country wide
Information and education programs are under way in developing countries to
demonstrate not only that bees are important for honey production but that the
pollination function of bees and other pollinators is vital for the quality of crops fruits
and vegetables
Last but not least let us have a look at the action ldquoWithout Place ndash Without Time ndash
Without Bodyrdquo of the artist Wolfgang Laib carried out in 2009 Mounds of rice and pollen
(mounds not to climb on) were arranged in a very unusual and impressive way (fig 8)
Fig 8 Wolfgang Laib ldquoWithout Place ndash Without Time ndash Without Bodyrdquo
42
This work of art is very inspiring because food and pollen are key prerequisites for life
And pollen ndash thatrsquos DNA
Examples of affirmative actions to affirming diversity are on the way and a new key
challenge in front of us is named ldquoOrchestrating Diversityrdquo This means to manage
uncertainty complexity and diversity in appropriate time or in other words to facilitate
and enable vital DNA transfer in nature
Final Food for Thought DNA transfers are under heavy fire Since we know that only
good pollination ensures high quality of fruits and seeds let us facilitate and enable
essential DNA transfers in our world
Kern M 2017modified after Carl Alwin Schenck 1917 and Kuan-tzu300 BC
If you want fruit for one day then go and collect it outside in nature
If you need your fruit in the next few months then grow vegetables
If you want to cultivate fruit for one year then sow grains
If you want to cultivate fruit for decades then plant trees
If you want to cultivate fruit for centuries then educate human beings
If you want to cultivate fruit for thousands of years then build up democracy
But if you want to cultivate fruit for eternity then learn to love the created world
References
1 Bissier J (1937) 37 Befruchtungssymbol I (Cista)httpspicclickdeJulius-
Bissier-Befruchtungssymbol-Poster-Kunstdruck-Bild-80x60-cm-
251485900157html
2 BissierJ(1938)Frucht
httpwwwschlichtenmaierdelogicioclientschlichtenmaierfullphppage_id=we
rkampwerk_id=2055amponline_id=52
3 British Columbia Government (2015) New KPU beekeeping program creates a
buzz British Columbia Government News March 2015
httpsnewsgovbccastoriesnew-kpu-beekeeping-program-creates-a-buzz
4 Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants Julius Kuumlhn-Institute (2016) New
Institute for Bee Protection at Julius Kuumlhn-Institute Braunschweig Germany
April 1 2016httpswwwjulius-kuehnde
5 Gallei N Salles J Settele J and Vaissere BE (2009) Economic valuation of
the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline Ecological
Economics 68 810-821
6 Gill RJ Baldock KCR Brown MJF Cresswell JE Dicks LV Founain
MT Garratt MPD Gough LA Heard MS Holland JM Ollerton J
Stone GN Tang CQ Vanbergen AJ Vogler AP Woodward G Arce
AN Boatman ND Brand-Hardy R Breeze TD Green M Hartfield CM
OrsquoConners RS Osborn JL Phillips J Sutton PB and Potts SG (2016)
Protecting an ecosystem service approaches to understanding and mitigating
43
threats to wild insect pollinators Advances in Ecological Research 53 chapter
22
7 Potts SG Imperatriz-Fonseca VL Ngo HT Biesmeijer JC Breeze TD
Dicks LV Garibaldi LA Hill R Settele J Vanbergen AJ Aizen MA
Cunningham SA Eardley C Freitas BM Gallai N Kevan PG Kovacs-
Hostyanszki A Kwapong PK Li J Li X Martins DJ Nates-Parra G
Pettis JS Rader R and Viana BF (eds) Summary for policymakers of the
assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators pollination and food
production Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Bonn Germany 36 pp
8 Kern M (1998) Feeding the World A Wider Perspective Interview made by
Sartorius P Future the Houmlchst Magazine 198 24-28
9 Kern M (2011) Public Hearing on the Subject of ldquoGlobal Nutritionrdquo 35th Session
of the Committee on Food Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the German
Bundestag 17th Legislative Period April 4th 2011 Berlin Germany
10 Kern M (2012) Food Security at the Crossroads ndash A Wake up Call ISPSW
Strategy Series Focus on Defense and International Security Issue No 178
February 2012 httpwwwisnethzchisnDigital-
LibraryPublicationsDetailid=136536
11 Kern M (2016a) A close look into the future of global agriculture ndash an eye on
pollination services Session Interactions between Pollination Services and
Agricultural Practices XXV International Congress of Entomology Orlando
Florida USA September 25-30 2016
12 Kern M (2016b) Global Epidemics Pandemics Terrorism Risk Assessment
and European Responses ISPSW Strategy Series Focus on Defense and
International Security Issue No 462 May 2016
httpswwwethzchcontentspecialinterestgessciscenter-for-securities-
studiesenservicesdigital-librarypublicationspublicationhtml8eb73603-658c-
4c48-a55e-e530239cea18
13 Lim SS et al (2012) A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and
injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions 1990ndash
2010 a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 Lancet
380 2224-2260
14 National Biodiversity Data Centre (2015) All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2050
NBDC Ireland httpwwwbiodiversityirelandiewordpresswp-
contentuploadsAll-Ireland20Pollinator20Plan202015-2020pdf
15 Rader R Bartomeus I Garbaldi LA Garratt MPD Howlett BG Winfree
R Cunningham SA Mayfield MM Arthur AD Andersson GKS
44
16 Bommarco R Brittain C Carvalheiro LG Chacoff NP Entling MH
Foully B Freitas BM Gemmill-Herren B Ghazoul J Griffin SR Gross
CL Herbertsson L Herzog F Hipoacutelito J Jaggar SKleinA-M Kleijn D
Krishnan S Lemos CQ Lindstroumlm SAM Mandelik Y Monteiro
VMNelsonW Nilsson L Pattemore DE deO Pereira N Pisanty G
PottsSG Reemer M Rundloumlf M Sheffield CS Scheper J Schuumlepp Chr
Smith HG Stanley DA Stout JC Szentgyoumlrgyi H Taki HVergara CH
and WoyciechowskyM(2016)Non-bee insects are important contributors
toglobal crop pollinationPNAS 1131 146-151
17 Siegel KR Aliz MK Srinivasiah A Nugent and RAand Narayan KMV
(2014) Do We Produce Enough Fruits and Vegetables to Meet Global Health
Need PLOS 98 1-7
18 Springmann M Mason-DrsquoCroz D Robinson S GarnettT Godfray HCJ
Gollin D Rayner MBallonPand Scarborough P (2016) Global and
regional health effectsoffuture food production under climate change a
modelling study Lancet 387 1937-1943
19 Stathers R (2014)SchrodersndashThe Bee and the Stockmarket Research
PaperAn overview ofpollinator decline and its income and corporate
significanceSchroders London UK January 2014
20 Steenkamp J-BEM (1996) Dynamics in consumer behaviour with respect
toagricultural and food products inWierengaB GrunertKG Steenkamp J-
BEMWedel Mand van Tilburg A (eds)Agricultural marketing and consumer
behaviour in a changing world Proceedings of the 47th
Seminar ofthe European
Association ofAgriculturalEconomistsWageningen 13-15 March 15-38
21 United Nation Environment Program UNEP (2010) UNEP Emerging Issues
Global honeybee colony disorders and otherthreatsto insectpollinators UNEP
Nairobi Kenya 2010
22 Welch RM and Graham RD (1999) A new paradigm for world agriculture
meeting human needs-Productive sustainable nutritious Field Crops Research
60 1-10
23 Winfree R Aguilar R Vaacutesquez DP LeBuhn G and Aizen MA (2009) A
meta-analysis of beesresponsesto anthropogenic disturbance Ecology 908
2068-2076
24 Source Behl RK Khatodia S Kern MJand Merbach W Proceedingsof
the 7th
International Seminar on Genetic and Natural Resourcestowards Food
Energy Environment and Livelihood November 27-29 292016 Mahatma
GandhiHaus Goumlttingen Germany Agrobios (International) 95-105 2018
45
Overview of Insect Pollinators in Sustainable Agricultural Planning The
Neglected Component
Tolera Kumsa
Oromia Agricultural Institute Holeta Bee Research Centre Email
tolekumeyahoocom
Abstract
Sustainable agriculture is a function of natural ecosystems outcomes than specific
agronomic practices Food security food diversity human nutrition and food prices all
rely strongly on animal pollinators The expansion of pollinator-dependent crops
together with the declining scenario of the pollinators and their habitat recently raises
concerns of possible yield reduction Pollination services are rarely considered as
agricultural input to be managed in the same way as fertilizers in pollinators-dependent
crop managementIn this paper we present an overview of the importance of pollination
in sustainable agricultural planning We also emphasized to discuss on the global
pollination perspectives and related with the current situation of pollination perception in
Ethiopia We also indicated the priorities areas that require attention including
documentation of pollination requirements of crops quantification of their pollination
deficit and assessment of farming practices that enhance synergies between pollinators
and crop production Strategic coordination among agricultural researchers and
conservation scientists need to develop joint efforts to design and implement plant-
pollinator community restoration to maintain sustainable agriculture We conclude that
understanding the dynamics of how agricultural landscapes contributed to enhance
long-term ecological stability as a solution to enhance pollinator diversity for higher crop
yields and discuss ways to promote the sustainable pollination practices that increase
food security
Key words Sustainable agriculture pollinators pollination food security
46
1 Introduction
Globally agricultural land is continuing to expand and agricultural practices continue to
intensify to meet rising food demands (Pretty 2008 Pretty and Bharucha 2014) Meeting
the growing demand in the amount and diversity of food while dealing with increasing
environmental degradation is a major challenge (Garibaldi et al 2009) Farmers are
advised to intensify their production through efficient application fertilizer and pesticides
to reduce yield gaps (Motzke et al 2015) These approaches increases short-term
yields with long term disadvantages such as environmental degradation and ecological
services disruption (Tscharntke et al 2005 Garibaldia et al 2011) The systems
imposes tradeoff for agriculture production such as between cultivated area and habitat
for pollinators between pesticide application and pollinators health and between
monoculture and diversified resources for pollinators (Holzschuh et al 2007)
In sustainable agriculture pollination is the key ecological functioning enhancing food
security and yield stability through linking of ecosystem with agricultural production
(Kevan 1999 Dicks et al 2013 Ollerton 2017 Sutter et al 2017) Food security food
diversity human and animal nutrition and food prices all rely strongly on animal
pollinators (Klatt et al 2014) Insect pollination enhances the reproduction and genetic
diversity of 80 of the plant species (Fontaine et al 2006) To maintain and increase
agricultural yields better conservation and management of pollinators is critically
important to food security for low income farms Pollination services in agriculture
represent possibly one of the greatest areas of interaction between natural systems and
agricultural systems (Figure 1) Agricultural biodiversity holds a wide diversity of
organisms that contribute toward crop productivity and sustainability (Sharma and Abrol
2014)
47
Figure 1 A diagrammatic representation of the pollinator interaction between natural ecosystems and
agricultural systems adopted from Donaldson (2002)
Recent research showing that children living near conserved areas of Africa tend to
have more nutritious diet than children living in areas with less conserved areas (Brittain
et al 2014 Ickowitz et al 2014) demonstrates that insect-pollinated plant provide
important nutrients for human health Many fodder crops used for cattle breeding
depend on insect pollination that the loss of insect pollinators can also indirectly affect
the production of livestock in agriculture (Van der Sluijs and Vaage 2016) The primary
data projected from 200 countries found that fruit vegetable or seed production from 87
of the leading global food crops is dependent upon animal pollination (Klein et al 2007)
Insect pollinators both managed and wild have become a focus of global scientific
political and media attention because of their apparent decline affects crop performance
and yield (Melin A et al 2014 Bretagnolle and Gab 2015 Samnegaringrd et al 2016
Ollerton 2017)
Ecological services occur at agricultural landscape supporting agricultural production
however neglected when designing agricultural management practices (Pretty and
Bharucha 2014) Regardless of its potential pollination services in developing countries
such as in Ethiopia lacks financial extensional and technological support even though
the country retain the highest diversity of native and domesticated plant species Better
policies and plans should be implemented to fully exploit insect pollination potential in
sustainable agricultural productivity This will done through developing integrated
48
agriculture through incorporating pollinators as crop production factors and designing
conservation strategies that sustain pollinator diversity and abundance essential for the
production of important food crops
2 Role of insect pollination in sustainable agriculture
Agriculture is the worldrsquos largest managed ecosystem accounting for approximately 50
percent of the terrestrial land surface (Kearns et al 1998 Foley et al 2005) Improving
livelihoods through higher crop yields while reducing negative agricultural impacts is
important for achieving food security and reducing levels of poverty (Garibaldi et al
2016) Historically demands for increased crop production has been satisfied by
expansion of cultivated areas and yield improvements through genetic innovation
increased external input (fertilizer herbicides and pesticides) and new agricultural
practices (Aizen et al 2009 Garibaldia et al 2011 Motzke et al 2015) The system
involves high risk to agricultural landscape due to pollinator reduction (Motzke et al
2015) The combination of insect pollination fertilizer application and weed control
additively increased crop yield however fertilizer application and weed control alone
could note compensate for pollination loss Reduction in pollinator abundance is limiting
crop yield at global scale and is the most important driver of yield through facilitating
agricultural landscape management (Garibaldi et al 2009 Isaacs et al 2017)
Yields of pollinator-dependent crops are more variable to the extent that the shortage of
pollinators is affecting the stability of agricultural food production (Garibaldia et al
2011) There is critical need to develop and expand sustainable agriculture production
on existing agricultural land while assuring long term ecological and economic benefits
for local farmers Integrated insect pollination is an ecological service stabilizes
agricultural yields over the long term and promotes diet diversity under low levels of
technology (Suso et al 2016 Burkle et al 2017 Ritten et al 2017)
The 2016 IPBES thematic assessment on pollinators pollination and food production in
the past 50 years shows that the volume of agricultural production dependent on animal
pollination has increased by 300 (Lumpur 2016) The expansion of pollinator-
dependent crops in both developed and developing worlds together with reports of
worldwide pollinators decline leads to serious concern to yield gaps and decreasing
stability of agricultural production (Garibaldi et al 2009) Pollinator-dependent crops
generate larger income in lower cultivated area compared to non-pollinator-dependent
crops (Ashworth et al 2009) It was suggested that pollinatorrsquos shortfalls would produce
lower annual growth in yield for pollinator-dependent crops but a higher growth in
cultivated area to compensate the lower crop yield (Figure 2)
49
Figure 2 Shows the mean of the annual relative growth in yield and cultivated area for crops
differing in their pollinator dependence The lines are linear regressions taking each crop as a replicate
In parenthesis is the number of crops within each group adopted from Garibaldi et al (2009)
3 Agro-ecological intensification increase crop yield
Sustainable agriculture is depends on the need to develop technologies and practices
that do not have adverse effects on ecological services accessible to farmers and leads
to sustainable food production (Pretty 2008) Ecological intensification of
agroecosystems either maximizing yield or replacing external inputs through the
enhancement of ecological process sustaining crop production (Tamburini et al 2017)
Biological diversification can be a first step in promoting ecological intensification by
hosting more pollinators insect predators through reducing the herbicide application
without considerable yield losses (Wan et al 2018)
Currently agriculture has become more pollinator dependent because of a
disproportionate increase of pollinator dependent crops (Aizen et al 2008 Harvey et al
2008 Kovacs-Hostyanszki et al 2017) If the trend towards favoring cultivation of
pollinator-dependent crops continues the need for the pollination service will greatly
increase The ecological intensification of agriculture represents a strategic alternative
to enhance pollinatorrsquos distribution by promoting biodiversity beneficial to sustainable
agricultural production (Kovacs-Hostyanszki et al 2017) It means making smart use of
naturersquos functions and services at field and landscape scales to enhance agricultural
productivity
50
Habitat enhancement of agricultural land increasing agricultural productivity through
promoting diversified pollinators (Altieri 2002 Chaudhary et al 2013 Melin A et al
2014 Burkle et al 2017 Rolando et al 2017 Wan et al 2018) Maintenance and
restoration of hedgerows and other vegetation features at field borders increases
heterogeneous habitats and important for harboring diversified pollinators and may
provide to be a cost effective means of maximizing crop yield (Nicholls and Altieri 2012
Garibaldi et al 2016) The species richness of annual and perennial flowering
vegetation was positively related to pollinator abundance and associated with enhanced
agricultural production (Norfolk et al 2016)
The stability of pollinator communities over time and crop productivity strongly rely on
pollinator diversity complementarity and redundancy In tropics small-scale farmlands
and home-gardens are intensively managed with multipurpose native and non-native
trees shrubs and herbs frequently integrated with annual and perennial crops (Kremen
and Miles 2012 Wratten et al 2012) Diversifying farming promotes ecological
intensification in stallholder agricultural system (Rolando et al 2017) In Ethiopia free
pollination services mitigate yield gaps of pollinator-dependent crops where small-scale
farmers rely on wild insect pollinators Home-gardens management system support high
number of pollinators important for the yield increments in smallholder gardens but the
practices has not been properly quantified
4 The global perspective of pollination service
Over the past decades the international communities have increasingly recognized the
importance of pollinators as an agricultural input through supporting agroecosystem
conservation (Cromwell et al 1999) The issue of pollination is cross-cutting through
many policy domains including the regulation of chemical polices agricultural policies
conservation polices and environmental policies (Van der Sluijs and Vaage 2016) The
implications of pollinator decline have led to substantial attention and has sparked the
formation of global policy framework for pollinator through the international Pollinators
Initiatives (IP) within the Convention Biological Diversity (CBD) (Byrne and Fitzpatrick
2009 Dicks et al 2013) There are now regional Pollinators Initiatives (PI) and
conservation legislation capitalizing the resources being directed towards pollinator
research and public understanding on utilization of pollinators on which conservation
actions can be based(Dicks et al 2013)
Recognizing the dimensions of pollination crisis the CBD has made the conservation
and sustainable use of pollinators as a priority (Sharma and Abrol 2014) The CBD
under the International Pollinator Initiative (IPI) plan to promote the conservation
restoration and sustainable use of pollinator diversity in agriculture through monitoring
pollinator decline and its causes and assessing the economic value of pollination
(Byrne and Fitzpatrick 2009) For these reasons initiatives such as African Pollinator
51
Initiatives (API) North American Pollinator Initiatives (NAPI) European Pollinator
Initiatives (EPI) and Oceania Pollinator Initiatives (OPI) all are focused on conserving or
mitigating threats to insect pollinators and working on pollination services for
sustainable agriculture (FAO 2007) The initiatives set priorities to improve pollination
awareness through integrating agriculture into the healthy functioning of agro-
ecosystems (Byrne and Fitzpatrick 2009 Burkle et al 2017)
Restoration of heterogeneous habitat of native herbaceous flowering plants within field
margins enhance pollinators diversity and abundance as the same time protect soil
against soil erosion (Chaudhary et al 2013 Melin A et al 2014) In America adaptive
modifications initiated by agriculturists horticulturists and foresters to minimize the
negative impacts on pollinators (Palmer et al 2009) In Europe agricultural production
is more reliant upon pollination services and the declines in insect pollinators have
raised concerns about the supply of pollination services For this reasons EU
agricultural policies have developed to encourage pollinators conservation for
sustainable agricultural production (Breeze et al 2014)
In India government has designed conservation strategy to make agriculture more
sustainable through developing conservation agriculture technology (Chaudhary et al
2013) The technology encourages formulating pollination research and development
enhances the synergies among agriculture livelihoods and biodiversity conservation In
China there is widespread decline of natural pollinators together with the increasing
demand of pollination services for deciduous fruits which replacing insect pollination to
hand pollination (Allsopp et al 2008) In Africa evidence suggests that pollinator decline
contributing to pollination limitation (Rodger and Balkwill 2004 Byrne and Fitzpatrick
2009) Data used to assess and address this phenomenon are uneven Crop pollination
data from sub-Saharan Africa remains deficient even though the continent still retain the
highest diversity of native and domesticated plant species (Ren et al 2014)
Unfortunately the problem is further aggravated by the fact that the region has the
largest populations to feed
5 Pollination concern in Ethiopia
Farmers in Ethiopia directly reliant on insect pollinators for food supply however the
knowledge on pollination is poor (Samnegaringrd et al 2016) Wild and managed
pollinators provide free ecosystem service without getting recognition from farmers
Study conducted on famers perception on insect pollination in agricultural crops
suggested that 77 had no knowledge about pollination and farmers described wild
pollinators as crops pest (Misganaw et al 2017) Research finding has indicated that
pollinators decline threatens the agricultural production in Ethiopia The extent of this
impact has recently been highlighted by Samnegaringrd et al (2016) that severe pollen
limitation has occurred across heterogeneous agricultural landscape The study result
52
indicated that 91 of yield increment was obtained through supplementation of honey
bee colonies pollination (Samnegaringrd et al 2016) It suggests that crop fields with high
pollinatorrsquos diversity and abundance resulted in sufficient pollen deposition for higher
crop yieldIn contrast it was shown that wild insect visitation alone significantly
increased yield by twice as much as honeybees did suggesting wild pollinators provide
more effective crop pollination (Melin A et al 2014)
Evidences of pollinatorrsquos scarcity inferred from the continuing declining of honeybee
colonies and honey production have received much attention (Axel et al 2011) The
situation is referred from simple hive inspection such as declining of honey and pollen
accumulation declining of brood production in the hive and decreasing of swarm
occupation rate in the hives Honey production depends on bee floral conservation that
determines colony nutrition and overall colony success (Axel et al 2011) In addition
butterflies and moths are the wild indicators of ecosystem and used as model
organisms to study the impact of climate change and habitat loss (Ghazanfar et al
2016) Wild insects for which we donrsquot have population data (notably butterflies) are
overwhelmingly declining in agricultural landscape
Flowering plant species that can be grown in hedgerows fallows lands and habitats
adjacent to the farms provides nectar pollen and nesting for wild pollinators (Kovacs-
Hostyanszki et al 2017) For instance Bidens and Guizotia species are weedy species
widely grown nearby uncultivated patches of land in Ethiopia as important refuges for
many pollinators (Fichtl and Admasu 1994) The abundance of these species can
sustain pollinators in exchange for crop pollination increase honey yields and improving
the socio-cultural value (Bretagnolle and Gab 2015) Unfortunately the weedy species
are currently under threats due to habitat alteration and intensive use of herbicides
which affect the diversity and abundance of insect pollinators but not yet documented
The crop breeding system is determined by the degree of dependency of plants on
pollinators (Palmer et al 2009 Calderone 2012) In Ethiopia agriculture and rural
development had developed strategies for cereals pulse oilseed vegetables and fruit
crops in different agroecology (Taffesse et al 2012) The strategies are not incorporated
pollinators as agricultural factor and agriculture planning of Ethiopia has not yet
received adequate recognition Moreover agronomists neglected the significance of
insect pollination in the crop yield analysis The oil crops improvement program is not
integrated with insect pollination as production factor in order to improve the yield to a
desirable level For instance niger (Guizotia abyssinica) is an oil crop indigenous to
Ethiopia contributed to food security (Geleta and Ortiz 2013) Research findings have
shown that the crop is self-incompatible and pollination by insects has an important
factor contributing to yield increment (Geleta and Ortiz 2013 Dempewolf et al 2015)
The current yield decline is unknown for agronomist but possibly because of a decline
of pollinators brought by local environmental degradation Moreover the national
53
biodiversity developed strategy for sustainable biodiversity conservation (Husen et al
2012) the concept has not clearly incorporated pollination as important ecological
services
6 Future direction
61 Understanding the management of pollinator in sustainable agriculture
A lot of research has characterized that the synergy between crop production and
pollination service is important to meet sustainable agriculture (Garibaldi et al 2011
2016 Suso et al 2016) Better understanding of pollinators and its interactions to
agroecosystems ensure ecosystem health and improve human livelihoods Few studies
have empirically investigated how pollination networks are affected by changes in
landscape in Ethiopia (Fetene and Habtewold 2016 Misganaw et al 2017) Agricultural
development programs and plans need to recognize and take steps to integrate these
efforts into decision-making that influence pollination Policies in favors of pollinators
that promote biological diversity and limit the use of pesticides should be implemented
Documenting and sharing the pollination information with scientists and policymakers
are imperative
62 Capacity building
Advocating agricultural system that integrate agriculture and environmental services into
food production (Pretty 2008)The importance of pollination for the productivity and
health of agricultural crops should be demonstrated through experimenting with various
crops Building capacity in different sectors is important not only to raise awareness of
pollination but also to deploy technical information on pollinators and the role of animal
pollination for crop production Synthesizing the combined knowledge of growers
extension workers and conservation agencies scientists and NGOs through data
collection and make it accessible to the users
63 Mainstreaming
Pollinator should be mainstreamed into agroecosystem research and policies At
national level a strategy for the integration of pollination and pollinators into national
biodiversity strategies and action plans is paramount Practices that support the
conservation of natural habitat and mixed farming initiatives should be supported
Effective strategies to incorporate bees in to national food security plan the conservation
of agrobiodiversity for sustainable agricultural production Farmers can help to maintain
pollinator abundance diversity and health by using practices that integrate local and
scientific knowledge by diversifying farms to make food resources for pollinators
Collaboration among national and international organizations academic and research
bodies to mainstream the existing traditional knowledge into research will help to guide
future plans and funding towards the areas where pollination research is likely to have
54
real impacts in agricultural landscape (Dicks et al 2013 Kovacs-Hostyanszki et al
2017)
55
7 Conclusion
Pollination is a biological process in agricultural system which can intensify
agricultural production and serve as excellent areas of research and development as
sustainable agricultural solutions Insect pollination integrated with other agricultural
management should be considered as an agronomic factor to be managed in
agriculture systems to achieve sustainable agricultural production Several gaps and
limitations have been identified in setting strategies of crop breeding programs and
research associated with pollinator-dependent crops Works is still required to
identify agricultural management practices that can increase pollination services and
thus yield of pollinator dependent crops To achieve the intention through evidence-
based decision-making concerned agencies such as government university and
private sector partners including international partners should work together to
prioritize and address critical knowledge gaps in pollination management practices
Agricultural researcher and conservationist should work together to guide policies to
support plant-pollinator interactions to create more sustainable agricultural practices
8 References
Aizen M A L A Garibaldi S A Cunningham and A M Klein 2008 Long-term
global trends in crop yield and production reveal no current pollination shortage
but increasing pollinator dependency Curr Biol 18 1572ndash1575
Aizen M A L A Garibaldi S A Cunningham and A M Klein 2009 How
much does agriculture depend on pollinators Lessons from long-term trends in
crop production Ann Bot 103 1579ndash1588
Allsopp M H W J De Lange and R Veldtman 2008 Valuing Insect Pollination
Services with Cost of Replacement PLoS One 3 e3128
Altieri M A2002 Agroecology The science of natural resource management for
poor farmers in marginal environments Agric Ecosyst Environ 93 1ndash24
Ashworth L M Quesada A Casas R Aguilar and K Oyama 2009 Pollinator-
dependent food production in Mexico Biol Conserv 142 1050ndash1057
Axel D A Cedric O Jean-Francois H Mickael V Bernard and L Conte
2011 Why enhancement of floral resources in agro-Ecosystems benefit
honeybees and beekeepers pp 371ndash388 In Ecosyst Biodivers
Breeze T D B E Vaissiegravere R Bommarco T Petanidou N Seraphides L
Kozaacutek and et al--- 2014 Agricultural policies exacerbate honeybee pollination
service supply-demand mismatches across Europe PLoS One 9 e82996
Bretagnolle V and amp S Gab 2015 Weeds for bees A review Agron Sustain
Dev
Brittain C C Kremen A Garber and A M Klein 2014 Pollination and plant
56
resources change the nutritional quality of almonds for human health PLoS
One
Burkle L A C M Delphia and K M O Neill 2017 A dual role for farmlands
Food security and pollinator conservation Ecological solutions to global food
security mini-review J Ecol 105 890ndash899
Byrne A and U Fitzpatrick 2009 Review article bee conservation policy at the
global regional and national levels Review article Apidologie 40 194ndash210
Calderone N W2012 Insect pollinated crops insect pollinators and US agriculture
Trend analysis of aggregate data for the period 1992-2009 PLoS One 7
e37235
Chaudhary N Y S Saharawat and V Sivaram 2013 Conservation agriculture
An option to enhance pollinators and sustainability World J Agric Sci 9 210ndash
213
Cromwell E D Cooper and P Mulvany 1999 Agriculture biodiversity and
livelihoods issues and entry points Nat Resour Perspect
Dempewolf H M Tesfaye A Teshome A D Bjorkman R L Andrew M
Scascitelli S Black E Bekele J M M Engels Q C B Cronk and L H
Rieseberg 2015 Patterns of domestication in the Ethiopian oil-seed crop Evol
Appl 8 464ndash475
Dicks L V A Abrahams J Atkinson J Biesmeijer N Bourn and et al---
2013 Identifying key knowledge needs for evidence-based conservation of wild
insect pollinators a collaborative cross-sectoral exercise Insect Conserv
Divers 6 435ndash446
Donaldson J 2002 Pollination in agricultural landscapes a South African
perspective pp 97ndash104 In Kevan P Imperatriz Fonseca V (eds)
Pollinating Bees - Conserv Link between Agric Nat
FAO 2007 The plan of action of the African pollinator initiative
Fetene S and T Habtewold 2016 Effects of herbicide application in wheat crops
and on honeybee populations in Ethiopia
Fichtl R and A Admasu 1994 Honey Bee Flora of Ethiopia Margraf Verlag
Weikersheim Germany
Foley J A R Defries G P Asner C Barford G Bonan and etal--- 2005
Revied global consequences of land use Science (80- ) 309 570ndash575
Fontaine C I Dajoz J Meriguet and M Loreau 2006 Functional diversity of
plant-pollinator interaction webs enhances the persistence of plant communities
PLoS Biol 4 0129ndash0135
Garibaldi L A M A Aizen S Cunningham and A M Klein 2009 Pollinator
57
shortage and global crop yield Commun Integr Biol 2 37ndash39
Garibaldi L A L G Carvalheiro B E Vaissiegravere B Gemmill-herren J
Hipoacutelito B M Freitas H T Ngo N Azzu A Saacuteez J Aringstroumlm J An B
Blochtein and et al--- 2016 Mutually beneficial pollinator diversity and crop
yield outcomes in small and large farms Science (80- ) 351 388ndash391
Garibaldi L A I Steffan-Dewenter C Kremen J M Morales R Bommarco S
A Unningham and et al--- 2011 Stability of pollination services decreases
with isolation from natural areas despite honey bee visits Ecol Lett 14 1062ndash
1072
Garibaldia L A M A Aizena A M Kleinc S A Cunninghamd and L D
Hardere 2011 Global growth and stability of agricultural yield decrease with
pollinator dependence PNAS 108 5909ndash5914
Geleta M and R Ortiz 2013 The importance of Guizotia abyssinica (niger) for
sustainable food security in Ethiopia Genet Resour Crop Evol 60 1763ndash1770
Ghazanfar M M F Malik M Hussain R Iqbal and M Younas 2016 Butterflies
and their contribution in ecosystem A review J Entomol Zool Stud 4 115ndash
118
Harvey C A O Komar R Chazdon B G Ferguson B Finegan D M Griffith
M Martiacutenez-Ramos H Morales R Nigh L Soto-Pinto M Van Breugel and
M Wishnie 2008 Integrating agricultural landscapes with biodiversity
conservation in the Mesoamerican hotspot Conserv Biol 22 8ndash15
Holzschuh A I Steffan-Dewenter D Kleijn and T Tscharntke 2007 Diversity
of flower-visiting bees in cereal fields Effects of farming system landscape
composition and regional context J Appl Ecol 44 41ndash49
Husen A V K Mishra K Semwal and D Kumar 2012 Biodiversity Status in
Ethiopia and challenges pp 31ndash79 In Bharati K P CA and KP (ed)
Environ Pollut Biodivers New Delhi India
Ickowitz A B Powell M A Salim and T C H Sunderland 2014 Dietary
quality and tree cover in Africa Glob Environ Chang 24 287ndash294
Isaacs R N Williams J Ellis T L Pitts-Singer R Bommarco and M
Vaughan 2017 Integrated Crop Pollination Combining strategies to ensure
stable and sustainable yields of pollination-dependent crops Basic Appl Ecol
22 44ndash60
Kearns C A D W Inouye and N M Waser 1998 Endangered mutualisms The
conservation of plant-pollinator interactions Annu Rev Ecol Syst 29 83ndash112
Kevan P G1999 Pollinators as bioindicators of the state of the environment
species activity and diversity Agric Ecosyst Environ 74 373ndash393
58
Klatt B K A Holzschuh C Westphal Y Clough I Smit E Pawelzik and T
Tscharntke 2014 Bee pollination improves crop quality shelf life and
commercial value Proc R Soc 281 2013ndash2440
Klein A M B E Vaissiegravere J H Cane I Steffan-Dewenter S A Cunningham
C Kremen and T Tscharntke 2007 Importance of pollinators in changing
landscapes for world crops Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 274 303ndash313
Kovacs-Hostyanszki A A Espindola A J Vanbergen J Settele C Kremen
and L V Dicks 2017 Ecological intensification to mitigate impacts of
conventional intensive land use on pollinators and pollination Ecol Lett 20
673ndash689
Kremen C and A Miles 2012 Ecosystem services in biologically diversified
versus conventional farming systems benefits externalitites and trade-offs
Ecol Soc 17 1ndash23
Lumpur K2016 Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment on
pollinators pollination and food production IPBES
Melin A R M M J and D JS2014 Pollination ecosystem services in South
African agricultural systems S Afr J Sci 110 1ndash9
Misganaw M G Mengesha and T Awas 2017 Perception of farmers on
importance of insect pollinators in Gozamin District of Amhara Region Ethiopia
Biodivers Int J 1 1ndash7
Motzke I T Tscharntke T C Wanger and A Klein 2015 Pollination mitigates
cucumber yield gaps more than pesticide and fertilizer use in tropical smallholder
gardens J Appl Ecol 52 261ndash269
Nicholls C I and M A Altieri 2012 Plant biodiversity enhances bees and other
insect pollinators in agroecosystems A review Agron Sustain Dev
Norfolk O M P Eichhorn and F Gilbert 2016 Flowering ground vegetation
benefits wild pollinators and fruit set of almond within arid smallholder orchards
Insect Conserv Divers 9 236ndash243
Ollerton J2017 Pollinator diversity distribution ecological function and
conservation Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 48 353ndash376
Palmer R G P T Perez E Ortiz-Perez F Maalouf and M J Suso 2009 The
role of crop-pollinator relationships in breeding for pollinator-friendly legumes
from a breeding perspective Euphytica 170 35ndash52
Pretty J2008 Agricultural sustainability Concepts principles and evidence Philos
Trans R Soc Biol Sci 363 447ndash465
Pretty J and Z P Bharucha 2014 Sustainable intensification in agricultural
systems Ann Bot 144 1571ndash1596
59
Ren Z H Wang P Bernhardt and D Li 2014 Insect pollination and self-
incompatibility in edible andor medicinal crops in Southwestern China a global
hotspot of biodiversity Am J Bot 101 1700ndash1710
Ritten C J C Bastian J F Shogren T Panchalingam M D Ehmke and G
Parkhurst 2017 Understanding pollinator habitat conservation under current
policy using economic experiments Land 7 1ndash13
Rodger J G and K Balkwill 2004 African pollination studies where are the
gaps Int J Trop Insect Sci Vol 24 5ndash28
Rolando J L C Turin D A Ramiacuterez V Mares J Monerris and R Quiroz
2017 Key ecosystem services and ecological intensification of agriculture in the
tropical high-Andean Puna as affected by land-use and climate changes Agric
Ecosyst Environ Ecosyst Environ 236 221ndash233
Samnegaringrd U P Hambaumlck P A Hamba D Lemessa S Nemomissa and K
Hylander 2016 A heterogeneous landscape does not guarantee high crop
pollination p 20161472 In Proc R Soc B 283
Sharma D and D P Abrol 2014 Role of pollinators in sustainable farming and
livelihood security pp 379ndash411 In Gupta R W R J van V A G (eds)
Beekeep Poverty Alleviation Livelihood Secur
Van der Sluijs J P and N S Vaage 2016 Pollinators and global food security
The need for holistic global Stewardship Food Ethics 1 75ndash91
Suso M J P J Bebeli S Christmann C Mateus V Negri M A A Pinheiro
de Carvalho R Torricelli and M M Veloso 2016 Enhancing legume
ecosystem services through an understanding of plant-pollinator interplay
Review Front Plant Sci 7 201600333
Sutter L P Jeanneret A M Bartual G Bocci and M Albrecht 2017
Enhancing plant diversity in agricultural landscapes promotes both rare bees
and dominant crop-pollinating bees through complementary increase in key
floral resources Italy
Taffesse A S P Dorosh and S Asrat 2012 Crop production in Ethiopia
Regional patterns and trends Food Agric Ethiop Prog Challenges
Tamburini G F Lami and L Marini 2017 Pollination benefits are maximized at
intermediate nutrient levels Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 284
Tscharntke T A M Klein A Kruess I Steffan-Dewenter and C Thies 2005
Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity -
Ecosystem service management Ecol Lett 8 857ndash874
Wan N Y Cai Y Shen X Ji X Wu X Zheng W Cheng J Li Y Jiang X
Chen J Weiner J Jiang M Nie R Ju and T Yuan 2018 Increasing plant
diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in
60
urban agriculture Elife 7 e35103
Wratten S D M Gillespie A Decourtye E Mader and N Desneux 2012
Pollinator habitat enhancement benefits to other ecosystem services Agric
Ecosyst Environ 159 112ndash122
Effect of honey bee pollination on the fruit setting and yield of Brassica spp
crop Pakistan
Samina Qamer1 Farkanda Asad2 Muhammad Samee Mubarik3 Tayyaba Ali4
Tahira Yasmin5 Email saminabeegmailcom
Department of Zoology Government College University Faisalabad
Pakistan1234
National IPM Programme Department of Plant and Environmental Protection
National Agricultural Research Centre Park Road Islamabad5
Abstract
Sarson is one of the important oil seed crops which are cultivated on large areas in
Punjab Pakistan during November to February months It is an significant means of
nectar and pollen for pollinators In order to estimate the effects of pollination on fruit
setting no of seeds siliqua and average weight of 1000 seeds produced by
honeybeersquos visits were correlated with open and unopen pollinated sarson plants A
research was carried out with three treatments (i) Pollinators and bees visits to open
field (ii) plants confined with honeybees and (iii) plants confined without honeybees
(control) Measurements were taken about no of seeds set their weight and
productionplot The no of seeds produced pod and total yield was considerably
different between the treatments however non-significant alteration in seeds weight
was detected It was concluded that visits of honeybees at the time of 5 flowers
initiation plays a vital role in seed set and seed yield in mustared crop as well as
honey production
Keywords Pollination Brassica spp honeybee seed production
Corresponding Author Samina Qamer
Corresponding Author email saminabeegmailcom
Introduction
Brassica spp is commonly known as Sarson is the second main oilseed crop of
Pakistan after cotton Its cultivation in Indus valley of sub-continent dated back about
300BC as a fodder crop Itrsquos a winter or ldquoRabirdquo crop grown on a 307000 hectares
area with 233000 tonnes annual production in Pakistan (USDA 2015) Mustard and
Rapeseed seed crops are enrich source of oil and protein Their seeds contain 46-48
oil along with 20-25 of protein (Hasanuzzaman et al 2008) The protein age is
61
436 in whole seed meal with complete amino acid profile Rapeseed foodstuff is an
outstanding forage for animals as well
Rapeseed is a cross-pollinated crop In cross -pollination plants require pollen to be
transferred from the anthers to the stigma of either same or different flower This is
fastening phenomenon for the growth of seeds and fruits in angiosperm plants Like
other inputs such as Seed Fertilizer and Irrigation pollination is also vital for the
better production and is rather inevitable for fruit production (Khan and Chaudhry
1988) About 80 of all angiosperm plant species have specialized part for
pollination by various pollinating agents mostly insects (Ascher and Rasmussen
2010) At the same time adequate number of pollinating means are required for
better pollination and seed yield The bright yellow color of rapeseed flowers are
quite attractive for beersquos visits in search of nectar and pollen which in turn results
into florets cross-pollination Therefore bees are the most efficient pollinators of
several cultivated and wild flowers because of its unique biology and behavior The
major importance of rearing honeybees is pollination besides other hive products
(honey wax etc) which are of lesser value (Verma 1990)
Scientific investigations endorsed the importance of bees in increasing of crops yield
and its quality like fruits vegetable seeds spices oilseeds and forage crops (Thapa
2006 Irshad and Stephen 2012) According to an estimate yield of bees pollinated
crops contribute between $57- $19 billionyear to the US economy (Morse and
Calderone 2000) and $217 billionyear worldwide (Gallai et al 2009) The proper
techniques of using pollinators specifically honeybees and other insects are of basic
importance (Sihag 2000) Hence this study was piloted to understand the effect of
pollination on rapeseed yield
Materials and Methods
The study was carried out during November-December 2017 The experiment was
laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications and
three treatments (i) bees and other pollinators visits open fields (T1) (ii) plants caged
with bees (T2) and (iii) plants confined without bees (T3) (control) The study area
was subdivided into plots of equal size (3 x 2 m2) maintaining 05m and 1m distance
between plots and replicates respectively Each plot had 5 rows at 35 cm distance
Sarson seeds available to farmer were spread in the field on 15 October 2017 by
hand sprinkling method All plots under study received the same agronomic
managements such as manual hoeing weeding application of fertilizer (Tallstar) and
farmyard manuring After twenty-eight days after sowing the seeds the crop reached
5-10 flowering stage Then cages covered with muslin cloth were set up in field
plots (T2) and (T3) Moreover two bee hives of Amellifera L with two- frame bees
(nucs) queen brood and eggs were set up in plots T1 and T2 on iron stand one feet
above the ground level Bee colonies were given supplemental feeding of 50 sugar
syrup twice a week during the experimental period Plastic bowls with few wooden
62
pieces were used as source of water for bees To keep clean water supply these
bowls were replaced every after two days
Observation of Brassica spp visitorrsquos (foraging bees and other pollinators)
During the whole flowering period observations were conducted to see the no of
honeybees and other insect pollinators searching for nectar in the open plots for 15
minutes daily At 900 1100 1300 and 1500 hours data was recorded
Total seed production and yieldplot
When crop reached its maturity 20 ripped pods were selected randomly from each
treatment plot for manual counting of no of seedspod After that the seeds were
detached from pods and crop yield was calculated plot by weighing 250 seeds from
each plot of each treatment The weight of the seed (1000 seeds) were determined
and stated as 1000 seed weight
Statistical analysis
Statistical mean standard deviation and ANOVA was performed using SPSS version
7
Results and Discussion
Sarson or Brassica compestris and its various hybrid varieties are being cultivated
mostly on the agricultural land of Punjab and Khaber Pakhtoon khawa According to
agricultural statistics conducted 2014 the mustard crop stands second in terms of
cultivated area (hectare) production (tons) and yield (kgha) after sunflower It
contributed 13 in local edible oil production followed by cotton seed (63) and
sunflower (16) (Amjad 2014)
Mustard is globally well recognized main oilseed crop mostly dependent upon cross
pollination phenomena for fruit and seed production However the concept is not well
adapted in Pakistan The outcome of the present study indicated that the honeybees
were the most prominent and frequent (Fig1) pollinators of sarson flower during
different times of a day as compared to other insects Diversity of pollinators has also
been described previously (Ali et al 2011 Radar et al 2012 Woodrock et al 2013
Garrat et al 2014) The maximum activity of bees and other insects was at its peak
at 1100hr and minimum during early morning hours This might be due to
environmental factors like light intensity temperature and rainfall This fluctuations in
abundance of bees and other insectsrsquo pollinators has been observed by Devi et al
2017
63
Seed production treatment plot showed the impact of pollination highest (Fig2) in
plots where plants were not confined within cages and open for all types of insects
pollinators followed by caged plants with honeybees The least seed
productiontreatment was found in caged or no pollinators plots The current findings
are in conformity with the previous studies by Singh et al 2004 Tara and Sharma
2010 Jaukar et al 2012 Stainely et al 2013 Goswami and Khan 2014 Devi et al
2017 These authors emphasized the significant improvement in seed setting in open
sarson flowers subjected to pollinators and bees as compared to controlled
treatments (insectsbees excluding treatments)
900hrs 1100hrs 1300hrs 1500hrs
bees 6 21 16 9
others 5 18 16 6
6
21
16
9
y = 04x + 12 Rsup2 = 00058
0
5
10
15
20
25B
ees
and
oth
er p
olli
nat
ors
Time of a day (hrs)
Fig1No of bees and other pollinators visited at different timesday
bees
others
Linear (bees)
T1 T2 T3
Series1 289 281 190
289 281
190 y = -495x + 35233 Rsup2 = 08102
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
See
ds
po
d
Treatments
Fig2 noof seeds producedtraetment plot
Series1
Linear (Series1)
64
The data of the current experiment revealed that seed setting pod and weight of
1000 seeds were also considerably higher 16 and 15 seedspod in open plots trials
and caged plants with bees respectively Noteworthy decreased (8) in seedspod
were found in no pollinators trials (control) These results are similar to Kumari et al
2013 Garrat et al 2014 and Devi et al 2017 In the same way seed weight of 1000
seeds was maximum (33g) in unchecked open pollinated plots Whereas least 1000
seed weight was noticed in plots under cage without any pollinators or honeybees
Garratt et al 2013 Kamal et al 2015 and Devi et al 2017 expressed the same
trends
Conclusion
The study clearly point out that pollinators and honeybees like Apis mellifera L
being effective pollinators of mustard crop at bloom period The cross pollination
process caused an increase in seed set seed yield pod and 1000 seed weight The
T1 T2 T3
Series1 16 15 8
16 15
8 y = -4x + 21 Rsup2 = 08421
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18A
vera
ge n
oo
f se
eds
po
d
Fig3 No of seedspod from different tratments
27 25
18 y = -045x + 32333 Rsup2 = 09067
0
05
1
15
2
25
3
T1 T2 T3
wei
ght
of
10
00
see
ds
pd
(g)
Treatments
Fig41000 seeds weightpod collected from different treatments
Series1
Linear (Series1)
65
minimum seed set seedpod and 1000 seed weight was detected in case of
pollinatorsrsquo exclusion In this way benefits of pollination towards society includes
increase in food security improvement in livelihood due to quality production of crops
and conservation of biodiversity in agroecosystem
References
Ali M Saeed S Sajjad A Whittington A 2011 In search of the best pollinators
for canola (Brassica napus L) production in Pakistan Applied Entomology and
Zoology 46 353ndash361
Amjad M 2014 Status Paper ldquoOilseed Crops of Pakistanrdquo Plant Sciences Division
Pakistan Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Islamabad
Ascher JS and Rasmussen C 2010 Bee species list for Pakistan FAO Rome
Devi1 M Sharma HK ThakurRK BhardwajSK RanaK Thakur M and
Ram B 2017 Diversity of Insect Pollinators in Reference to Seed Set of Mustard
(Brassica juncea L) IntJCurrMicrobiolAppSci 6(7) 2131-2144
Garratta MPD Costona DJ Truslovea CL Lappageb MG Polceb C
Deana R Biesmeijer JC Pottsa SG 2014 The identity of crop pollinators helps
target conservation for improved ecosystem services Biological Conservation
169128ndash135
Gallai N Salles JM Settele J and Vaissiegravere BE 2009 Economic valuation of
the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline Ecol Econ
68 810 ndash 821
Goswami V and Khan MS 2014 Impact of honey bee pollination on pod set of
mustard (Brassica juncea L Cruciferae) at Pantnagar The Bioscan 9(1) 75-78
Hasanuzzaman M Karim M F and Ullah M J 2008 Growth dynamic of
rapeseed (Brassica campestris L) cv SAU Sarisha-1 as influenced by irrigation
levels and row spacing Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 2(4) 794-
799
Irshad M and Stephen E 2012 Pollination constraints in hill fruit farming system of
Pakistan UNEPGEF-FAO project Islamabad pp 32
Jauker F Bondarenko B Becker HC Steffan-Dewenter I 2012 Pollination
efficiency of wild bees and hoverflies provided to oilseed rape Agricultural and
Forest Entomology 14 81ndash87
Kamel SM Mahfouz HM Blal A ElFatah H Said M and Mahmoud MF
2015 Diversity of insect pollinators with references to their impact on yield production
of canola (Brassica napus L) in Ismailia Egypt Pesti And Phytomed 30(3) 161-
168
66
Khan BM and Chaudhry MI 1988 Comparative assessment of honey bees and
other insects with self pollination of Sarson in Peshawar Pak J Forest 38 231-
237
Morse RA and Calderone NW 2000 The value of honey bees as pollinators of
US crops 2000 Bee Culture 28 1-15
Rader R Howlett BG Cunningham SA Westcott DA Edwards W 2012
Spatial and temporal variation in pollinator effectiveness do unmanaged insects
provide consistent pollination services to mass flowering crops Journal of Applied
Ecology 49 126ndash134
Singh B Kumar M Sharma A K and Yadav L P 2004 Effect of bee pollination
on yield attributes and seed yield of toria (Brassica campestris var toria) in Pusa
India Envir And Ecol 22(3) 571-573
Stanley D Gunning D Stout J 2013 Pollinators and pollination of oilseed rape
crops (Brassica napus L) in Ireland ecological and economic incentives for
pollinator conservation Journal of Insect Conservation 1ndash9
Sihag R C 2000 Management of bees for pollination In M Matska L R Verma
S Wongsiri K K Shrestha and U Partap (eds) Asian Bees and Beekeeping-
Progress of Research and Development Proceedings of Fourth Asian Apicultural
Association International Conference Kathmandu March 23-28 1998 Oxford and
IBH Publishing Company Private Limited New Delhi India
Singh C Singh P and Singh R 2010 Modern techniques of raising field crops
3rd edition Oxford and IBH Publishing Company Private Limited New Delhi India
Thapa R B 2006 Honeybee and other insect pollinators of cultivated plants A
review J Inst Agric Anim Sci 271-23 View
Thakur S S and Karnatak A K 2005 Impact of insecticides and mode of
pollination on yield components of Brassica campestris with assessment of
insecticidal toxicity influencing behaviour of Apis mellifera L Thesis (PhD
Entomology) submitted to GBPUA and T Pantnagar - 263 145 (US Nagar)
Uttarakhand India
Tara JS and Sharma P 2010 Role of honeybees and other insects in enhancing
the yield of Brassica campestris var Sarson Halteres 1(2) 35-37
Verma L R 1990 Beekeeping in integrated mountain development Economic and
scientific perspectives ICIMOD senior fellowship Series No 4 Oxford and IBH
Publishing Company Private Limited New Delhi India
Woodcock BA Edwards M Redhead J Meek WR Nuttall P Falk S
Nowakowski M Pywell RF 2013 Crop flower visitation by honeybees
bumblebees and solitary bees behavioural differences and diversity responses to
landscape Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 171 1ndash8
67
Old Secrets about secretions of the honeybee By Dr Peter Gallmann Food and Nutrition Scientist (ETHSFT) Emeritus Director of the
Swiss Bee Research Centre Agroscope Liebefeld Email petergallmannicloudcom
Bee products are secretions
The food scientist wonders about how the bees store highly complex raw foods
Pollen one of the most complete perfect foods (human nutritional view) but also
Honey and Royal Jelly are stored or applied under completely non-food compliant
conditions (36oC and humidity of more than 90) And yet they remain stable
In the course of its development the bee has learned to find collect and utilize the
most effective products in nature with highest nutritional value and with antiseptic
effects From this it produces highly complex secretions and mixtures which it
specifically applies in the hive All bee products are at last secretions of bees or
secretions of plants mixed with complex bees secretions These secretions and their
effects contained miracles for human but lot of it is scientifically clarified today
A little example In Europe where the bee has to survive the cold winter the bees
that hatched in the fall eat much larger quantities of beebread (fermented pollen
mixed with honey and secretions) This results in an extension of their lives by a
factor of four This is vital for a hive because it can raise no brood during wintertime
The October bee therefore raises new brood in February while a bees life otherwise
ends after 30 days Applied to humans this leads to the myth of life extension
A look back in the history of humanity reveals that humans in all ancient cultures as
far back as written documents exist (more than 4000 years) have used many bee
products for a wide variety of applications
Utilizing bee products = Apitherapy
The common term for the application of bee products is apitherapy It derives from
the Latin name for bee = Apis and Therapeja the Greek word for ldquoserverdquo or ldquobe of
userdquo Falsely therapy today is often translated as healing Apitherapy is a well tried
holistic health supporting process that uses bee products to maintain or restore good
health It serves for well-being
Today we know most of the reaction mechanisms of bee products and their effects
on human health or in some cases even against diseases It is amazing that these
effects are not used more widely in modern medicine However these are natural
products and they cannot be patented But the pharmaceutical industry applies
extracts of bee products in conventional medicals
To take a closer look at bee products many-sided reactions lets take the example of
honey Even as a food honey is a very versatile product Honey is not just honey
Honey varies in appearance taste but also in its effects due to the origin (mono-floral
honey flower honey honeydew honey) And so honey is widely used in the food
industry such as clarification of fruit juice prolonging the shelf life of foods
preventing the age-staining of foods adding to dairy products pasta juices sauces
68
and so on In addition honey is used when grilling meat Rubbing meat with honey
prevents the formation of cancerous benzene over the fire
In Switzerland we have an Apitherapy Association (founded in 2006 by Gallmann
Bogdanov and Cherbuliez) Its aim is to support research in this field and to gather
and make available the knowledge on effects of bee products on health and well-
being The Association annually pursues further education in bee products Within
the scope of such course two full days per 1 of the six bee products (see figure) is
used
Figure the 6 common bee products In the Apitherapy you can sometimes see additionally
the hive air whole bees and larvae
At Apimondia with limited time for the presentation we have to focus on one product
Letrsquos look at Honey the most harvested bee product All other products (Figure 1)
Pollen Perga (beebread) Royal Jelly wax Propolis as well as the venom also have
special effects again Each of these substances would be worth a separate
presentation
Miracle effect of honey a) History of honey application
The fame Greece medic Hippocrates about 2500 years ago said Honey cleanses
wounds and ulcers softens hard lip sores heals carbuncles And further back in
history the first written mention of the medical honey application is found in Sumerian
ancient scriptures (about 4000 years ago) ldquoMix river mud with a little honey and mix
with hot cedar oil for wound treatmentrdquo Also the ancient Chinese attributed honey-
specific effects
bull Honey affects the lung spleen and intestinal meridians
bull Supports digestion
bull against coughing
All the applications mentioned in historical papers are listed in Table 1
69
In the Ebers Papyrus (Egypt 3500 Years ago) honey is an ingredient in 147 recipes
for external and internal applications Especially treated are wounds ulcers
abscesses and baldness
Table 1 Honey Applications
Disinfection
Wounds
Laxative
Diuretic
Cough
Eye balm
Mouth ulcers
Sore throat
Snakebite
Stomach pain
The story thus shows impressively how honey was widely used All the great
physicians of antiquity from Hippocrates to Galen to Paracelsus used honey in their
formulas (1) How is it that this success story of honey stopped Actually everything
ended around 1930 with the discovery and application of Penicillin It urges old
healing methods more and more into background
b) Specific reactions of Honey
The main reactions of honey are antibacterial anti-oxidative and prebiotic And most
effective is the combination of those three reactions Some reactions are very
complex and therefore safe against development of a resistance (no resistant
microorganisms) The antibacterial effect of Honey is based on at least 4 effects
1 ongoing production of hydrogen peroxide (in contact with water) by the enzyme
glucose oxidase Hydrogen peroxide is a common medical for disinfection
2 high acidity (pH 39 - 43)
3 high osmotic pressure
4 special antibacterial plant substances eg Polyphenols
The anti-oxidative effects are based on electron supplying substances in honey
which act as electron supplier to prevent radical formation Radicals in this sense are
atoms that lose an electron In humans this is mainly due to cell aging but also due
to stress and smoke fumes dust as well as pesticides and heavy metals
Prebiotic effects of Honey help to keep a balanced intestinal bacterial flora With all
the chemical and physical processes that honey contains you could call honey a
miracle cure Of course there are some interesting applications to show
c) Application of Honey for human health
1 Internal application
First of course comes the incredible perception of honey or of different honeys in
the mouth Honey smells good and tastes good But even foods that have been
70
treated with honey are perceived differently Honey is a tasty food which provides
energy from this optic above all It delivers these in a format that is especially prized
in endurance sports And then come all the health-promoting effects
Disinfecting and probiotic effects work on the whole digestive system starting in the
mouth with dental hygiene and anti-inflammatory effects on the mucosa Effects
continue in the esophagus and then in the stomach There honey is the only known
effective agent against stomach ulcer (inhibits the growth of helicobacter pylori (2))
And the honey which is diluted till there has effects against some hazarded bacteria
and supports with its prebiotic function the development of probiotics especially
Lactobacillus bifidus bacteria
2 External application
Skin treatment
Honey cleanses the skin from the inside out With the osmotic pressure it pulls
lymph through the skin to the outside and thus also deposits in the subcutaneous
tissues Practical applications are honey pad or honey massage
But honey also works especially with inflamed skin The honey pad is an effective
remedy for acne treatment But also brown spots of the skin (often due to aging)
dissolve with honey however this treatment needs a lot of pads and patience
Wound healing
In wounds honey works wonders as the following list of effects shows
bull Physical barrier in wounds prevents cross contamination (viscosity)
bull Osmolarity draws fluid (lymph) from the tissue under the wound (cleaning
wound from inside)
bull Wound dressing does not stick in wound (viscous properties of honey)
bull Honey prevents or destroys biofilms
bull Honey reduces wound odor (bacteria break down sugars instead of proteins)
bull Honey acts anti-inflammatory reduces swelling as well as increased
temperature and local pain
bull Honey promotes the growth of fibroblasts Wound heals evenly and less
scarring
bull Honey acts as a wound dressing antiseptic and removes existing dead tissue
in wounds
Today it is known that wounds that are difficult to heal or not heal as they are known
in diabetics (Foot fluke foot syndrome) or even those with antibiotic-resistant
bacteria can be cured with honey In Europe some hospitals started to apply honey
in such cases (3)
3 Other applications
There is also a long list of additional handy honey applications Some are mentioned
here
71
bull Support of chemotherapy
bull Acetylcholine reduces the heart rate dilates narrowed coronary arteries
hypotensive
bull Lips herpes
bull Genitals viruses
bull Muscle cramps
The list could be extended with eye drops nose drops and hair treatment and more
There are also honey shampoo on the market Such knowledge would be based on
experience There are even indications for specific mono-floral honey such as
chestnut as a cardiovascular stimulant buckwheat as a digestive lavender for
wound treatment and for burns and many more (1)
In itself the absence of scientific validation or confirmation is not a problem The use
of honey in everyday life is without risk and cheap compared to medicines Scientific
validation of the old traditional experience is almost impossible due to the fact that it
es a natural product which varies in composition and because natural products
cannot be patented
Not every type of honey is healthy
A variety of flowers produce antibodies to protect against pests These are also
found in nectar and pollen in certain plants The Grayano toxin of rhododendron
species is well known This honey was already used as a weapon in wars So in 67
a Chr In the campaign of the Roman Consul Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus against the
Pontic King Mithridates VI (4) In Europe pyrrolizidine alkaloids are important as
such defence substances Large-scale occurrence of certain plants should be
avoided by the beekeeper These are Echium vulgare and Eupatorium cannabium
(5)
Conclusion
Honey tastes good and supports our health There are cases where honey is the
solution if the medication does not work Honey is easy and pleasant to use
Generally bee products but specifically honey can also play an important role in
health care in regions or situations where optimal medical care is not available
In Ethiopia where the bees are of great importance and appreciation the broader
use of bee products is obviously becoming more and more discussed and
recognized I would like to conclude with a personal experience that I was recently
allowed to do here in the country As a neutral evaluator I had to judge a large bee
project I included all concerned partners beekeepers farmers villagers suppliers
and also affected state agencies such as regional and zonal responsible for
livestock And in the discussion with the Zonal Livestock responsible came without
my intervention his amazing and for me absolutely central statement
As a next step we should consider whether and how to expand the bee product
range and use these products in health centers
72
I wish a lot of success with such an important project in my opinion and I would like to
support if I can
Literature
1 Bogdanov S et al ALP forum 4 Swiss confederation (2006)
2 AL Swayeh O et al Hepato-Gastroenterology 45 (19 297-302) 1998
3 Tages-Anzeiger 26022018 35
4 Naturalis historia (Plinus) and Materia Medica (Pedanios Dioscurides)
5 Luchetti M Unerwuumlnschte Pflanzeninhalsstoffe in Bienenprodukten
chweizerische Bienenzeitung 012018 11-13
73
Facts about insects negative and positive roles of insects in
human livelihood
Emana Getu (PhD) Entomology Professor Addis Ababa University College of Natural and
Computational Sciences PO Box 30526 Email egetudegagayahoocom mobile +251
911019166
Abstract
Insects are the most abundant and diverse animals on earth So far about 15 million
species of animals known to science Nearly about 1 million of them are insects
Insects are categorized under harmful beneficial and free living based on their value
in terms of livelihood Insects either serve as pests of crops vectors of plants or
animal diseases Some insects are beneficial to humans either by providing
ecological services such as pollination decomposing soil organic matter biological
control and trimming plants among other things The role insects play in terms of
biological control is immense Insects also have commercial values by providing food
substances like honey and substances having commercial values such as beeswax
and propolis produced by honey bee silk by silk worm dying material by cochineal
scale to name few When one compares the harmful and beneficial sides of insects
the beneficial side is much more out ways the harmful side of insects Integrated pest
management is the recommended environmentally safe and economically feasible
method of minimizing the negative impact of harmful insects There are ways of
conserving beneficial insects so that they are exploited sustainably for the
improvement of the livelihood of human being Both the harmful and beneficial
aspects of insects are not clear to non-entomologists to the extent they should be
particularly the beneficial aspects For example people appreciate the role of honey
bees mainly in terms honey and beeswax the produce However the role of honey
bee in terms of pollination is 20 times greater than the products they provide to
human being In this review detail roles of insects in livelihood of mankind will be
discussed at large which I hope change peoplersquos outlook for insects
74
How to Prepare a Business Plan for Bee Products Tigist Zegeye
Tigist Business and Investment Consultancy Service Email metigistgebregmailcom
Abstract Agricultural products which benefit from beesrsquo pollination as well as ldquobee productsrdquo in a
narrower sense (such as honey beeswax and others) lend themselves to processing and
value addition The Ethiopian government is keen to support such agro-processing
approaches and assists investors in getting started However among the preparation and
implementation of any business writing up a business plan is the most important component
to be undertaken by the entrepreneurs
In fact writing a good business plan is the first amp best thing to do before engaging in the
actual business Apart from providing general guidance and direction a business plan tells
each unit of the business what to do in the case of a certain scenario of internal or external
crisis So any business person should create a business plan to achieve the entrepreneurial
goals
A clear and compelling business plan provides entrepreneurs with a guide for building a
successful enterprise focused on achieving their personal and financial goals It can also
help persuade others including banks to invest in what the entrepreneurs are creating
A businessplan will help to analyze the potential markets for the business to establish the
size of the potential market to identify the companyrsquos initial needs to determine the start-up
cost and to present and explain the financial data All in all it helps to organize all the
relevant information about the business
Every start-up or ongoing business owner should know the importance of the business plan
how to prepare it and what elements should be included in it Who should prepare it And to
whom should it be presented
Effectively separating the businessrsquo unique approach to each of these headings will organize
our plan in a way which investors find useful
Title page and Table of contents
Executive summary
General Company Description
Products and Services
Marketing Plan
Operational Plan
Management and Organization
Financial Plan
Role of honeybee pollination on yield of agricultural crops in Ethiopia
Tura Bareke and Admassu Addi
Holeta Bee Research Center Oromia Agricultural Research Institute Ethiopia
E-mail trbarekegmailcom or tura_berakeiqqoorg
Mobile +251920287173
75
Abstract
Pollination is a critical link in the functioning of ecosystems and it improves the yield of
agricultural crops Insect pollination is an essential input in the production of agricultural
crops grown world-wide Of the approximately 300 commercial crops about 84 are insect
pollinated Honeybees are responsible for 70-80 of insect pollination This indicated how
much honeybees are the most efficient insect pollinators of cultivated crops and wild flora in
agricultural systems The reason is that honeybees can be managed and relatively easy for
humans to keep and move them around their agricultural area for pollination They have well
developed mechanism of communication to exploit their environment The value of additional
yields obtained by pollination service rendered by honeybees is 15-20 times more than the
value of all hive products put together Studies conducted in Ethiopia have also proven the
role of honeybee pollination in improving the yield and quality such as Malus sylvestris
Allium cepa Guizotia abyssinica and Vicia faba The yield increment was varied from 335-
84 among the above crops due to honeybee pollination However unwise pesticide
applications become the main problem for some crops in Ethiopia This is due to low level
understanding of the value of pollination on the yield of agricultural crops Therefore
attention should be given for the legal protection of honeybees and other insect pollinators
especially protecting the honeybees from pesticide poisoning developing pollinatorsrsquo
conservation policy the idea of crop pollination should be included in national crop
production strategic plan and awareness creation should be given to the society about the
value of crop pollination
Key words Pollination honeybee yield crops pesticide
Introduction
Pollination is an essential ecosystem service that enables plant reproduction More than
75 of leading food crops depends on animal pollinators (Klein et al 2007 Khalid et
al 2012) Of the approximately 300 commercial crops about 84 are insect
pollinated (Richards 1993 Williams 1996) Among these honeybees are substantially
important in worldrsquos agricultural economy in that 35 of the worldrsquos food production
relies on pollinators of which the honeybee accounts for 70-80 which is the largest
portion (Greenleaf amp Kremen 2006 Klein et al 2007 Winfree et al 2007) This is
attributed to the body structures social and instinctive behavioral characteristics of the
honeybee Honeybees are regular visitors of the flowers to be pollinated They can visit
many flowers and plants per unit time As well as honeybees have a well-developed
communication system that enables individual bee to be alerted to the needs of the
colony and to the location of suitable food source The pollinating potential of a single
honeybee colony becomes evident when it is recognized that its bees make up to 4
million trips per year and that during each trip an average of about 100 flowers are
visited (Free 1993) These indicates that pollen or nectar gatherers spend much less
76
time at each flower (Sharma et al 2001) which means that they visit more flowers per
unit of time thereby increasing their effectiveness as pollinators These extraordinary
activities of the honeybee play an important role in its function as a successful insect
pollinator The value of additional yields obtained by pollination service rendered by
honeybees is 15-20 times more than the value of all hive products put together
The vast forest area and mountains of Ethiopia hosts a large number of honeybee (A
mellifera) colonies (Fichtl and Admassu 1994 Admassu et al 2014) Hence
honeybee has a great potential in raising the productivity of cross-pollinated as well as
other crops those need insects for their pollination Many farmers in Ethiopia invest in
fertilizers pest control crop rotation and other management activities However the
role of crop pollinators in crop pollination is totally neglected by crop growers of
Ethiopian Unfortunately both managed honeybees and wild pollinators have been
contributing on raising the productivity of crops without the knowledge of growers
(Admassu et al 2014) Accordingly the Economic value of pollinators for some
agricultural crops was estimated to be 8152 million dollar in Ethiopia In the absence of
the pollinators this value may drop by 16 (Getachew in press data)
In general a lot of crops are benefited from honeybees Some of them are listed below
From oil crops some of them are oil crops Guizotia abyssinica (Niger) Linum
usitatissimum (Talba) Brassica carinata (Rafu) Carthamus tinctorius (Suf) Sesamum
indicum and Arachis hypogea (groundnut) pulses (Vicia faba (Faba bean) Medicago
sativa (Alfalfa) Lathyrus sativus and chick pea (Cicer arietinum) pea (Pisum sativum)
Lentis culinaris (Misir) and horticultural crops (Apple (Malus sylvestris) Allium cepa
Orange (Citrus aurantium) Lomi (Citrus aurantifolia) Papaya (Carica papaya) Mango
(Mangifera indica) Avocado (Persea americana) Coffee (Coffea arabica) Water
melon Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) (Fichtl and Admassu 1994 Admassu et al
2006 Admassu et al 2014 Haftom and Alemayehu 2014 Tura et al 2018)
The effect of pollination on yield and quality of some of these crops have been reported
(Admassu et al 2006 Haftom and Alemayehu 2014 Tura et al 2018) showing that
honeybee pollination plays a great role in the countryrsquos crop production Managing
honeybees for crop pollination have a significant role for the improvement of agricultural
crop yield in terms of quality and quantity Thus the main aim of this review paper is to
provide information about the role of honeybee pollination on yield of some agricultural
crops and main challenges to pollination in Ethiopia and to indicate future direction
Honeybee pollinated crops in Ethiopia
Although pollination research in Ethiopia is at infant stage several studies have been
conducted on some of the agricultural crops such as Niger Onion Apple and Faba
bean
77
Guizotia abyssinica (Niger) is one of the oilseeds crop grown in Ethiopia It has an
extremely low harvest index due to shattering Inputs such as fertilizer promote
vegetative growth rather than increase seed yield (Getinet and Sharma 1996) Niger is
self-incompatible crops that required honeybees and other insectsrsquo cross-pollination It
provides both nectar and pollen for insect pollinators especially for honeybees (Fichtl
and Addi 1994) Because of these rewards it is highly visited by honeybees
Figure 1 Pollination of Niger
The effect of honeybees as pollinator on Niger seed yield oil content and germination
capacity was tested Accordingly seed yield increment ranging from 43-80 has been
obtained Around Holeta (Central Ethiopia) the maximum seed yield was 6
quintalhectare (Admassu and Nuru 2000 Admassu et al 2012) using honeybee as
pollinator of Niger while 167 quintalhectare was obtained in Tigray Northern Ethiopia
(Haftom and Alemayehu 2014) This yield differences have recorded because of
agroecology soil type variation and other environmental factors In addition to seed yield
increment honeybee pollinated plots have higher of oil content and better germination
performance (Admassu and Nuru 2000) This indicated how much honeybees are
contributing to seed yield increment of Niger
Allium cepa (Red onion) is one of the important condiments and vegetable crops grown
in Ethiopia It is among the crops that need pollinators Inadequate pollination of the
onion results low seed yield and low germination capacity (Admassu et al 2006) Wind
has little effects on onion pollination because of sticky pollens Although other insects and
78
solitary bees have importance on onion pollination honeybees are the most valuable
ones Onion flowers have ample nectar and pollen That is why onion flowers are so
attractive for honeybees
Figure 2 Pollination of Onion
In Ethiopia the effect of honeybee pollination on seed yield of onion had been estimated
Study conducted by Admassu et al (2006) showed that the yield obtained from the plots
caged with honeybee pollination was the highest with the mean yield of 175 quintal
hectare followed by plots left open under a natural condition with the mean yield of 10
quintalhectare The lowest mean yield (5 quintalhectare) was recorded for the plots
excluded insect pollinators With regard to 1000 seed weight there was no significant
difference in all treatments The seed yield increment ranging from 41-84 has been
obtained This indicated how much honeybees are contributing to seed yield increment of
this valuable crop
Apple (Malus sylvestris) is one of the cash and high-value crop in highlands of the
country Apple production is expanding in most highlands of Ethiopia at level of
smallholder farmers However the production in quantity and quality of fruit yield was low
in the absence of honeybee pollination Most apple varieties are self-incompatible and
need insect pollination especially honeybee pollination (Delaplane and Mayer 2000
Khalid et al 2012 Tura et al 2018) Hence integration of honeybee with apple orchard
is important to boost the quality and quantity of fruit yield Study conducted by Tura et al
(2018) indicated that honeybee pollination increases the yield of marketable apple fruit
yield by 50 and improve fruit yield increment by 455 due to honeybee pollination
The average marketable apple fruit yield per individual tree is 32 kg if caged with honey
bees and 22 kg for trees open to all insect pollinators Thus if an individual apple
farmer would have 100 trees that are supplied with honeybees during the flowering
season a total marketable apple fruit yield of 320 kg is expected In comparison the total
production from the same tree population is estimated to be 220 kg if providing free
79
access to all insect pollinators By introducing honeybee colonies to apple orchards of
ANNA variety and by maintaining other management practices such as weeding
watering and pest control constant the total annual yield increment for this individual
grower is 100 kg per 100 trees If a kilogram of apple would be valued 40 Ethiopian Birr
(ETB) the total financial loss of each grower by not using honeybees as pollinators is
4000 ETB per 100 apple trees Although there is yield record for honeybees flies and
butterflies are also considered to be the major insect pollinators next to honeybees for
apple flowers (Tura et al 2018)
Figure 3 Apple flowers and fruits
Faba bean (Vicia faba) is one of the most important pulse crops in Ethiopia and stands
first among the highland pulses In Ethiopia faba bean grows mainly for human
consumption as it is an important protein source in the diet of the poor (Keneni and
Musa 2003) It is an allogamous or have a mixed mating system with both self- and
cross-pollination (Free 1970)Inadequate pollination is a major constraint to the potential
yields of faba bean crops It has heavy and sticky pollen that cannot be released into the
air Thus faba bean cross-pollination demand insect pollinators for the transferring of
pollen grain from a flower to another flowerHoneybees are the main insect pollinators of
faba bean Admassu (unpublished data) reported that pollinating faba bean using
honeybees increased the crop yield by 335
80
Figure 4 Flowers and fruits of faba bean
Challenges of honeybee pollination
Various causes of honeybeersquos decline have been reported throughout the world due to
degradation of habitats unwise application of pesticide and climate change (Kearns and
Inouye 1997) Even though there is no concrete information about honeybee decline in
Ethiopia reports from the different stakeholders indicated that there was a decline of
honeybee colonies due to pesticide application and deforestation The clearing of forest
and bushes in Ethiopia have a significant impact on honeybee population and its species
richness (Aizen et al 2009) The habitat shrinkage not only affects the honeybee
abundance but also can cause scarcity of bee forages which is detrimental for survival and
honey production (Klein et al 2006)
Currently there is increasing compromise that pesticides have significant impact on honey
production in Ethiopia (Kerealem et al 2009) due to pesticide application problem poor
seed set of onion the death of honeybees in the hives andabandoning of beekeeping
There are different pesticides used by crop growers in Ethiopia which can poison the
honeybees and influencing the bee health The most widely used brands of pesticides in
Ethiopia were Malathion 50 penetrate 50 Ethiothoate 40 Agrothoate 40
Diazion60 EC Dimethoate40 EC Ethiolathion 50 and herbicides like 24-D Due to
misapplication of these chemicals honeybee mortality and causing reduction of honeybee
colonies which eventually results in a reduction of bee products and crop yield (Bezabih
2010) On the other hand lack of awareness creation about the value of crop pollination is
another key factor to do more on this area
Conclusion
Pollination is an important ecosystem services and honeybee is valuable pollinator It has a
great adaptive capacity as it is found almost everywhere in diverse climates Pesticides
application during the flowering of the target crops should be avoided and to ensure the
protection of honey bee health Farmers should use eco-friendly pesticides or organic
81
pesticide derived from plant extract and integrated pest management practice should be
promoted for control of pests in their agriculture field However low level understanding of
the value of pollination is affecting the yield of agricultural crops Therefore a lot has to be
done on the contribution of honeybee and other insect pollinators in boosting crop yield and
to solve the challenges they are facing
Future direction
bull Attention should be given for the legal protection of honeybees and other insect
pollinators especially protecting the honeybees from pesticide poisoning
bull Developing pollinators conservation policy
bull The idea of crop pollination should be included in national crop production
strategic plan
bull Awareness creation should be given to the society about the value of crop
pollination
bull Capacity building to develop skilled human power to do more on this area
References
1 Admassu A Gizaw E Amssalu B Debissa L (2006) The effect of honeybee
pollination on seed yield of Allium cepaJournal of Ethiopian Society of Animal
Production 6(4) 79-73
2 Admassu A Nuru A (2000) Effect of honeybee pollination on seed yield and oil
content of Niger (Guizotia abyssinica) In Proceedings of the First National
Conference of Ethiopian Beekeepers Association June 7-8 1999 Addis Ababa
Ethiopia pp 67-73
3 Admassu A Tura B Kibebew W Wongelu E (2012) Participatory evaluation
on the effect of honeybee pollination on Niger (Guizotia abyssinica) seed yield in
West Shoa Zone (Gemechis L Kibebew W Amssalu B Desalegn B
Admassu A (eds)) In Apiculture research achievements in Ethiopia Oromia
Agricultural Research Institute Holeta Bee Research Center 2012 Holeta
Ethiopia pp 50
4 Admassu A Kibebew W Amssalu B Ensermu K (2014) Honeybee forages of
Ethiopia Addis Ababa United Printers
5 Aizen M A Garibaldi L A Cunningham S A Klein AM (2009) How much
does agriculture depend on pollinators Lessons from long-term trends in crop
production Ann Bot 103 1579ndash1588
82
6 Bezabeh A (2010) Toxicity effects of commonly used agrochemicals to
Ethiopian honeybees Unpublished Holeta Bee Research Center Holeta pp 13
7 Delaplane KS Mayer NF (2000) Crop Pollination by Bees CABI Publishing
Wallingford
8 Free JB (1970) Insect pollination of the crops London
9 Free JB (1993) Insect pollination of crops (Second edition) Academic press
London UK
10 Fichtl R Admasu A (1994) Honey bee flora of Ethiopia The National
Herbarium Addis Ababa University and Deutscher Entwicklungsdieenst Mergaf
Verlag Germany
11 Getinet A Sharma SM (1996) Niger Guizotia abyssinica (L f) Cass
Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops 5
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research GaterslebenInternational
Plant Genetic Resources Institute Rome
12 Greenleaf S S Kremen C (2006) Wild bees enhance honey beesacute pollination
of hybrid sunflower Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103 13890ndash13895
13 Haftom G Alemayehu T (2014) Effect of honeybee (Apis mellifera) pollination
on seed yield and yield parameters of Guizotia abyssinica (L f) African Journal of
Agricultural Research 9(51) 3687-3691
14 Kearns CA Inouye DW (1997) Pollinators flowering plants and conservation
biology much remains to be learned about pollinators and plants Bioscience 47
97-366
15 Keneni G Musa J (2003) Review of Faba bean (Vicia faba) Genetics and
breeding Research in Ethiopia Progresses and Lesson of a decade Paper
presented to 2nd National workshop on food and forage Legumesin Ethiopia 22-
26 September Addis Ababa Ethiopia
16 Kerealem E Tilahun G Preston TR (2009) Constraints and prospects for
Apiculture Research and Development in Amhara region Ethiopia Livestock
Research for Rural Development
17 Klein A M Steffan-Dewenter I Tscharntke T (2006) Rain forest promotes
trophic interactions and diversity of trap-nesting Hymenoptera in adjacent
agroforestry Journal of Animal Ecology 75 315ndash323
83
18 Klein A M Vaissiegravere B E Cane JH Steffan-Dewenter I Kluser S Peduzzi P
(2007) Global Pollinator Decline A Literature Review Ecology for a crowded
planet Science 304 1251ndash1252
19 Khalid A K Khawer J A Asif R Muhammad S Khalida H A Muhammad S
Muhammad A U (2012) Pollination Effect of Honey Bees Apis mellifera L
(Hymenoptera Apidae) on Apple Fruit Development and its Weight Persian Gulf
Crop Protection 1(2) 1-5
20 Richards KW (1993) Non-Apis bees as crop pollinators Rev Suisse Zool 100
807ndash822
21 Sharma H K Gupta JK Thakur JK (2001) Pollination Studies on Apple and
Pear In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Tropical Bees
Management and Diversity and Fifth Asian Apicultural association Conference
Chiang Mai Thailand 19-25 March 2000 pp 275-280 IBRA
22 Tura B Admassu A Kibebew W (2018) Role and Economic Benefits of Honey
beesrsquo Pollination on Fruit Yield of Wild Apple (Malus sylvestris (L) Mill) in Central
Highlands of Ethiopia Bee World 95 (4) 113-116
23 Williams I H (996) Aspects of bee diversity and crop pollination in the European
Union In (Matheson A Buchmann S L OToole C Westrich P Williams I H
(eds)) The Conservation of Bees New York Academic Press 1996 pp 63ndash80
24 Winfree R Williams N M Dushoff J Kremen C (2007) Native bees provide
insurance against ongoing honeybee losses Ecol Lett 10 1105ndash1113
84
Topic 2 Threats to pollinators or to their
performance
85
SELECTION OF Apis mellifera FOR HYGIENIC BEHAVIOUR VIS-A-VIS MITE AND DISEASE INCIDENCE
Mohammed Mustafa Ibrahim1 R K Thakur2 K M Kumaranag2 and Yendrembam K Devi3
1Division of Entomology ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute 2ICAR-AICRP on Honey Bees and Pollinators New Delhi-110012
3Department of Entomology College of Agriculture Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana-
141004 Punjab E-mail mrmustafa1982gmailcom
Abstract The present investigation was carried out at apiaries maintained by Project Coordinating
Unit All India Coordinated Research Project on Honey Bees and Pollinators at different
locations in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana India during 2014-17 In depth
studies on selection of Apis mellifera for hygienic behavior vis-a-vis mite and disease
incidence were carried on seven colonies selected by screening fifty maintained colonies
based on levels of Varroa mite infestation Defense responses were tested using freeze pin-
killed broods artificial mite and disease infestation infection Overall mean per cent removal
of the dead broods across methods showed that population of two colonies exhibited
maximum mean per cent removal (100) and had highest significant differences in
comparison to other colonies which showed lower ability in removing dead larvae and pupae
Pin-killed brood and artificial mite infestation proved to be good techniques for natural
selection of hygienic colonies amongst all other assays undertaken Also observations were
recorded on the damaged mites and the maximum mean number of fallen mites observed
ranged between 34-187 mites Moreover highest mean per cent corresponding to damage
to mite (leg and body part) was found in populations from colonies which showed highest
significant differences in comparison to colonies with less defensive behavior towards Varroa
mite infestation The studies indicated considerable variability in per cent removal between
the different hygienic behavior assays in different A mellifera colonies Further variability
also existed within the same colony during study Variations also existed for the same
treatment and location in different agro-climatic zones of the two states Besides even
defensive response studies showed high variability in per cent degree of fallen damaged
mites damaged mite leg body parts between the different bee populations tested
Therefore further studies at the genetic level of both Apis mellifera and Varroa mite using
molecular tools are needed for understanding the reasons behind the behavioral variability
observed during the present studies
Key words Honey bee Apis hygienic mite disease
86
Defence mechanisms of Ethiopian honeybee (Apis mellifera jementica) against
varroa mite (Varroa destructor)
Haftom Gebremedhn13 Amsalu Bezabh 2 Lina de Smet1 Dirk Cde Graaf1
1Laboratory of Molecular Entomology and Bee Pathology Ghent University Krijgslaan 281
S2 9000Ghent Belgium 2 Holeta Bee Research Center Ethiopia 3Tigray Agricultural
Research Institute Ethiopia Email1 haftushyahoocom
Abstract
Worldwide Varroa destructor has been enlisted as one of the factors in honey bee colony
losses Unlike to the western bees the mite has minimum impact in African bees However
little is known about the defense mechanisms that enable African bees to co-exist with the
mite without beekeepersrsquo intervention Hence this study was designed to investigatethe
defence mechanisms of Ethiopian bees (Apis mellifera jementica) against the mite The
study was conducted in the primary honey producing region of Ethiopia Tigray region
Varroa mite reproduction hygienic and grooming behaviour of the local bees were examined
in a total of 24 honeybee colonies The influence of brood cell size (larger and smaller cell
size) combs age (new and old) colony source (splitting and swarm) and hive type
(traditional and framed hive) on the levels of varroa infestation was also determined Age of
brood combs and colony source had an influence on the levels of the mite (plt005) Old
brood combs and colonies established through splitting had higher levels of mite infestation
compared with a new brood combs and colonies established through a swarm catching
respectively The hygienic behaviour of the local bees at 24 hr was 922 and it had a
negative association with the levels of mite in adult bees (r= -058 plt001) and worker bee
brood cells (r=-072 plt0001) The fertility of varroa mite in the local bees was 6015
however only 1880 of the mother mites produced viable female offspring Thus the mite
has low reproductive success in the local bees Our results highlights that the level of varroa
mite in the local bees is low This could be due to the beekeepersrsquo management practices
such as removing entire honey combs using swarm catching as colony source and nesting
colonies in traditional hives high absconding swarming and hygienic behaviour of available
honeybee race However our result did not find any evidence about the contribution of
grooming behaviour and small-brood cell size of worker bees in limiting the growth of mite
populationThus to restrain the growth of varroa mite instead it is recommended to remove
old brood combs and to maintain colonies which have high hygienic behaviour However it is
not recommended to use small cell size as a prevention method of varroa mite
Key words Cell size Combs age Swarming Varroa mite Fertility Hygienic behaviour
Grooming behaviour
87
Monoculture Intensification as a Threat for Apiculture Current
State Review
Addisu Bihonegn1
1Sekota Dryland Agricultural Research Center (SDARC) POBox 62 Sekota
Ethiopia Email addbeshgmailcom
Abstract
Pollinators and plants are co-evolutionary and interdependent Monoculture is an agricultural
practice of producing or growing a single crop or plant species over a wide area and for a
large number of consecutive years Monoculture is characterized by a low fallow ratio and an
intensive use of inputs such as capital labor pesticides and chemical fertilizers to raise
agricultural yields thereby increasing farmersrsquo income and reducing poverty Expansion of
agricultural land has created an increased need for pollination that is not being easily met In
this regard honeybees (genus apis) are the main actors in maintenance of biodiversity as
they are effective pollinators and beneficial insects involved in crop pollinations Monoculture
helps to produce mono-floral honey with distinctive flavor or other attribute fetching a
premium market value Bee pollination in monoculture results in a higher number of fruits
berries or seeds give a better quality with better weight of produce and protect the crops
against pests However the intensive management of the crop field and use of agro-
chemicals has a disastrous effect on the weeds and hedgerows used as nest and
contaminate potential feed source of bees and thereby resulted in massive colony death and
bee population decline Unwise and intensive application of pesticides for long could affect
the beersquos pollination efficiency population and productivity of bees and crops Moreover
Bees become limited to foraging single crop and they lack their ability to collect diversified
feed source withstand different diseases and pest attack Localized pollinators decline result
due to wide scale losses of biological diversity that limit seed and fruit production and disrupt
food supplies Thus the beekeeping sector is in threat due to monoculture and its
intensification Therefore it is advisable to maintain the balance between interdependent
mutual benefit and ecological equilibrium of honeybees and plants diversity alternatives that
provide nectar and pollen feed and nest resources Most significantly there is an urge to
create awareness on the magnified significance of bees as pollinators and on the
consequences due to their decline for the beekeepers crop farmers Development and
Extension Agents higher officials and policy makers
Key words Monoculture intensification pollination colony decline food production
1 Introduction
Global human population growth is putting greater pressure on agricultural
production (Tilman et al 2001) There is concern over how to meet the increasing
demand for food while at the same time safeguarding ecosystems and biodiversity
(Beddington 2010) Land under agricultural production has to be more intensively
managed to increase yields andor more land will have to be converted to agriculture
(Tilman D Balzer C Hill J Befort BL 2011)
88
Expansion of agricultural land has created an increased need for pollination that is
not being easily met In an effort to meet the need for pollination efficiently most
agricultural fields are pollinated by managed colonies of A mellifera that are kept or
even rented by farmers specifically for pollination (Luesman 2011)
The value of bees in the pollination of crops and wild plants is incalculable (Litaer
2009 Solomon amp Aluri 2013) An estimated one-third of the food we eat is pollinated
by bees Without pollinating insects fruits vegetables and field crops would be
defunct leading to extreme economic hardship for the farm and food industry and
resulting in rising food costs (Malhotra 2014)
Many both quantitatively and qualitatively have documented the role of bees in
pollination in agroecosytems for increasing the crop yields Unfortunately the
increasing monoculture practices intensification of cropping systems growing use of
agrochemicals and rapid deterioration of natural areas are collectively contributing to
a gradual decline in pollinator bee populations (Litaer 2009)
Crop monocultures sacrifice floral diversity and consequently diversity of pollinating
insects over large areas Cultivated fields surrounded by simple habitats (ie other
monocultures) have significantly fewer bees than crops surrounded by uncultivated
land (Nicholls amp Altieri 2013)
Losses of diversity of foraging flowers bring to less susceptibility of bees and other
pollinators in danger of loss of disease and pest resistance that also convey
potential impact on honeybee behavior physiology and distribution as well as on the
evolution of the honeybeesrsquo interaction with diseases (Le Conte amp Navajas 2008)
There may be price increases following a loss of pollination at the national scale
which may increase the revenues for producers that continue production of the crop
regardless of a reduction in productivity due to a loss of pollination services (Hein
2009)
Through this review therefore there will be assessing the contribution of bees and
their challenges they face during monoculture intensification targeting the population
decline production and productivity decline and biodiversity sustainability due to
habitat destruction
Therefore the objective of this review is to
Assess different research finding conclusions and recommendations made on
monoculture intensification
Compile evidences on the current knowledge of importance of bees as
pollinators
Show cast the challenges the bees and other pollinators face due to
monoculture intensification
89
Show the gaps that need prompt research and development interventions
2 Literature Review
Biodiversity and Beekeeping
Plant-animal interactions are very vital for sustaining biodiversity Bees use pollen as
a protein source and nectar as an energy source Different bees have different
pollinating abilities depending on the floral density and characteristics such as size
shape color scent access to floral rewards quality of pollen and nectar etc
(Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
The flower-feeding activity of honey bees have been found to have an important role
in sustaining and multiplying a number of flowering species in effect resulting in the
enrichment of biodiversity (Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
Increasing the overall diversity of pollinators to encourage for example the presence
of both managed honeybees and wild bees has recently been shown to improve
pollination success and fruit production in almond orchards (Brittain et al 2013b)
21 Biodiversity
Biodiversity is a function of web of interactions taking place between plants and
animals The interactions between them are very complex intricate and function in
association with the abiotic environment (Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
Biodiversity is measured as the number of different plant and animal species found in
a certain unit area Biodiversity is highest in tropical forest areas and lowest in the
Arctic High biodiversity is related to the high age of the ecosystem and a stable
environment A stable environment creates the possibility of development of
specialization and use of narrow ecological niches The explanation of the high
biodiversity in tropical forests can be as the speciesrsquo efforts to avoid attack by
diseases and pests (Bradbear 2009)
22 Role of bees in Biodiversity
Without bees there would be no flowering plants and without flowering plants there
would be no bees Without bees biodiversity would not be so great (Bradbear 2009)
Bees and birds require food throughout the year Bees are recognized as the most
important pollinators in almost all ecosystems where flowers occur Their precise
roles in pollination are not well documented (Solomon amp Aluri 2013) This
necessitates the availability of floral sources throughout the year For this different
plants should bloom at different times so that bees get food year-long Perennial
plants play a vital role in sustaining bees while annuals and short-lived plants which
usually appear during rainy season provide additional amount of food (AJ Solomon
Raju 1999)
90
The main insect group involved in managed pollination are the bees and in particular
the honeybee (genus Apis) (Hein 2009 Solomon amp Aluri 2013) They have several
positive characteristics such as foraging behaviour foraging rate foraging range
flower constancy and colony strength which make them as general pollinators
(Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
As different flowers have different floral configurations with varying amounts of floral
rewards bees should use different handling behaviours to harvest them It is in this
context the flowers bees and birds have developed and evolved certain
characteristics over a period of time for their mutualistic dependence This has
contributed to the richness and perpetuation of biodiversity The specific pollinators
are assured of a meal from that plant which they alone can feed But if one side of
the relationship breaks down to say by the non-availability of pollinators the other
side (the plant) is doomed if the latter lacks the alternative systems of reproduction
(Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
The leading pollinator-dependent crops are vegetables and fruits followed by edible
oil crops stimulants (coffee cocoa etc) nuts and spices The area covered by
pollinator-dependent crops has increased by more than 300 percent during the past
50 years (Van Valk amp Koomen 2009)
23 Pollination and Pollinator Bee Populations
A rapidly increasing human population will reduce the amount of natural habitats
through an increasing demand for food-producing areas urbanization and other land-
use practices putting pressure on the ecosystem service delivered by wild
pollinators At the same time the demand for pollination in agricultural production will
increase in order to sustain food production (Van et al 2009)
A range of studies have shown that pollination makes a very significant contribution
to the agricultural production of a broad range of crops in particular fruits
vegetables fibre crops and nuts (Mburu amp Hein 2006)
Honeybees are known to be vulnerable to a range of threats including habitat loss
reduced foraging opportunities irresponsible pesticide use genetic lsquopollutionrsquo from
honeybee races adapted to very different climates and a wide range of diseases
many of them recently introduced through human intervention Interactions between
two or more of these challenges can overwhelm susceptible bee populations
threatening the health of honeybees and placing the economic stability of commercial
beekeeping and pollination operations in jeopardy (Malhotra 2014)
In conclusion it seems clear that agriculture ndash and therefore food production ndash is
becoming more pollinator-dependent over time At the same time there are clear
indications of some significant losses of wild and domesticated pollinators Recent
ldquowarning signalsrdquo of the tensions between pollinator population decline and crop
yields may exist in the observed increases in producer prices (Lautenbach et al
2012)
91
In recent years beekeepers have experienced high colony losses worldwide and in
Europe overwintering losses of around 40 per cent are common The economic
impact of the loss of honeybee colonies in parts of the Northern Hemisphere is
already proving significant (Malhotra 2014)
24 Intensification
The United Nations forecasts the world population will increase by one third from
2013ndash 2050 (Wu amp Li 2013) Population increases have resulted in extensive forest
clearing for agricultural use overgrazing and exploitation of existing forests for fuel
wood fodder and construction materials Forest areas have been reduced from 40
percent a century ago to an estimated less than 3 percent today (Tekalign 2010)
The economic transformation currently also has profound implications for global
resource demand and environmental conditions As countries shift from largely
agrarian to industrial economies their demand for food energy and natural
resources will increase with rising income (Wu amp Li 2013)
Rapid population growth has led to a change from traditional to intensive agricultural
systems (Asem 2010) About 7000 plant species have been cultivated for food
since agriculture began about 12000 years ago Today however only about 15
plant species and eight animal species supply 90 of our food (Asem 2010)
Agriculture around the world will face tremendous pressure for intensification over the
next 50 years(Wu amp Li 2013)
Agricultural intensification is a production system conventionally characterized by a
low fallow ratio and an intensive use of inputs such as capital labor pesticides and
chemical fertilizers to raise agricultural yields thereby increasing farmersrsquo income
and reducing poverty (Wu amp Li 2013)
Agriculture is expected to meet growing demands for food and fiber At the same
time agriculture is also expected to provide increased animal welfare and more
ecosystem services and play a major role in producing renewable energy including
bio-energy These new demands will intensify competition for land around the world
and will put the role of agricultural intensification at the center stage (Wu amp Li 2013)
Expansion of agricultural land has created an increased need for pollination that is
not being easily met In an effort to meet the need for pollination efficiently most
agricultural fields are pollinated by managed colonies of A mellifera that are kept or
even rented by farmers specifically for pollination Beekeepers have an increasingly
important role in preserving colonies as evidence shows declining populations
(Luesman 2011)
241 Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing a single crop or plant
species over a wide area and for a large number of consecutive years in the
temporal and not the spatial sense (Cook amp Weller 2004 Wikipediaorg 2014a) It is
widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for
92
large harvests from minimal resources In forestry monoculture refers to the planting
of one species of tree Monoculture plantings provide great yields and more efficient
harvesting than natural stands of trees (Wikipediaorg 2014a) Monocultures can
lead to the quicker spread of pests and diseases where a uniform crop is susceptible
to a pathogen(Cook amp Weller 2004)
242 Benefits of Monoculture
Growers that practice crop monoculture generally do so for economic reasons The
selected crop is the most profitable and any profitability loss from yield declines are
less than that which occurs from any rotational options available In these situations
the ability to minimize the losses associated with monoculture can provide the best
option to increase productivity and profitability (Cook amp Weller 2004)
Bee pollination in monoculture not only results in a higher number of fruits berries
or seeds it may also give a better quality of produce and the efficient pollination of
flowers may also serve to protect the crops against pests The better weight due to
sufficient pollination arises from the development of all seeds in a fruit (Bradbear
2009)
Honeys occur in many different variations in taste and colour depending on the
source of the nectar Honey flavours range from mild and sweet to strong and
pungent Honey colours range from black to white Flavour colour and composition
are influenced by the source of the nectar Honey from bees which collect most of
their nectar from a certain type of flower is called monofloral honey (CBI 2009)
Monofloral honey is a type of honey which is valued because it has a distinctive
flavor or other attribute due to its being predominantly from the nectar of
one plant species While there may never be an absolute monofloral type some
honeys are relatively pure due to the prodigious nectar production of a particular
species such as citrus (Orange blossom honey) or there may be little else in bloom
at the time (Wikipediaorg 2014b)
Consumer preferences for honey show many similarities between countries (CBI
2009) This type is believed to be the best type of honey and has a high market
value as it has a distinctive flavour owing to the floral origin The higher-quality
monofloral and single-origin honeys are sold as packerrsquos brands in both
supermarkets and specialty shops (CBI 2009 Ogaba M 2010)
Although scientific research has not been able to confirm many of the claims on the
medicinal properties of honey there are many people who believe in it (CBI 2009)
Production of specialty (major monofloral) honey identified for their medicinal value
andor the highest mineral contents of all honeys is main benefit in the monoculture
production (Bradbear 2009 CBI 2009 Wikipediaorg 2014b)
93
243 Limitations of Monoculture over Beekeeping
Food production in industrialized countries worldwide consists mainly of large-scale
monocultures Intensified farm management has expanded at the cost of semi-
natural non-crop habitats Semi-natural habitats provide important resources for wild
pollinators such as alternative sources of nectar and pollen and nesting and
breeding sites (Van et al 2009) Especially in the United States many of these
intensively cultivated agricultural areas are completely dependent on imported
colonies of managed honey bees to sustain their pollination (Mariken Kjoslashhl et al
2011)
Honey bees are the most valuable pollinators for agricultural and natural plants They
have several positive characteristics such as foraging behaviour foraging rate
foraging range flower constancy and colony strength which make them as general
pollinators The honey bees have become the primary source of pollination in
agricultural ecosystems in almost all countries (Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
When large-scale monocultures dominate with few flowering plants overall low plant
diversity and large-scale use of herbicides and pesticides destructive practices that
limit bee-nesting ability as well as pressure from a number of natural diseases and
parasites bees may find it difficult to find adequate food and make industrial
agriculture one of the major threats to pollinator communities globally (Greenpeace
Research 2013)
2431 Honeybee Population Decline
Some species of plants and bees have developed a close interdependence in
connection with pollination Such a mutual adaptation and interdependence between
a plant and pollinator is a result of a long and intimate co-evolutionary relationship
(Bradbear 2003 Sankul 2008) as one biological unit over past million years
Both honeybees and flowering plants are interdependent for their life cycle and
biology Flowering plants- arboreal shrubs herbs climbers bushes weeds etc
provide nectar and pollen the sole food of honeybees The forests also provide
shelter to honeybees Forests are therefore permanent natural abodes of the
honeybees The honeybees reciprocate their obligation by offering pollination service
to the flowering plants assuring formation of large quantity of good quality seed and
thus maintaining genetic diversity and continuation of the plant species (Sankul
2008)
In industrial agricultural areas there is high potential for exposure of pollinators to a
mixture of agrochemicals including insecticides herbicides fungicides and others
(Greenpeace Research 2013) Herbicides may affect bees by limiting the food
resources available to them and to other pollinators especially if the large-scale crop
monocultures typical of industrial agriculture are also present (Brittain and Potts
2011)
94
Changes in land use and agricultural and apicultural practices have resulted in
declining populations of native bee and managed bee populations at a time when
greater crop diversification and consumer demand for high quality produce and
variety of food particularly fruit and vegetables demands a greater variety of bee
species for pollination (Richards amp Kevan 2002)
There is a growing evidence of localized declines of pollinators due to symptomatic
results of wide scale losses of biological diversity Pollinator declines limit seed and
fruit production and disrupt food supplies (Aizen amp Harder 2009 Hein 2009
Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
The value of pollination services are highest in the global context parts of North
America East Asia and Europe all contain regions where the value of pollination can
be as high as $1500 per hectare (Lautenbach et al 2012) That is money that
farmers and society at large will be losing if pollinators were to decline in those
regions (Greenpeace Research 2013)
The decline of pollinators threatens agricultural production and the extent of this
impact has recently been highlighted by the collapse of honeybee colonies Although
the general problem of pollinator decline has beendiscussed in several books and
publications there is still value in obtaining regional perspectives on the extent of the
problem and what is being done about it (Donaldson 2002) No regional national or
international monitoring programmes exist however to document whether insect
pollinator decline is actually occurring It is therefore difficult to quantify the status of
bee communities or estimate the extent of any declines (Donaldson 2002 Lebuhn et
al 2013)
2432 Agricultural Practices
Typically yields decline starting in the third or fourth year of the monoculture
although some yield decline may occur already in the second year of monoculture
Because of these yield declines crop monoculture is commonly considered as not
sustainable (Greenpeace Research 2013)
Broad flower types exhibiting particular reward patterns as to attract particular kinds
of pollinators characterize natural pollination systems Different kinds of flowers of
varying phenologies attract different visitors cementing the mutualisms and by
implication tending to make flowers increasingly specialist and visitors more and
more selective (Willmer 2011) Such co-evolutionary processes have been
interrupted in modern agro-ecosystems dominated by a uniformity of flowers with
similar sizes shapes and colors These flowers usually bloom massively in
synchronous periods only lasting a few weeks so that peak numbers of pollinators
are needed in a short time The floral diversity formerly provided by hedges weed
patches field margins and uncultivated land that could sustain abundant and diverse
pollinator assemblages to cover such periods have been eliminated in intensive
agricultural systems (Nicholls amp Altieri 2013)
95
Agricultural intensification has led to a more homogenous landscape characterized
by large crop fields and fewer non-cultivated habitats In this context many weed
species within and around fields offer many important requisites for beneficial insects
such as pollen or nectar as well as microhabitats that are not available in weed-free
monocultures Removal of weeds that provide forage for pollinators is a major factor
in the decline of native pollinators in agro-ecosystems (Nicholls amp Altieri 2013)
The introduction of new tillage practices (reduced minimum or non-tillage)
commonly causes changes in the composition and abundance of weed species
present in cropping systems In arable crops such as soybean and maize weed
population shifts were observed when conventional tillage systems were changed to
non-tillage Annual grass populations usually increase in non-tillage systems
whereas decreased populations of annual dicotyledonous weeds have been
associated with non-tillage which in turn may reduce floral resources for pollinators
On the other hand tillage practices that create special soil cover conditions influence
pollinator abundance (Nicholls amp Altieri 2013)
2433 Agro- Chemicals Usage
Heavy reliance on a broad spectrum of pesticides by agriculturists poses a major
threat to pollinators (Solomon amp Aluri 2013) Bees are living hazardous lives as
farmers all over the world use more synthetic pesticides Environmental pollution by
pesticides continues as an increasing problem especially in the tropics and
subtropics It arises from the development of large-scale cultivation of single crops or
monocultures (Bradbear 2009) Over and erroneous usage of pesticides greatly
influences the actual coverage area of applied pesticides jeopardizing pollinator-
inhabiting areas (Solomon amp Aluri 2013)
The increased use of exotic cultivars of crops is often accompanied by increased use
of pesticides When these plants are growing under new environmental conditions
they are often attacked by pests to which they are not adapted and that problem is
often approached by using more pesticides (Bradbear 2009) Pollinators especially
honeybees often are killed in large numbers by insecticides They also accumulate
other pesticides in their bodies and hives Herbicides affect indirectly through the loss
of forage and wild flowers important for maintaining some bee populations (Solomon
amp Aluri 2013)
When bees are in agricultural areas they often collect their nectar and pollen from
cultivated plants ndash from fields with oil seeds orchards or vegetable gardens Farmers
are treating these same areas with pesticides and herbicides Most of these
chemicals are poisonous for bees and some are extremely dangerous both for bees
and for people If they are spread even in very small amounts over a blooming field
they can result in serious destruction of many bee colonies (Bradbear 2009)
In industrial agricultural areas there is high potential for exposure of pollinators to a
mixture of agrochemicals including insecticides herbicides fungicides and others
Herbicides may affect bees by limiting the food resources available to them and to
96
other pollinators especially if the large-scale crop monocultures typical of industrial
agriculture are also present (Greenpeace Research 2013 Brittain and Potts 2011)
Pesticide poisoning of honeybees is a serious problem for beekeepers especially
near areas of intensive agricultural crop production Pesticides work in two ways to
reduce bee populations First many pesticides necessary in crop production are
highly toxic to honey bees Second the use of herbicides reduces the acreages of
attractive plants for the bees to forage on (Collison 2004) Most pesticide problems
stem from human error such as accidents carelessness in application and
deliberate misuse despite label warnings and recommendations (Richards amp Kevan
2002)
Colonies may be completely destroyed by a pesticide but more commonly only field
bees are killed Loss of field bees can be serious because it greatly hinders the
ability of the colonies to build up strong populations which is the beekeeperrsquos most
vital key to successful honey production or pollination If the field force is destroyed
by pesticides the whole colony will be weakened and may remain weak for some
time the queen may reduce egg laying or be killed by the workers and the colony
may fail to survive the winter produce a crop of honey or be useful for crop
pollination (Collison 2004 Karazafiris et al 2010)
2434 Single Flora Dependency
Monocultures that produce only one kind of flower during a peak time bees are not
able to feed themselves and their progeny Bees can go hungry as a result of a
diversity of factors mostly related to industrial agriculture practices herbicides that
reduce the diversity of wild plants in and around farms and the expansion of
agriculture that removes field margins borders hedges and so on that hold a
diversity of plants around farms (Greenpeace Research 2013)
Habitat manipulations associated with agriculture often adversely affect availability of
both food sources and nest sites creating a double problem for native pollinators
(Richards amp Kevan 2002) Honeybees are susceptible to a variety of diseases and
environmental threats some of which have increased significantly during the past
decade Pollinator decline and pollen limitation both reduce seed and fruit production
in plants(Garrido-Bailoacuten et al 2013) reduces honey production and agricultural
production (Imperatriz-fonseca Saraiva amp Jong 2006)
3 Summary
There is a strong relationship between pollinators and plants with the principle of
mutual benefit that bees get their food and nest from plants and plants benefit from
pollination service of the bees
Bees are efficient pollinators and they provide more than 83 of the food plants
pollination service About one third of all plants or plant products eaten by humans
depend directly or indirectly on bees for their pollination The role of bees in
97
maintaining the biodiversity stability is innumerable The population growth creates
high demand for consumable goods and food items Producers have to intensify their
production this in turn needs more bees for pollination service However the
intensification brings monoculture Monoculture though it can be helpful for its
economic reason quality of produce production of monofloral honey of distinctive
flavor and high medicinal value monoculture for its intensification requires high
demand of chemical use mechanized farming and intensification of lands that were
allocated for other purposes
Changes in land use with the introduction of new tillage practice resulted changes in
the composition and abundance of weed species limit the availability of alternative
sources of nectar and pollen removal of weed and annual grass population
destruction of nesting sites pressure of natural disease and pests and overall
declining populations of honeybees The conversion of land to agriculture results in a
net loss of wild vegetation to support pollinators reducing nesting sites and less-
varied microhabitats for egg laying and larval development
Chemicals when used in agricultural fields of pollinator dependent monofloral crops
may affect bees by limiting the food resources available to them pesticides are
highly toxic to honey bees and reduce bee populations or in some cases complete
destruction reduces the diversity and acreages of attractive plants for the bees
Monoculture increases crop production and profitability (Cook amp Weller 2004) but
adversely affect both food source availability and diversity and honeybee population
The bees will be susceptible to variety of diseases pests and environmental threats
decline in honey and agricultural production
The pollination problem is relatively new and needs due attention at this early stage
Since pollinator scarcity is the main factor responsible for inadequate pollination
solutions to this lie in increasing the number of pollinators This can be done by
conserving populations of natural insect pollinators by promoting integrated pest
management and making judicious use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
however the most practical and preferred solution to increase the number of
pollinators would be by promoting manageable species of honeybees for pollination
There is need to formulate policies that include pollination as an integrated input to
agricultural production technologies Other challenges include strengthening
research and extension institutions and human resources development
4 Recommendations
From the above review I recommend the following points
Awareness creation have to be delivered on the magnified significance of
bees as pollinators and on the consequences due to their decline for the
beekeepers crop farmers Development and Extension Agents higher
officials and policy makers
98
There should be maintenance of bees and their biodiversity and need to find
a way to improve pollinator-dependent crop yields in a sustainable manner
aimed at interdependent mutual benefit and maintenance of ecological
balance
Maintain flowering plants- arboreal shrubs herbs climbers bushes weeds
and other plant alternative that provide nectar and pollen feed and nest
resources around andor nearby crop fields on the hedgerows
Implement migratory beekeeping when the monoculture field crops are not in
bloom and other pollen and nectar sources are available at ample quantity
and quality to sustain the bees production and health
There should be safe use of pesticides to protect honeybee population from
danger of decline (or complete collapse) and pesticides labeling should
include information of toxicity to bees time of application and dosage
There should be strict control over pesticide application mainly in periods of
flower bloom through setting andor implementation of protective legal frames
and their application accordingly
Research should focus on the extent trend and economic losses acquire to
the rural livelihood and national economy due to monoculture driven pesticide
application
5 References
AJ Solomon Raju ldquoThe status of pollinators and biodiversity in Asia An Overviewrdquo 1999 J Palynol 35-36 53-71
Aizen M A amp Harder L D (2009) Report The Global Stock of Domesticated Honey Bees Is Growing Slower Than Agricultural Demand for Pollination Current Biology 19(11) 915ndash918 doi101016jcub200903071
Asem S O (2010) Biodiversity and climate change in Kuwait International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 2 68ndash83 doi10110817568691011020265
Beddington J (2010) Food security contributions from science to a new and greener revolution Philos Trans R Soc B 365 61ndash71 (doi101098 rstb20090201)
Bradbear N (2003) Beekeeping and Sustainable livelihoods Rome Italy
99
Bradbear N (2009) NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS A guide to the services provided by bees and the sustainable harvesting processing and marketing of their products In Bees and their role in forest livelihoods Rome Italy
Brittain C amp Potts SG (2011) The potential impacts of insecticides on the life- history traits of bees and the consequences for pollination Basic and Applied Ecology 12 321-331
Brittain C Williams N Kremen C amp Klein A-M (2013b) Synergistic effects of non-Apis bees and honey bees for pollination services Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 280
CBI (2009) THE HONEY AND OTHER BEE PRODUCTS MARKET IN THE EU CBI 1ndash32 Retrieved from httpwwwfepatorgarfileseventos759630pdf
Collison C H (2004) Beekeeping Basics (Maryann Frazier Ed) West Virginia and the USDA cooperating Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium
Cook R amp Weller D (2004) In defense of crop monoculture New Directions for a Diverse Plant In New Directions for a diverse planet (Ed) Proceeding of the Fourth International Crop Science congress (pp 1ndash11) Brisbane Australia Retrieved from httpcropscienceorgauicsc2004pdf1128_cookrjpdf
Donaldson J S (2002) Pollination in Agricultural Landscapes A South African Perspective (Henning 1985) 97ndash104
Gallai N Salles J Settele J amp Vaissiegravere BE (2009) Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator decline Ecological Economics 68 810-21
Garrido-Bailoacuten E Higes M Martiacutenez-Salvador A Antuacutenez K Botiacuteas C Meana A hellip Martiacuten-Hernaacutendez R (2013) The prevalence of the honeybee brood pathogens Ascosphaera apis Paenibacillus larvae and Melissococcus plutonius in Spanish apiaries determined with a new multiplex PCR assay Microbial Biotechnology 6(6) 731ndash9 doi1011111751-791512070
Greenpeace Research (2013) Bees in Decline A Review of Factors that put Pollinators and Agriculture at Risk (Vol 1 p 48) Amsterdam Netherlands
Hein L (2009) The Economic Value of the Pollination Service a Review Across Scales (Tansley 1935) 74ndash82
Imperatriz-fonseca V L Saraiva A M amp Jong D De (2006) Bees as pollinators in Brazil Assessing the Status and Suggesting Best Practices In Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca A M Saraiva amp D De Jong (Eds) Workshop on Satildeo Paulo Declaration on Pollinators Plus 5 Forum Sao Paulo Brazil Conservation International - Brazil
100
Jaime Nickeson (2014) Honey Bee Net Objective Retrieved January 26 2015 from httphoneybeenetgsfcnasagov
Karazafiris E Tananaki C Thrasyvoulou A amp Menkissoglu-Spiroudi U (2010) Pesticide Residues in Bee Products In Pesticides in the Modern World - Risks and Benefits Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece
Lautenbach S Seppelt R Liebscher J amp Dormann CF (2012) Spatial and Temporal Trends of Global Pollination Benefit PLoS ONE 7 e35954
Le Conte Y amp Navajas M (2008) Climate change impact on honey bee populations and diseases Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics) 27(2) 485ndash497 499ndash510
Lebuhn G Droege S Connor EF Gemmill-Herren B Potts SG Minckley RL Griswold T Jean R Kula E Roubik DW Cane J Wright KW Frankie G amp Parker F (2013) Detecting Insect Pollinator Declines on Regional and Global Scales Conservation Biology 27 113-120
Litaer C (2009) Impact of beekeeping on forest conservation preservation of forest ecosystems and poverty reduction XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires hellip Retrieved from httpcommunityeldisorg59d3bb5dLietaer Impact of beekeeping on forest conservation preservation of forest ecosystems and poverty reductionpdf
Luesman C 12 (2011) Determining the Feasibility of Implementing a Beekeeping Cooperative in the Bloomington- Normal Illinois Area (No paper 8) (pp 1ndash29) Retrieved from httpdigitalcommonsiwueduenvstu_seminar8
Malhotra A (2014) International Innovation Disseminating Science Research and technology (Bee breeding) Tropical Forest Retrieved from httpwwwtropicalforestcomWest-Wales-Breeding-Projectpdf
Mariken Kjoslashhl Nielsen A amp Stenseth N C (2011) Potential effects of climate change on crop pollination In POLLINATION SERVICES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE Roma Italy
Mburu J amp Hein L G (2006) Economic Valuation of Pollination Services Review Methods Roma Italy
Nicholls C I amp Altieri M A (2013) Plant Biodiversity Enhances Bees and Other Insect Pollinators in Agroecosystems A Review Agronomy for Sustainable Development 33 257ndash274 doi101007s13593-012-0092-y
Ogaba M (2010) Household poverty reduction through beekeeping amongst uganda rural women In Apimondia Kampala Uganda
Richards K amp Kevan P (2002) ASPECTS OF BEE BIODIVERSITY CROP POLLINATION AND CONSERVATION IN CANADA In Pollinating Bees-The
101
Conservation Link Between Agriculture and Nature (Ministry o pp 77ndash94) Brasilia
Sankul S (2008) ldquo ROLE OF APICULTURE IN INCREASING CROP YIELDS IN HORTICULTURE rdquo Workshop Held on 28th November 2008 At Sakhar Sankul Shivajinagar Pune 411 005 Maharashtra State Horticulture and Medicinal Plants Board
Solomon J amp Aluri R (2013) Biodiversity A Function of Plant-Animal Interactions in the Eastern Ghats Forest Ecosystem International Journal of Chemical Environmental amp Biological Sciences 1(2) 345ndash347
Tekalign M (2010) The Role of Area Exclosures for Biodiversity Conservation and its Contribution to Local LivelihoodsThe case of Biyo-Kelala Area Exclosures in Adarsquoa Wereda Addis Ababa University
Tilman D Balzer C Hill J Befort BL (2011) Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108 20 260ndash20 264 (doi101073pnas1116437108)
Van H Valk D amp Koomen I (2009) CLIMATE CHANGE AND CROP POLLINATION In POTENTIAL EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND CROP POLLINATION (pp 1ndash12)
Wikipediaorg (2014a) Monoculture Retrieved January 27 2014 from httpenwikipediaorgwikiMonoculture
Wikipediaorg (2014b) Monofloral honey Retrieved January 20 2015 from httpenwikipediaorgwikiMonofloral_honey
Willmer P (2011) Pollination and floral ecology Princeton University Press Princeton
Wu J amp Li M (2013) Land Use Change and Agricultural Intensification Key Research Questions and Innovative Modeling Approaches Available at httpwwwpimcgiarorgfiles201312Wu_Land_Use_Change_and_Ag_Intensificationpdf
102
Hot and sort after Body temperature correlates with pheromone
production in honey bee workers
Abdullahi A Yusuf1 Nikita Venter1 Christian Pirk1
1Department of Zoology and Entomology University of Pretoria Private Bag X20 Hatfield
0028 Pretoria South Africa Presenting author e-mail aayusufzoologyupacza
Abstract
Social communication within the honeybee hive is controlled and regulated by different cues
Key among which include those of chemical origin However other cues such as
temperature are present and being used within the hive but little is known about the
influence these have on pheromonal communication Using behavioural observations
infrared thermal photography and gas chromatographic techniques we studied the possible
roles body temperature could play in pheromone communication amongst workers bees in
the hive We found that body temperature is strongly correlated with the production of 10-
hydroxydecanoic acid (10-HDAA) and 9-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (9-HDA) which are
precursors of worker and queen dominant signals respectively Furthermore the ratios of
queen-like pheromones were positively correlation with mean body temperatures whilst
those of worker-like showed negative correlations Thus body temperatures play a key role
in pheromone production and the establishment of dominant hierarchies in honeybee
workers
THEME Honeybees and other social insects
PRESENTATION Oral
103
Assessment on the effects of Agrochemical Applications on Honeybee
production in Selected zones of Tigray Region Northern Ethiopia
Guesh Godifey1 Amssalu Bezabeh2 Hailu Mazengia3 Yayneshet Tesfay4
1Tigray AgriculturalResearch InstituteMekelle Agricultural Research Center Apiculture and
sericulture Research Case Team
PO Box 492 Mekelle Tigray Ethiopia gueshgodyahoocom
2Holeta Bee research Center 3Bahrdar University Department of Animal Production and Technology 4ILRI_LIVES project
Abstract
Assessment on the effects of agrochemical applications on honeybee production was
conducted in eastern south-east and central zones of Tigray region from September 2014
up to June 2015 to assess the types of agro-chemicals and their effects on honeybees and
their products Questionnaire survey and observation methods were used for the study In
the questionnaire survey 384 beekeepers (350 male and 34 female) were interviewed From
the total of 384 beekeepers interviewed 523 of them are recognized as pesticides users
Moreover there was significant variation in use of agrochemicals among beekeepers in the
study districts (plt001) Agrochemicals were used for the purpose of pest control (98)
weed control (846) for veterinary use (124) and malaria transmitting anopheles
mosquito repellent (3) According to the respondents the most used brands of agro-
chemicals were Agro- 2-4-D (856) Malathione (737) Karate (39) Dimothoate (33)
Ridomil (289) Mancozeb (278) Dursban (245)Fenithrothion (245) and Diazinon
(228) Majority of the respondents apply the chemicals during the morning time (485)
followed by day time (215) evening (175) and at any convenient time throughout the
day (125) The respondents claimed that within the last four years 219 219 and 34
honeybee colonies were recorded as absconded dwindled and died due to indiscriminate
application of aforementioned chemicals in the study districts respectively Therefore there
should be strong communication between beekeepers and crop growers while spraying It is
important to advise people in selecting and applying less hazardous chemicals to honey
bees before blooming and when honey bees are not foraging in the field
Key words Agrochemicals Effect Honeybee Tigray
Introduction
Beekeeping with its huge potentials to save the natural forests and to earn
subsistence income for the rural poor is one of the agricultural sectors believed to
serve as an instrument for climate change adaptation (FAO 2012) Bees and trees
are interdependent trees provide excellent resources to bees Honeybee is also
believed to play a significant role in the maintaining the ecosystem through
pollination services Of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the worldrsquos
food over 70 are pollinated by bees (UNEP 2011) The efficiency pollination of
honeybees is due to their great numbers their physique and their behavior of
104
foraging on only one plant species at one time (Bradbear 2009) The well being of
bees are highly dependent upon the conservation of the ecology
Ethiopia has huge potential for beekeeping production because of its endowment
with diversity in climate and vegetation resources offer potentially favorable
conditions for beekeeping Accordingly the country is ranking ninth highest honey
producer in the world and the leading producer of honey and beeswax in Africa
(CIAFS 2012)Although thousands of tones of honey were produced every year the
products obtained from the subsector were still low as compared to the potential of
the country (MoARD 2007 Gezahegne Tadese 2012) Among the major factors for
low beekeeping products indiscriminate use of agrochemicals has subsequent effect
on honeybees (Amssalu Bezabeh et al 2012)
In Ethiopia pesticides are used mainly to control migratory pest army worms locust
grain eating birds weeds and other pests Every year on average 1262 tons (More
than 100 types) of agro-chemicals are imported and used (Amssalu Bezabeh et al
2012)When different chemicals are applied to the crops they not only affect the
pests of the crops but also harm the beneficial insects as pollinators predators and
parasites etc
In Tigray region the effect of agrochemical application around the crop field was
reported as the main bottleneck constraints of the beekeeping sectors (Gidey Yirga
and Kibrom Ftwi 2010 Adeday Gidey 2012)However the documentation on types
of agrochemicals and their side effects on honeybees were slight Therefore the
main purpose of this study was to assess the types of agro-chemicals and their
effects on honeybees and their products
Materials and Methods
Description of the study areas
The study was conducted in six districts of Eastern South East and Central Zones of
Tigray Regional State Atsbi-Womberta Kilte-Awlaelo Degua-Temben Saharti-
Samre Ahferom and Kolla-Temben (Figure 1) The districts were selected based on
their potential for beekeeping agro ecological representativeness and accessibility to
transport facility Atsbi-Womberta and Degua-Temben districts represent highlands
Whereas Kilte-Awlaelo Ahferom and Saharti-Samre districts represented midlands
and Kolla-Temben district represented lowland agro ecologies (MoARD 2009)
105
Figure 1 Location map showing the study area
Data sources and methods of collection
Both primary and secondary sources of data were used in this study Secondary data
were obtained from the reports of Office of Agriculture and Rural Development of the
respective districts Regional Bureau NGOs and other published and unpublished
materials Primary data were collected from sample household beekeepers through
semi-structured questionnaire and field observation The study covered wide range
of information with reference to beekeeping Both qualitative and quantitative data
were generated using semi-structured questioner survey methods
Sampling technique and Sample size determination
A multistage stage sampling procedure was employed to select beekeepers and
honeybee colonies At the first stage three administrative zones were selected using
purposive sampling based on their potential for beekeeping In the second stage two
districts were selected from each zone purposively based on their relative
beekeeping potential and representing to highland midland and lowland agro
ecologies In the third stage three rural kebeles from each district were sampled
using purposive sampling based on their representativeness and transport
accessibility In the fourth stage beekeepers were sampled from all rural kebeles
using simple random sampling technique Sample size for beekeepers was
calculated based on Cochran (1963) as follows
106
n0= Z2pq
e2
Where n0 is the sample size Z2 is the abscissa of the normal curve that cuts off an
area α at the tails which is 196 e is the desired level of precision (5 ) p is the
estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population which is 50
and q is also 50
Accordingly 64 sampled beekeepers were sampled from each district with sum up
of 384 (350 male and 34 female) total sample size
24 Data management and statistical analysis
The collected data were coded managed and tabulated for analysis using SPSS
software (Version 20 2011) Descriptive statistics such as mean standard deviation
frequency and percentage were used to analyze the data Tukey HSD was used to
separate means and mean differences were considered significant at Plt005
Results and Discussions
Results
Types of crops cultivated in the study areas In the study areas Teff and Maize are the major crops cultivated by almost all
respondents (100) and followed by pulses (903) Barley (810) wheat (761)
Vegetables (662) Sorghum (508) and Fruits (453) respectively (Table 1)Teff
and maize predominantly were grown over a wide range of climates and elevations
other than others cereals
Table 1Types of crops cultivated in the study areas
Crops
Number of respondents () in each study districts
Awombert
a
KAwlael
o
Ahfero
m
Ktembe
n
DTembe
n
Ssamr
e
Total
Teff 55(100) 53(100) 51(100) 55(100) 58(100) 59(100) 331(100
)
Maize 55(100) 53(100) 51(100) 55(100) 58(100) 59(100) 331(100
)
Pulses 55(100) 45(849) 51(100) 31(564) 58(100) 59(100) 299(903
)
107
Crops
Number of respondents () in each study districts
Awombert
a
KAwlael
o
Ahfero
m
Ktembe
n
DTembe
n
Ssamr
e
Total
Barley 55(100) 53(100) 35(686) 31(564) 58(100) 41(695
)
268(810
)
Wheat 55(100) 45(849) 50(98) 2(36) 58(100) 42(712
)
252(761
)
Vegetable
s
15(273) 15(273) 52(981) 34(667) 34(618) 37(638
)
219(662
)
Sorghum 14(255) 34(642) 23(451) 55(100) 29(379) 20(339
)
168(508
)
Fruits 14(255) 34(642) 29(569) 37(673) 17(293) 19(322
)
150(453
)
Application of agrochemicals for As table1 indicated agrochemical sprays are used in all study districts From the total
of 384 beekeepers interviewed 201 (523) are recognized as agrochemical users
However the number of farmers using pesticides varied significantly (plt001) among
the districts and the number was high in Kilte-Awlaelo (766) and low in Atsbi-
Womberta (297) (Table 1)
Table 2Number of respondents using agro-chemicals in the study districts
Districts N Yes No
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Awomberta 64 19 297 45 703
Kawlaelo 64 49 766 15 234
Ahferom 64 46 719 18 281
KTemben 64 35 547 29 453
DTemben 64 31 484 33 516
Ssamre 64 21 328 43 672
Overall 384 201 523 183 477
1199092 48325
P-value 0000
108
Purpose of agrochemicals application
Of those respondents who use agrochemicals 197 (98) indicated that they use it
for pest control 170 (846) indicated that they use it for weed control 6 (3)
indicated that they use it for unti-malaria 25 (124) indicated that they use it for
veterinary uses (Table 2)
Table 3Purpose of agrochemicals used by the respondents
Response Purpose of agrochemicals utilized by respondents
Crop pests
control
Weed control Unti-Malaria Veterinary use
Yes 197(98) 170(846) 6(3) 25(124)
No 4(2) 31(154) 195(97) 177(876)
Types of agro-chemicals used by the respondents
In the current survey result different types of agro-chemicals were listed by the
respondents and information was cross-checked through direct observation and
secondary data sources from the respective study districts According to the
respondents the most used brands of agro-chemicals were Agro- 24-D amine
720gl AE (856) Malathione (Ethiolation 50 EC)(737) Karate (Karate 5
EC)(39) Dimothoate (Ethiothoate 40EC)(33) Ridomil(289)
Mancozeb(278) Dursban (Dursban 48 EC)(245)Fenithrothion (Ethiotrothion
50 EC) (245)and Diazinon (Ethiozinon 60 EC(228) (Table 4) in their order of
sprayed (2011) The main benefit of these chemicals is to solve pest problems there
by increased crop production The nature and function of each chemical is indicated
in (Table 5)
Table 4Types of agro-chemicals and number of respondentsused them in the study
districts
Types of agro-
chemicals
Number of respondents replied
Total Yes No
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Agro-2-4-D 167 856 28 144 195
Malathine 143 737 51 263 194
Karate 76 39 119 61 195
Dimethoate 62 33 126 67 188
109
Types of agro-
chemicals
Number of respondents replied
Total Yes No
Ridomil 56 289 138 711 194
Mancozeb 54 278 140 722 194
Dursban 46 245 142 755 188
Fenithrotine 46 245 142 755 188
Diazinon 44 228 149 772 193
Table 5Widely used Agrochemicals in the study areas and their uses
Trade name Common
name
Nature Uses
Ethiothoate 40 EC Dimethoate Pesticides
For the control of Aphids on field
beans stock borer cabbages
and potato
Ethiozinon 60 EC Diazinon Pesticides
For the control of pests of
cereals vegetables and oil seeds
Ethiolation 50 EC Malathion Pesticides
For the control of agricultural
crop pests
Ethiotrothion 50 EC Fenithrothion Pesticides
For the control of different insect
pests of field crops
Karate
5 Ec
Karate Pesticides
Used to control a wide range of
insect pests in different field
crops vegetables and fruits
Dursban
48 EC
Dursban Pesticides
To control termites and other
insects
Agro- 24-D amine
720gl AE
24-D
Herbicides For the control of broadleaf
weeds in wheat barley teff
maize and sorghum
There is an increasing trend of these chemicals application in the study areas in the
last five years of 2010-2014 (Fig 3) Most of the agrochemical was supplied by Office
of Agriculture and Rural Development of the respective districts Licensed venders
are also source of agrochemicals in the study areas
110
Figure 2Trend of widely used agrochemicals in the study areas (by years)
Time of application
According to the result of this survey majority of the respondents apply the chemicals
during the morning time (485) followed by day time (215) evening (175) and
at convenient time (125) (Table 6)
Table 6Time of the day when respondents were applying chemicals on their crops
Time of application Frequency Percentage ()
Morning (up to 900 AM) 97 485
Day time (100 to 300
PM)
43 215
Evening (after 4PM) 35 175
At convenient time 25 125
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
0 0 0 0 0
Tre
nd
Years
Malathin
Fenitrotine
Dimethoate
Dursban
Agro 2-4-D
Karate
Ridomil
Mancozeb
Diazinon
111
Effect of agro-chemicals on honeybees
From the total of 201 respondents who used agro-chemicals in their field crops
about 637 of them reported that their honeybee colonies were affected by
indiscriminate application of these agrochemicals (Table 4)
The effect of agro-chemical spray on honeybee colonies was estimated by analyzing
the number of honeybee colonies dead absconded and dwindled The respondents
claimed that within the last four years 219 219 and 34 honeybee colonies were
recorded as absconded dwindled and died due to indiscriminate application of
aforementioned chemicals in the study districts respectively (Fig 4)
Table 7Effect of agro-chemical application on honeybee colonies
Response Frequency Percentage
Yes 128 637
No 73 363
Figure 3Effect of agrochemical application on honeybee colonies in the last five years
Discussions
The main food crops grown in all study districts were Teff Maize Pulses Barley
Wheat Vegetables Sorghum and Fruits Farmers used different types of
agrochemicals to control crop pests and weeds Most of the farmers used pesticides
to control crop pests This might be due to the highest impact of pest on crop
production reduction Tadesse Amera and Asferachew Abate (2008) indicated that
the average crop loss due to pests was estimated to reach between 17 to 41
13 4 8 9
15 23
58
123
23
41
83 72
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
201112 201213 201314 201415
Val
ues
Production Years
Died Dwindled Absconded
112
annually Furthermore herbicides are becoming the best alternative when labor is in
short of and expensive to remove the weeds by hand (Desalegn Begna 2015)
In Ethiopia the need for agro-chemicals in improved agriculture is increasing and
unwise application of these agrochemicals has a subsequent effect on honeybees
These agrochemicals are used mainly to control migratory pest such as army warm
locust grain eating birds and weeds and other pests in crop production (Amsalu
Bezabeh et al 2012) and may be also harm non-target species and resulted in
toxicity to bees which are pollinators with adverse effects on the production of
certain crops (EPA 2004)
Honeybees are most valuable pollinators of agricultural crops but very sensitive
insects as they are disturbed by the common environmental factor like pollution
(Johnson et al 2010) Honeybees exposed to agrochemicals in different ways
Fischer and Moriarty (2011) indicated older worker beesrsquo forage outside the hive for
pollen and nectar and thus are vulnerable to contact exposure to pesticides during
foraging as well as dietary exposure during collection or ingestion of pollen and
nectar Workers also serve as a vector for bringing contaminants back to the hive
Young workers clean cells and attend brood whereas middle-aged workers do a
variety of tasks mainly within the hive All the young and middle-aged workers queen
and drone can have secondary exposure to pesticides through contaminated food
brought back to the hive
Beekeepers identified indiscriminate applications of pesticides are as major
constraints of beekeeping developments in the study areas The current result is in
agreement with Adeday Gidey (2012) Kerealem Ejigu et al (2009) and Desalegn
Begna (2015) results reported that indiscriminate application in the crop field caused
substantial economic loss in the beekeeping sector In the study districts none of
honeybee disease and pests were treated using drugs intentionally which is similar
with reports in the country by MoARD (2007) Amsalu Bezabh et al (2012)
In the study districts different brands of pesticides are used at the same time andor
different seasons This suggests the intermittent occurrences of different crop pests
that necessitate the applications of pesticides with different brands
According to the study result of Amssalu Bezabeh et al (2012) all commonly used
agro-chemicals except Agro-2 4-D Amin 720A were significantly toxic to Ethiopian
honeybees when ingested with food However Tadesse Amera and Asferachew
Abate (2008) found thatAgro-2 4-D Amin 720A is highly toxic to non target plants
that have a useful function in the ecosystem Forage plants for bee plants that can
be grazed by livestock plants that provide food for birds and other animals in the
ecosystem can be affected Next to Agro-2 4-D Amin 720A Malathine was
commonly used agrochemical by most of the farmers in the study areas It is an
Organophosphorus synthetic insecticide used widely in agriculture and also to kill
insects to protect public health This pesticide is categorized as highly toxic to honey
bees (Janet 2010)Tessega (2009) also reported that pesticide and herbicide
application were the reason for decreases in availability of hive products
113
The majority of the farmersrsquo spray agrochemicals during the morning time preferably
up to 900 AM whereas others use during the daytime and at any time of the day
According to Haftom Gebremedhin (2014) the peak number of bees that coming out
and returned was recorded at 900 AM This indicates that farmers may not have an
appropriate time to spray or low awareness on pesticides application schedules and
its impact on honeybee colonies The current result is supported by Tadesse Amera
and Asferachew Abate (2008) that reported the impact of agrochemicals in Ethiopia
are greatly aggravated by the limited knowledge among users on the toxicological
and chemical properties of these substances Desalegn Begna (2015) also indicated
that pesticides application time was determined by fixing Knapsack renters
Conclusions and Recommendations
Agrochemicals were used for the purpose of pest control weed control for veterinary
use and unti-malaria According to the respondents the most used brands of agro-
chemicals were Agro- 2-4-D Malathione Karate Dimothoate Ridomil Mancozeb
Dursban (245)Fenithrothion and Diazinon Majority of the respondents apply the
chemicals during the morning time in which highly traffic of bees are occurred
The respondents claimed that within the last four years a great number of honeybee
colonies were absconded dwindled and died due to indiscriminate application of
aforementioned chemicals in the study districts
According to the result of this study below are some of the possible suggested
issues that require consideration by any beekeepers plant growers and
development organizations to minimizing the ill effects of pesticides on honeybees
and their products
It would be advisable to apply pesticides at late evening when bees are not
foraging
Beekeepers can temporarily confine their bees to the hives by closing the
entrances but this only be done for a short period of time and where there is
no risk of the colony overheating
Regulatory body that oversees the total supply transportation storage
appropriateness etc of pesticides at all levels should be in place
Crop weed management practices by hand weeding should be capitalized in
the region to protect bees and the environment and to ensure the products
are natural
Initiating community-based bylaws that give full right of supervise and
corrective measures to the community
Integrated Pest management (IPM) should be emphasized
Comprehensive research into the effects of each pesticide on honeybees and
their products is important
114
References
Adeday Gidey Shiferaw Mulugeta and Abebe Fromsa 2012 Prevalence of Bee Lice Braula coeca (Diptera Braulidae) and Other Perceived Constraints to Honeybee Production in Wukro Woreda Tigray Region Ethiopia Global Veterinaria 8 (6) 631-635
Amssalu Bezabeh Alemayehu Gela Taye Negera and Desalegn Begna 2012 Toxicity effects of commonly used Agro chemicals to Ethiopian Honeybees In Proceeding of the 3rd ApiExpo Africa held at the Millennium Hall Addis Ababa Ethiopia and September 26-29 2012 PP 35-44
Bradbear NJ2009 Bees and their roles in forest livelihoods A guide to the services provided by bees and the sustainable harvesting processing and marketing of their products FAO Non-Wood Forest Products 19 FAO Rome
CIAFS (The capacity to Improve Agriculture and Food security)2012 The World Market For Honey Market Survey 1
EPA (Federal Environmental Protection Authority)2004Environmental Impact Assessment Guideline on Pesticides Addis Ababa Ethiopia
FAO 2012 Environment and Natural Resource Management Adaptation to Climate Change in Semi- Arid Environments Experience and Lessons from Mozambique FAO Rome Italy 71P
Gezahegne Tadesse 2012 Apiculture in Ethiopian Agriculture 3rd ApiExpo Africa 2012 26th - 29th September 2012 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Gidey Yirga and Kibrom Ftwi 2010 Beekeeping for Rural Development Its Potentiality and Constraints in Eastern Tigray Northern Ethiopia Agri J 5 201-204
Gizachew Assefa 2011 Pesticide use in Ethiopia Ministry of Agriculture Addis Ababa
Haftom Gebremedhn Alemayehu Tadesse and Tesfay Belay2014 Flight intensity of honeybees (Apis mellifera) and its relationship with temperature sunshine hours cloudiness and relative humidity Livestock Research for Rural Development 26 (1)
Janet Lowore2010 PESTICIDES KILL BEES IN ETHIOPIA Bees for Development Journal 106
Janine Kievits Martin Dermine Jose-Anne Lortsch Coralie Mouret and Noa Simon-Delso 2012 Assessment of pesticides risk for bees methods for PNEC measurements 11th International Symposium of the ICP-BR Bee Protection Group Wageningen (The Netherlands) November 2-4 2011
Johnson RM Ellis MD Mullin CA Frazier M 2010 Pesticides and honeybee toxicity ndash USA Apidologie 41 312ndash331
115
MoARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) 2007 Livestock Development Master Plan Study Phase I Report ndash Data Collection and Analysis Volume N Apiculture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tessega Belie 2009 Honeybee Production and Marketing Systems Constraints and Opportunities in Burie District of Amhara Region Ethiopia MSc Thesis Department of Animal Science and Technology School of Graduate Studies Bahir Dar University Ethiopia
UNEP2011 Climate Change and Development Adopting by Reducing Vulnerability (CC DARE) Spurs Bee Farming in Ethiopia Charting Local solutions to addressing Food Crisis and unemployment A joint UNEPUNDP program for Sub Afria
Density and Distribution of Nesting Sites of Honeybees in the Dinder Biosphere Reserve Sudan
Lubna M Abdallahsup1 Ibrahim M Hashimsup1sup1 and Siham K Nagisup1sup1sup1 (1)Lubna MAbdallah Wildlife Research Centre Shambat Sudan Corresponding author
(lobnamoh2010yahoocom) (11) Ibrahim M Hashim Sudanese Wildlife Society Sudan (ibrahama35hotmailcom)
(111) Siham K Nagi The National Centre for Research Apiculture Research Department Email (sihamnahalyahoocom)
Abstract
This study was conducted in the Dinder Biosphere Reserve (DBR) during the dry season
2009 and 2010 Colonies of honeybees were counted and the density was determined in the
three ecosystems of the DBR the Maya the Riverine and the Dehra Line transects each
with a maximum length of 500 m were selected randomly in each ecosystem Sixty-four line
transects were sampled All colonies in cavities and feral swarms along the line transects
were counted in 200-m wide and 500-m long plots The density was calculated as the total
bee colonies counted in each transect divided by the area of the plots Three trees species
had high preference by the bees for nesting Habil (Combretum sp)Cuke (Acacia
siebriana) and Higleig (Balanites aegyptiaca) Larger number of honeybee colonies was
encountered in 2009 than in 2010 In 2009 however about 70 of the colonies well
established and 30 absconded In 2010 the numbers of established and absconded
colonies were about equal (52 and 48 respectively) The natural colonies were more
common in tree cavities than in the form of feral swarms
Index Terms- Honeybees Nesting site feral swarms Habil Cuke Higlieg
Ӏ INTRODUCTION
This study was conducted in the Dinder Biosphere Reserve (DBR) which lies at the
southeastern portion of Sudan approximately 400 kilometers from Khartoum It was
established in 1935 and was designated biosphere reserve in 1979 Sennar Gedarif
and Blue Nile states borders it It lies in the clayish floodplain of the Nahr Ad-dinder
and Nahr Ar-rahad at an elevation of 700 ndash 800 m and covers an area of 10000
km2 The boundary continues again up to Lat 12˚ 32 N and Long 34˚ 32 E along
Khor Kennana Finally the boundary slightly diverts to the southeast to Lat 11˚ 55 N
and Long 34˚ 44 E and then gets to the Sudan Ethiopia border [1]
116
The general climate of the DBR is characterized by two seasons the hot humid rainy
season (May ― November) and cool dry season (December ― March) DBR lies in
the zone of north-easterly winds in which rainfall decreases towards the northeast in
the order of 30 mm every 20 km This decrease is responsible for the marked
zonation of the DBR vegetation The northeastern part has the least rainfall (600 -
800 mm) which gradually increases (800 ndash 1000 mm) with distance towards the
southeast The effective rains start in May in the southeast and June in north-east
The normal rainy season is from May to November peaking in August [2]
The vegetation of DBR was classified into four categories flooded grassland open
grassland wood land and riverine forest [3] However three types of ecosystems
were recognized Acacia seyal and Balanites aegyptiaca Riverine and Mayas [4]
Fauna and flora have been described in detail [5 6 7 and 8]
To the best of our knowledge no studies were conducted on honeybees in DNP
Therefore this research was undertaken to study the density and distribution of
nesting sites of honeybees (Apis mellifera) colonies in DBR
ӀӀ MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted in Dinder Biosphere Reserve during the dry season in
2009 and 2010 A longer time was spent in the selection and the sampling of the line
transects in 2009 than in 2010 when only the sampling was done Colonies of
honeybees were counted and their density was determined in the three ecosystems
of the Dinder Biosphere Reserve the Maya the Riverine and the Dehra Line
transects each with a maximum length of 500 m were selected randomly in each
ecosystem Sometimes the length of the line transect would be limited by the
boundary of the adjacent ecosystem so the line would be shorter than the normal
length (500 m) Sixty-four line transects were sampled of which 16 were in Riverine
twenty-four in Dehra and twenty-four in the Maya ecosystem For the Riverine
ecosystem the line started at the edge of the river and extended until the edge of the
ecosystem where it was demarcated by tree indicators such as Sider (Ziziphus
spina- christi) and Dom palm (Hyphaene thebaica)
In selecting line transects in the Dehra ecosystem the length of the road was
measured by GPS (Global Position System) and positions of the lines were located
at 2 km intervals along the road The total number of lines sampled was calculated
by dividing the length of the road by 2 km Only 30 of these line transects were
selected randomly and sampled In the Riverine ecosystem however the line
transects started at the bank of the river and ran towards the Dehra ecosystem
Selection of the line transects along the river bank was similar to the selection of the
roads line transects For Maya ecosystem however line transects started at the
edge of the Maya and their directions were selected randomly from north south east
and west Because of the small size of Maya ecosystem only one line transect was
selected randomly from the four directions (north south east or west) and run right
through the centre of the Maya
117
For determining the density of honeybee colonies all colonies in cavities and feral
swarms along the line transects were counted in 200-m wide and 500-m long plots
Honeybees corresponding features (such as bee-eater birds waxes and swarms)
were also recorded The occurrence of colonies and the signs outside the plots were
also recorded The density was calculated as the total number of bee colonies
counted in each transect divided by the area of the plots whereas the corresponding
features were expressed as percentage of occurrence
ӀӀӀ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The distribution of honeybee colonies at the nesting sites in 2009 and 2010 are
shown in Figures 1and 2 Three tree species had high preference by the bees for
nesting namely Habil (Combretum sp) cuke (Acacia siebriana ) and Higleig
(Balanites egyptiaca) Talih ( Acacia seyal var seyal) Sunt (Acacia nilotica)
Sider (Ziziphusndashspina-christi) and Khashkhash (Stereospermum kunthianum)
were preferred to lesser extent Table (1) Preference of nesting trees varied in the
different years In 2009 Cuke was highly preferred followed by Habil and Higleig In
2010 however Habil was highly preferred followed by Higlieg Figure 3 The selection
of the remaining tree species was as follows Talih relatively high in 2010 negligible
in 2009 Sunt and Sider equally selected in 2009 but relatively with low selection
in 2010 and Khashkhash with low selection in 2009 had almost no selection in
2010
Larger number of honeybee colonies was encountered in 2009 than in 2010 Figure
4 In 2009 however about 70 of these colonies well established and 30
absconded The situation was quite different in 2010 the number of the well-
established and the absconded colonies were about equal (52 and 48
respectively) The established colonies were more abundant in tree cavities than in
the form of feral swarms Figure 5 However more feral swarms occurred in 2010 but
the reverse was true in 2009
118
The consensus is that honeybees nest in trees close to water sources in the Riverine
and Maya ecosystems Accordingly it is expected that honey bee colonies are
scarce in the Dehra ecosystem Among the highly preferred nesting trees Cuke
always occurred in the Maya ecosystem and Habil in the Dehra ecosystem [9]
Higlieg however was distributed in both the Maya and Dehara ecosystems The
preference of Cuke by honeybees in 2009 could be attributed to its close proximity
to Maya ecosystem where water prevails
The drought season affects bee colonies in two ways It considerably reduces the
swarming activity of bee colonies as well as the percentage of the established
colonies It is likely that in normal years honeybees set their colonies close to the
sources of water and spend fewer efforts in foraging water food and propllis
collection The reverse is true in drought years where colonies may prevail in Dehra
ecosystem that lies to some extent at a longer distance from water found in few
locations The high number of established honeybee colonies in normal years
indicates that honeybees do not abscond their nests thereby producing more honey
The choice of bee colonies to be established in tree cavities or in feral swarms needs
further investigation There are however more feral swarms in drought years This
could be explained by the fact that the colonies migrate more frequently during the
drought years and so they nest as migratory swarms rather than being well
established colonies nesting in tree cavities It could be concluded that honey bee
swarms prefer establishment in cuke habil and higlieg for unknown reasons
Further research is needed to verify this
119
ӀV CONCLUSION
In conclusion density of bee colonies increases in vicinity of water sources where
they nest in Cuke Habil and Higlieg
V REFERENCES
[1] Anonymous (2005) Management plan for Dinder National Park Sudan Wildlife
Conservation General Administration (CGA) United Nation Environment Program
United Nation Development Program (UNDP) Global Environment Facility and
Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources (Sudan) [1] Abdel Hameed
S M and El jack A O (2003) Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS) for Dinder National
Park Sudan HCENR Khartoum A report submitted to Ramsar Secretariat
[2] Abdel Hameed S M and El jack A O (2003) Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS)
for Dinder National Park Sudan HCENR Khartoum A report submitted to Ramsar
Secretariat
[3] Dasmann W (1972) Development and Management of Dinder National Park
and its Wildlife Rep ndash no TA 311 FAQ Rome 6lp
[4] Abdel Hameed S M Hamid A A Awad A N Maghraby M M Osman
O A and Hamid S H (1996) Assessment of wildlife in Dinder National Park by
remote sensing techniques Albuhuth 5(1) 41 ndash 55
[5] Harrison M N amp Jackson J K (1958) The Ecological Classification of the
Vegetation of the Sudan Forest Bull No 2 Khartoum Sudan Pp46
[6] Anonymous (2004) Management plan of Dinder National Park Higher Council
for Environment and Natural Resources(HCENR) and Wildlife Research Center
Khartoum Sudan
[7] Suliman I El (2006) The Distribution Abundance and Habitat Assessment of
Reptiles in Dinder National Park MSc thesis University of Juba South Sudan
[8[Ibrahim M A (2009) Basic Information Towards Management of Guinea Fowl
(Numidia meleagries Linnaeus 1758 in Dinder Biosphere Reserve MSc Thesis
Sudan Academy of Sciences Khartoum South Sudan
[9]Mahgoub KS (2004) Ecosystem Characteristics and Measurements and
Distribution of Some Small Mammals in Dinder National Park MSc thesis University
of Juba South Sudan
120
Underpinning the impacts of on-going agro-chemical use on honeybees in North-
Western Ethiopia The overview of ldquozero-sum strategyrdquo
Asaminew Tassew1 Abebe Jenberie1 Tilahun Gebey2 Kerealem Ejigu3 Amssalu
Bezabih4 and Workneh Ayalew5
1Department of Animal Production and Technology College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Bahir Dar University Bahir Dar Ethiopia
2Director Bees for Development Ethiopia Bahir Dar Ethiopia 3Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) Addis Ababa Ethiopia
4Coordinator Youth Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey (YESH) Project International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) Addis Ababa Ethiopia
5Oromiya Agricultural Research Institute Holleta bee research center Holleta Ethiopia Email amssalubgmailcom
Abstract
Agriculture is at the heart of developing countriesrsquo economy providing the main source of food
export earnings and employment and it remains a principal force in sustaining the operation and
growth of the whole economy However globally an average of 35 of potential crop yield is
lost to both pre-and-post-harvest pests Consequently the use of agrochemicals (chemicals
used against pests) played a significant role in minimizing the loss Worldwide agro-chemicals
consumption reaches about two million tons per year and more than 140000 chemicals are
estimated to be on the market today of which 2 - 4 are in Africa Furthermore Ethiopia is also
consuming 334632 metric tons of agro-chemicals per year by which 16 is formulated in the
country itself Depending on intensity and illegitimate use of DDT Endosulfan 2 4-D
glyphosate and some others on food crops in Ethiopia currently are causing extensive holistic
damage including potential toxicity to humans and the environment In this case currently
various types and forms of agro-chemicals are being used in Ethiopia as a lsquolsquozero-sum
strategyrsquorsquo causing multi-stretched effects on food crops and farm animals themselves The
economic impact of pesticides on non-target species is estimated to worth $8 billion annually in
developing countries alone
With about 68 millions of hived honeybee colonies owned by up to 18 million rural beekeepers
Ethiopiarsquos annual honey and beeswax production is estimated to be over 60000 and 5200 tons
respectively Though the country ranks 9th highest honey producer worldwide un-selected and
misuse of agrochemicals has impacted its contribution significantly and caused a dramatic
pollinatorsrsquo decline However to date there are very few scientific studies quantifying the
toxicity effects of agro-chemicals in the beekeeping industry in the region in particular and the
country at large Consequently killing effects of currently used agro-chemicals in the region are
not yet determined Hence the objective of this study was to underpin perception and negative
effects of agro-chemicals at rural beekeeping Accordingly a study employed at a wider
coverage in the North-Western Ethiopia has confirmed that all enormously applied agro-
chemicals in the region have been proved to kill more than 50 of the tested honeybees This
was also evidenced by the number of dead honeybees in and around a manual chemical
applicator (knapsack sprayer) This emphasizes that inclusive and exclusive different level
experiments and demonstrations shall get emergent attention not only in the region but also at a
national level and similar conditions to notify that pesticides in the market are very dangerous
121
Critically we confirmed that both beekeepers and non-beekeepers have been using agro-
chemicals for crop pest control and similar functions Surprisingly more than 95 of both
beekeeping and non-beekeeping respondents have never practiced Integrated Pest
Management (an alternative pest control mechanism) This also indicates that the role of
stakeholders in supporting and integrating such practice to their agriculture is very minimal
which resulted in excessive use of different agro-chemicals Finally this study has evidenced
that agro-chemicals are putting too much pressure on honeybees which in turn results in
pollinators decline and further low crop and livestock productivity endangering global life
Hence strategies need to be designed and implemented to properly utilize the possible
advantages of agro-chemicals in developing countries Continuous assessment and awareness
creation shall also be a day to day activity to diverge the concentrated effects from the hazards
and act against the lsquolsquozero-sum strategyrsquorsquo that we are practicing
Key words Agro-chemicals Zero-sum strategyCollective action Crop Honeybees Livestock
122
Topic 3 Environmental Service and Climate
Change
123
Bee forage diversity in Ethiopian vegetation and achievements in Ethiopia
Admassu Addi Tura Barekeand Kibebew Wakjira
Holeta Bee Research center Corresponding author E-mail admassuaddigmailcom
Abstract
The high biodiversity of the country is attributed to its wide ranges of altitude and great
geographical diversity This has resulted in the existence of the diverse floral resources of which
majority of them are honeybee floraIn this paper bee forage identification and documentation
were made to determine types of bee plants flowering period and food source offered by the
plants Moreover melissopalynological analysis of honey from different regions of Ethiopia was
analyzed for determination of major and minor honey source plants Accordingly over 1500
species of plant belongs to 105 plant families were identified The growth form analysis of bee
forage utilized by honeybees comprising 416 herb 287 shrubs 217 trees and 8
climbers The majority of bee plant species flowered from September to November and April to
May resulting in two major honey flow periods in the country Melissopalynological analysis of
the honey samples indicated that Schefflera abyssinica Croton macrostachyus Syzygium
guineense Vernonia amygdalina and Coffea arabica contributed for 80 64 86 77
and 75 of the total pollen count respectively and dominant honey source plants from
southwest and southeastern part of the country while Becium grandiflorum Hypoestes forskalii
Leucas abyssinica and Acacia spp a accounting for 71 751 62 and 705 respectively
from northern Ethiopia On the other hand Eucalyptus globulus and Guizotia scabra honey were
from central Ethiopia contributing to 94 of the pollen count Deforestation and Agricultural
land expansion and climate change are the major causes for shrinkage of bee flora and
affecting phenological pattern of bee forages Thus in situ conservation and raising and planting
of seedlings of bee forages should be promoted for sustainable honey production
Key words Bee forages Pollen honey flow pollination
124
Introduction
Ethiopia occupies the major part of the Horn of Africa The country covers
approximately 111 million square kilometers and shares boundary with Eritrea south
Sudan Kenya Somalia and Djibouti The altitudes range from the depressions in the
Afar (120 m below sea level) to the spectacular mountain tops of Ras Dejen in the north
with an altitude of 4620 ml
Ethiopia is one of the countries in the world endowed with rich biodiversity One of these
resources is the natural vegetation These are Afro alpine and Sub-Afro alpine Dry
Evergreen Montane Forest Moist Evergreen Montane Forest Acacia-Commiphora
small-leaved Deciduous Woodland Combretum-Terminalia Broad-leaved
DeciduousWoodland Lowland Semi-evergreen Forest Semi-Desert Scrub Desert and
Aquatic vegetation Most of these vegetation are comprises diversity of bee floral
resources The availability of rich and diversified flora resulted for the existence of
higher population density of honeybees and makes the country one of the 10 largest
honey producers and the 3rd largest beeswax producerrsquos worldwide(Admassu 1996
Fichtl and Admasu 1994 Gezehagn 2007 Gidey and Mekonen 2010) In view of this
the major aim of this paper was to assess the major findings that have been achieved
for the last two decades in area of bee forage research In this review identification
distribution and diversity of bee forages preparation of flowering calendar
characterization and evaluations of herbaceous plants the role honeybees in Agro-
forestry systems were discussed
Vegetation types of Ethiopia in relation to Apicultural importance The vegetation resources of Ethiopia have been classified into twelve major vegetation
types based on Friis et al 2012 These are 1) Desert Vegetation 2) Semi-Desert
Scrub 3) Acacia-Commiphora Bushland and Thicket 4) Acacia-Commiphora Narrow-
leaved Deciduous Woodland and Forest 5) Dry Evergreen Montane Forest 6) Afro
alpine and Sub-Afro alpine vegetation 7) Moist Evergreen Montane Forest and
Combretum-Terminalia8)Broad-leaved Deciduous Woodland and Forest 9) Riverine
vegetation 10) and Fresh-water lakes vegetation 11 and 12 respectively These
vegetation are found in different agro-ecologies of the country Even though each
vegetation types comprises different plant species for apicultural importance but all
vegetation types are not equal importance for honey production due to suitability of
climate and other environmental factors
Desert and Semi-desert vegetation found in Dalol depression extending along the
Eritrean border andSalt-water lakesvegetation in the Afar Depression is characterized by
highly drought tolerant species but limited contribution for beekeeping productiondue to
125
erratic rainfall and extreme drought Relatively Acacia-Commiphora Bushland and
Thickets are better than Desert and Semi-desert vegetation for beekeeping production
which are predominately found escarpment of Afar Oromia Amhara and SNNP and
Somalia regional states at altitude range of 400-1800m This vegetation is also found in
the Eastern Ethiopia along the Awash and Wabeshebele River basin as result the area
remains green throughout year creating suitable condition for apiculture development
The major bee forage species in this vegetation type are Hypoestes forskaolii
AloesppAcacia tortolis Acacia senegal and Acaciabrevispicaare highly adapted for
honey production This area is highly vulnerable to crop production due to moisture
deficit and recurrent drought and beekeeping is alternative livelihood options in this
vegetation types In this vegetation arid and semi-arid honeybees( Am jementica)
have fast and intensive build up and honey storing tendency which are an adaptive
values to cope up with arid to warm lowlands (Chandler 1976)
The central and mountainous chains and some parts of eastern and northern Ethiopia
are covered by Dry Evergreen Montane vegetation This vegetation type represents a
complex system of successions involving extensive grasslands rich in legumes
Ethiopian agriculture is developed inside areas for thousands of years (Zerihun et al
2012) This intensive utilization of the area for agriculture has resulted in loss of forests
and has largely been replaced by bushlands and grasses This vegetation type occurs
in areas between the 1800 and 3000 m The vegetation is relatively suitable for
apiculture due to availability of both natural plant species and cultivated crops such as
oil crops cereals pulses and horticultural crops The major bee forages include Olea
europea subsp cupsidata Eucalyptus globulus Trifolium species Becium grandiflorum
Hypericum revolutum and Guizotia scabra Currentlythis area faces bee forage scarcity
due to high human population and livestock pressure and also intensive application of
pesticide for crop agriculture
Afro alpine particularly Ericaceous belt is potential for beekeeping and occurring mainly
between the 3000 and the 3200 m for most of the higher mountains in Ethiopia The belt
is most notable above the Harenna forest in the Bale Mountains The Ericaceous belt is
physiognomically characterized by the dominance of shrubs and shrubby trees such as
Erica arborea Hypericum revolutum Myrsine melanophloeos and perennial herbs
(Alchemilla haumannii Geranium arabicum Anthemis tigreensis) The Erica arborea
honey is well known in this vegetation but the area is affected by overgrazing and
massive soil erosion
The moist evergreen Afromontane forest occurs mainly in the south-western part of the
Ethiopian Highlands between (1500-2600m) with an annual rainfall between 700 and
2000 mm (Friis et al 2012) The Afromontane rainforests in the southwestern Ethiopia
is one of potential area for commercial and small scale beekeeping production due to a
126
great density of vegetation cover and high honeybee population Bee keeping activity is
major source of income for the community and contributing up to 95 of a householdrsquos
annual cash income (SNV 2011) The major honey producing plant species include
Scheffelera abyssinica Croton macrostachyusCoffea arabica and Vernonia
amygdalina
The Combretum-Terminalia Broad-leaved Deciduous Woodland and Semi-evergreen
low land Forest found in Gambella Bensagule Gumizi Region and along the Tekeze
River basin in Tigray and Amhara regional states at altitudes between 400-450 mThe
commonly known bee forage plant species in this vegetation include Manikila butigii
Terminalia brownii Combretum molle Grewia bicolor Anogeissus leiocarpa
AcaciatortillisAcacia sieberianaHypoestes forskaolii and Ziziphus spp Manllkara
butugihoney is well known from Godere district in region Gambela region
Achievements of Bee flora Research
In field of apiculture identification and documentation of nectar and pollen source plants
are the most limiting factor for honey production In this regard Holeta Bee Research
Center has identified and characterized bee forages growing in different agro-ecological
zones of the country Accordingly more than 1500 bee plant species were identified
belonging to 670 genera and 105 families accounting 10 of the total Flora of Ethiopia
and Eritrea of which 150 trees 340 shrubs and 600 herbs Figure (1)
Figure1The habit of plants identified from different parts of Ethiopia
Among the identified plant families Asteraceae Acanthaceae Fabaceae Rubiaceae
Poaceae Lamiaceae and Euphorbiaceae are the most frequent families represented
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Tree shrub herb climber
Nu
mb
er o
f th
e sp
ecie
s
Habit
127
by the highest number of species Figure 2The Asteraceae became one of the dominant
family in angiosperm phylogeny due to mode of pollination seed dispersal and adaption
to different ecological niche Moreover this family has attractive flower color enabled the
plant to be pollinated by different insect pollinators including honeybees favoring them
to colonize wide ecological ranges
Figure 2 Percent of species composition and number of genera in rich families in Ethiopia
All the identified plant species are belong to angiosperm and the highest number of
species was collected from Oromia Southern nations and Nationalities People region
Amhara Tigray and Gambela and no collection was made from Somali and Afar
regional states Figure 3 From this result there is need for further extensive bee forage
collection and documentation from Northern Ethiopia and remote areas of Somali Afar
and Benshangul Gumz regional states
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140S
pec
ies
com
po
stio
n
Family
0
50
100
150
200
250
Nu
mb
er o
f sp
ecie
s
Region
128
Figure 3 distribution of bee forage in regional states of Ethiopia
Bee forage diversity
The analysis of vegetation data using the Shannon Wiener diversity index revealed that
Oromia has the highest species diversity (397) followed by South nations and
Nationalities People region (37) Amhara (34) and Tigray (25) and Gembella (193)
The species richness also varied significantly among the regions and the same pattern
is followed for the species evenness
Floristic Region Richness H Evenness
SNNP 89 37 082
Oromia 993 39 085
Amhara 79 38 087
Tigray 292 29 08
Benshangul gumuz 603 36 089
Gambella
Harari 0 0 0
Somalia 0 0 0
Afar 0 0 0
Floral calendar of bee forages
Floral calendar is a time-table that indicates the approximate date and duration of the
blossoming periods of the important honey plants (Diver 2002) Flowering calendars
can be applied to various beekeeping management operations such as placing of hives
near to particular crops and deciding the best time for honey harvest or colony
swarming Hence adequate knowledge about bee flora in association with floral
calendar is the prerequisite to initiate bee keeping (Bista and Shivakoti 2001)
Every region in Ethiopia has its own active and dearth periods of short or long duration
depending on intensity of rainfall The majority of bee plants flower after the heavy rainy
season in July through September and most of the Ethiopian highlands are colored with
golden-yellow flowers of Bidens spp Guizotia spp and Trifolium spp with many different
colors (Fichtl and Admassu 1994 and Tessega 2009) Following the flowering period
the end of October and early November is the major honey flow period in central and
northern parts of the Ethiopia On the other hand in south west and south eastern parts
of Ethiopia the major honey flow period occurred during MayndashJune
Bee forage performance evaluation
An attempt of screening major bee forage source plants has been performed on the
most common herbaceous plants existing in highlands and mid altitudes of the rift
129
valley was evaluated around based on germination rate number of flower heads per
plants foraging intensity of honeybees and duration of flowering Accordingly Guizotia
scabra Guizotia abyssinicaBrassica carinata and Caylusea abyssinica were found more
potential for highlands and Echium plantaginium Becium grandiflorum Melilotus alba
and Fagophyrum esculentum in semi-arid parts of rift valley of central Ethiopia (Tura
and Admassu 2018)
The role of beekeeping in natural forest and agroforestry conservation
The significance of apiculture in agro forestry and vegetation characterization and
assessing the contribution of apiculture in household livelihood improvement was
studied by (Debissa 2006) Accordingly this survey the majority of the beekeeper
households (839) are growing and conserving plants for their honeybees and other
economic uses There is a higher plants diversity and the honey yield has increased by
4 fold (411) and the revenue increased by 576 folds (576) Therefore integration of
beekeeping technology with conservation of forest will enhance the income of
household and encourages planting of bee forages which directly contributes for
sustainable forest managements
Bee forage development and conservation
Conservation of forest biodiversity
Ethiopia is facing rapid deforestation and degradation of its land resource due to
expansion of agricultural land coupled with increase in population and high
dependence on biomass energy (Reusing 1998) There is expansion of agriculture into
forestland or bushland affecting honey production through reducing the density of bee
forages which contributes for the loss honey yield and affecting the livelihood of the
local communities In understanding the ecological and economic benefitsrsquo of the forest
resources including beekeeping the government is committed to design different
strategies to conserve the remaining forest resources Participatory Forest Management
(PFM) is considered as one of the solutions to solve the problem of open access to
forest resources and promote sustainable forest management The local communities
under the PFM program benefits from non-timber products in which beekeeping is the
major component of PFM
Integration of beekeeping with natural resource conservation
In most cases the success in beekeeping depends on the availability of sufficient bee
forage in terms of both quality and quantity Hence beekeeping is more dependent on
the existing ecological conditions of an area than any other livestock activities In areas
where beekeeping is not suitable other improved management skills and advanced
technologies alone cannot make beekeeping successful For this reason availability of
130
adequate bee forage is considered to be one of the most important elements in the
beekeeping industry Thus a number of interventions have been made in country to
restore degraded areas to protect from massive soil erosion to increase the productivity
of ecosystem including apicultural production For instance bee forage developments
and rehabilitation in degraded areas through reclamation and enclosure approach in
northern Ethiopia can be mentioned as best practice for conservation of natural
resource which improves appropriate condition for apiculture Therefore transforming
enclosure or watershed areas in to apiary is just one example of a possible ldquowin win
situationrdquo for poverty alleviation and this intervention should be disseminated in other
parts of the country
Planting of bee forages
To address the problems of bee flora scarcity in different parts of the country including
the moisture stress areas planting of bee forage is to be anticipated for sustainable
honey productionThese problems call for urgent actions for planting and conserving
indigenous trees for honey production based on agro-ecologies In this regard planting
of multipurpose trees such as fruit trees (mango avocado and apple) and Agro forestry
trees (Acacia spp Cordia africana Shinus molle and Vernonia spp) and others around
the apiary site may increase honey production and improves the environment
Conclusion and Recommendation
From collection of and identification of bee forage indicated that Ethiopia has rich in
botanical diversity for apicultural development however most of collection and
identifications are limited to central highlands and a few species from western
Ethiopia furthers collection and documentation of bee flora is required in undressed
areas of the country From pollen analysis of honey indicated that a few plant species
are important for honey productionThe distribution of each of species needed to be
mapped and protected for sustainable honey production
Refernces
Admassu 1996 Fitchtl and Admasu 1994 Gezehagn 2007 Gidey and Mekonen 2010)
Amssalu Bezabeh Nuru Adigba Radloff SE Hepburn HR (2004) Multivariate morphometric analysis of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in the Ethiopian region Apidologie 35 71ndash81 Ayalew Kassaye (1990) The honeybees (Apis Mellifera) of Ethiopia A morphometric study MSc thesis Agricultural University of Norway
Bista S and Shivakoti P G 2001 Honeybee flora at Kabre Dolakha District Nepal Journal of Napal Agric Res (4 amp 5) 16-25
131
ChandlerMT (1976) The African Honeybees Apis mellifera adansonii In Proceedings of thefirst International Conference on Apiculture in Tropical climates LondonUK
Diver S (2002) Phenology web links (1) sequence of bloom floral calendars whatrsquos in bloom (2) birds bees insects and weeds National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service - ATTRA United States
Debissa L (2006) The role apiculture in vegetation characterization and household livelihood in Walamara district central Ethiopia MSc Thesis Debub university Wondo Genet College of Forestry Awassa Ethiopia
Friis Ib Sebsebe Demissew and van Bruegel P (2012) Atlas of the Potential Vegetation of Ethiopia The Royal Danish Academy of Science and letters Denmark
Gemechis Legesse (2004) Identification and characterization of monofloral honey In proceeding of third Apiexpo Africa Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Reusing M (1998) Monitoring forest resources in Ethiopia Ministry of Agriculture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Reinhard F and Admassu Addi (1994) Honeybee Flora of Ethiopia Margraf Verlag Germany pp 510
Regassa Ensermu WMwangi Hugo Verkuijle and Mohammed Hussen (1998) Farmersrsquo Seed Sources and Seed Management in Chilalo Awuraja Ethiopia Mexico D F ARCIMMYT
Tessega B (2009) Honeybee production and marketing Systems constraints and opportunities in Burie District of Amhara Region Ethiopia MSc Thesis Bahir Dar University Ethiopia
Tura Bareke Admassu Addi (2018)Performance evaluation of herbaceous of bee forages for semi-arid parts of the rift valley of central EthiopiaAdvances inPlants amp Agriculture Research Volume 8 Issue 5
132
Proximate composition and antioxidant power of bee collected pollen
from moist Afromontaneforests in southwest Ethiopia
Admassu Addi1 Ensermu Kelbessa1 Teshome Soromessa 2 Peter Gallmann3
Lulsegde Belayhun and Campos M G5
1 College of Natural Sciences Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity
Management Addis Ababa University P O Box 3434 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 2Center for Environmental Science Addis Ababa University and P O Box No 1176
Addis Ababa Ethiopia 3 Swiss Bee Research Centre Agrosope Liebefeld Switzerland
5Coimbra Chemistry Center FCTUniversity of Coimbra and Laboratory of
Pharmacognosy Faculty of Pharmacy Portugal
Email admassuaddiyahoocom
Abstract Bee pollen is an aggregation of pollen grains from a wide range of botanical sources which are
collected by bees for brood rearing It is rich in nutritional compounds constituted by
carbohydrates proteins fats vitamins and minerals as well as phenol compounds that among
other constituents are involved in the antioxidant activity The aim of this study was to identify
the major pollen sources in the southwest of Ethiopia assess its composition and compare the
antioxidant potential especially in correlation to the total polyphenol content in samples from
moist Afromontane forest The samples were collected using pollen traps Its composition was
analyzed for nutritional composition phenol and antioxidant activity following the standard
methods Therefore the content was for moisture fat ash and protein was (1929- 2307) (27-
58) (127plusmn347) and (1587-2907) respectively while vitamin C level was113-2185 mgkg
The mean minerals composition for iron copper phosphorus calcium sodium and potassium
were 1476 071 3136 3358 5025 and 36957 mg100g respectively The contents of
phenolic compounds for different plant species ranged from 1952 plusmn 3984 mg100g of
Gallicacid equivalent g pollen The highest free radical DPPH recorded as 86 and 937 for
Datura inoacutexia and (Vernonia spp and Croton macrostchys) respectively Conclusively bee-
collected pollen contributes phenolics as apitherapy products with high scavenging activity This
crude material has the start conditions to become an excellent food supplement for humans with
important macro and micronutrients that could be taken to contribute for a better supplemented
diet when need be
Keywords Antioxidant Polyphenols Pollen Proximate composition
133
1 Introduction Pollen is produced in stamen of flowers of the male gametophyte and collected by the
honey bee (Apis mellifera) for feeding its larvae in the early growth stages of worker
honeybees It is collected from a wide range of flowering plants and stored in cells of
honeybee combs (Almeida-Muradian et al 2005) Pollen harvesting is done in a wide
range of flowering plants fulfills their dietary requirements for proteins lipids minerals
and vitamins (Winston 1987) The protein content of pollen is a direct measure of its
quality in the diet of the honeybee and it was found that the fresh samples contains high
values and it is 100 effective in the development of the hypophrangeal glands of
worker honeybees (Haydak1970 Pernal and Currie 2001) Moreover it is essential for
proper development and function of body tissues muscles membranes and glands
(Herbert 1999) The protein levels in bee pollen have been reported in the range of
25 to 61 (Odoux et al 2012 Schmidt et al 1992 Yang et al 2013)
Pollen is also a rich source of carbohydrates and lipids including unsaturated fatty
acids and vitamins Moreover bee pollen comprises various minerals such as sodium
potassium magnesium calcium phosphorus iron copper and zinc that support
physiological activities in honeybees and as well as in humans Apart from its nutrition
value is composed of considerable units of polyphenolic compounds primarily
flavonoids which may act as potent antioxidants (Kroyer et al 2001) The flavonoids
are secondary plant compounds which have different physiological and pharmacological
functions including antioxidant anti-aging anti-carcinogen anti-inflammatory cardio
protective and they improve the endothelial function (Bogdanov 2016) The powerful
anti-oxidative properties of polyphenols result from the presence of double bonds on the
aromatic ring of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups This allow them to scavenge reactive
oxygen species (ROS) and inactivate organic radicals which catalyze oxidation
reactions (Kroyer and Hegedus 2001) Budryn and Nebesny 2006) From a long time
ago that research findings demonstrated that polyphenols in general have an ideal
chemical structure for scavenging free radicals which makes them effective
antioxidants In practical application tests pollen has been added to diets for domestic
animals and laboratory insects with improvements of growth general health and food
conversion rates (Crane 1990 Schmidt and Buchmann 1992)
Due to the growing interest of pollen as nutritional and api-therapeutic substance
involves the identification of major pollen source plants used by bees and the evaluation
of their quality as paramount for promoting this product as food supplement are required
to improve health Ethiopia has the great potential for production of great quantity and
quality of pollen since the country is endowed with great diversity of flora and high
134
population density of Apis mellifera which creates suitable conditions for collecting of
pollen all year-round Bee pollen antioxidant activity as studied in Brazil (Morais etal
2011 and Feire et al 2012) Thailand (Chantarudee et al 2012) and Šramkovaacute et al
2013) have reported the value of bee pollen as power full antioxidant Bee pollen
antioxidant activity and pollen nutritional composition of bee pollen is not studied for
Ethiopia and regarding the study area In Ethiopia the presence of relatively good
vegetation coverage and a high honeybee colony population facilitates remarkable
amount of pollen collection and processing to food supplements for local and
international markets or even development of new drugs using special compounds
found in these crude material Therefore this study was carried out to o identify the
major pollen source plants in south west Ethiopia and to determine the proximate
nutritional composition and its scavenging free radical activity for further application in
the area of food or pharmaceutical industry
2 Materials and methods
211 Study area
The study was conducted in Kafa Zone at Gesha and Saylem districts which are located
540 km from Addis Ababa in Southern Nations Nationalities amp Peoplersquos Region
(SNNPR) Both districts are bordered on the south by Bita on the west by the Sheka
Zone on the north by Illuababora in the Oromia Region Figure1The altitude of districts
ranges from 1500m to 3000m The vegetation is parted into the western montane
broadleaf forest and into the Eastern part almost undisturbed with intensively cultivated
and bamboo forest In general the vegetation of the study area is belonging to tropical
moist rain forest ( Friis 1992) comprising diversity of tropical flora including wild Coffee
(Coffea arabica) forest trees cultivated crops and weeds The climate of the area is
generally warm during major parts of the year with tropical climate The area receives
very high annual rainfall reaching up to 1830 mm in some peak years The rainfall
pattern shows low rainfall in January and February gradually increasing to the peak
period in July and then decreasing in November and December Maximum and
minimum monthly mean temperatures of the area are 266 0C and 95 0C respectively
135
Figure 1 Location Map of the study area
Pollen collection
Pollen loads were collected for 12 months period from (September 2014 up to
September 2015) using the pollen traps having 16 pollen trapping efficiency which
was fitted at the entrance of beehives The pollen samples were removed from the hind
legs of honeybees and scraped off into tray The pollen pellets were collected from tray
and placed in clean paper bag and left for 24 hours to dry at room temperature After
drying they were sorted on basis of color and identified to the genus or species level A
total of 307 samples of bee pollen loads were collected and stored in the freezers at
25oC - 1374oC for further analysis
Identification of the main plant taxa available in the region
Pollen pellets were collected weighed and dried overnight at room temperature and
then sorted by color and size Representative pellets of each color were washed with
ether and mounted on glycerin jelly for microscopic examination To identify the pollen
pellets collected by the honeybees a sample of ripe pollen grains were collected from
mature flower buds directly from the field and flower samples were kept in individual
envelopes to avoid contamination with the pollen grains of other species The ripe
pollen grains were shaken directly onto microscopic slides The fat content was washed
out using ether to enhance the transparency of pollen grains The slides were covered
136
with a cover slip and examined under a light microscope having 400 x magnifications
Pollen morphological analysis was made using light microscope (Zeiss 2010)) linked
with computer software for taking pollen picture as shown in Figure 3
Physico-chemical analysis
Moisture content
Moisture content was determined as suggested by (Ranganna 1977) Briefly 2g of each
bee pollen sample was weighed and placed into dishes and dried in the oven for 3
hours at 105 0C The dishes were cooled to room temperature in the desiccators and
reweighted
Ash determination
About 2 g of each bee pollen sample were placed in a quartz crucible and be ashen in a
muffle furnace at 550degC for 5 hours After they were removed from the muffle and
cooled down in the desiccators and weighed Previously dishes were placed on hot
plate under a fume hood and the temperature was slowly increased until the smoking
ceases and the sample became thoroughly charred The amount of the total ash was
calculated by using the following formula (AOAC 2000)
Ash = (M3 - M1)100
M2 - M1
Where m1= mass of crucible
m2= sample mass with crucible
m3 = final mass with crucible
Determination of Crude protein
The total Nitrogen content was determined by the Kjeldahl method (AOAC 2000)
Briefly 1 g of bee pollen sample was heated the with 20 mL of sulfuric acid (95ndash 97 )
at the presence of a catalyst (potassium sulphate copper sulphate) for about 4 h until
the solution becomes clear and blue-green in color Then it was neutralized with 90 mL
NaOH (30 ) The ammonia produced was distilled and collected in boric acid solution
and later tittered with standard solution of hydrochloric acid (Zenebon and Pascuet
2005) For the conversion of nitrogen levels to protein the factor NX 625 was used
Determination of crude fat content
Crude fat was determined by exhaustively extracting a 2g of sample in diethyl ether
(boiling point 55oC) in a Soxhlet extractor The ether was evaporated from the
extraction flask The amount of fat was quantified gravimetrically and calculated from
the difference in weight of the extraction flask before and after extraction as percentage
The extraction flask were cleaned and dried in a drying-oven at 700C for 1 hour cooled
137
in a desiccator for 30 minutes and then weighed(AOAC 2003) About 2 mg of pollen
were added into extraction thimbles and then covered with about 2 cm layer of fat free
cotton The cooling water was switched on and a 50 mL diethyl ether was added to
extraction flask through condenser The cooling water was switched on and a 50mL
diethyl ether was added to extraction flask through condenser
Fat content = (W2-W1) X100W
Where
W = weight of fat
W2=weight of extraction flask after exaction
W1= weight of flask before extraction
W0 of fresh sample
Determination of mineral content
Ash content was obtained from dry incinerating of the samples (AOAC 2005)The
ashes were wetted completely with 5 mL of HCL 6 N and dried on a low temperature on
hot plate until the solution just boiled The ash solution was cooled to room temperature
in a hood and filtered using the filter paper A 5 mL of HCL 3N was added into each
crucible dishes and heated until the solution boiled and then cooled down and filtered
into the flask The crucible dishes were again washed three times with de-ionized water
filtered into the flask Then the solution was cooled and diluted to 50 mL with de-ionized
water A blank was prepared by taking the same procedure as the sample
Determination of Phosphorus
Phosphorus was determined using the molybdovanadate method (AOAC 1990) Briefly
5 mL were measured from the sample digested for protein determination and placed in
a 100 mL volumetric flask 10mL of the molybdate and vanadate solution were added to
the samples After 10-30 minutes the color developed was measured at 460 nm
wavelength in spectrophotometer Data from the absorbance of the blank sample and
standard were used to calculate phosphorus content using the following formula
P (ppm) = (c1v1v2 mcf)
SA
Where
c1 = P concentration in sample digest read from the Curve ppm
V1 = volume of the digest
V2 = volume of the dilution
S = weight of the pollen calcined in g
A = Aliquot
138
Determination of minerals
Determination of FeNaCa were determined by( AOAC 2000) using microwave
assisted acid digestion and quantization Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to
read the absorbance at selected wave length Mineral content of the sample was read
from relevant calibration curve
Mineral content mg100gm= [(a-b) V]
10w
Where W= weight (gm) of sample
V=50ml= volume of extract
a= concentration (microgml) of sample solution
b= Concentration (microgml) of blank solution
Determination of Vitamin C
Vitamin C determination was carried by following the standard procedure of Vitamin
Assay 1966 and Manual for Nutrition Surveys (1963) About 5gm of pollen samples
were grinded in mortar and extracted with 100ml of 6 of TCA and the solution was
centrifuged Then 1-2 drops of saturated Bromine reagent was added to the samples in
a conical flask About 10ml aliquot was taken and added with 2 thiourea and from this
solution 4ml was pipptted into test tubes and 1ml of 2 4-DNPH was added in remaining
test tubes All the test tubes put in water bath at 370Cfor 3 hour and cool in an ice bath
for approximately for 5 min About 5ml 85H2SO4 was added slowly while the tubes
are in an ice bath 1ml of 2DNPH was added to the blank and then all tubes are
shaked and the absorbance was read at 515 nm The Vitamin C content was calculated
following formula
mg AA100g = [(As-Ab)10][A10microg Std-Ab]
Where AsAbsorbance of samples
Ab Absorbance of blank
A10 microg Std Absorbance of 10 microg AA standard
Determination of Radical scavenging activity
Preparation of pollen extract
A two grams of dried pollen powder was extracted by stirring with 25 mL of methanol
and 25 mL of distilled water and placed at 250C for 60 min maceration using
temperature shaker incubator (ZHWY-103B) and then filtered through Whatman Nordm 4
paper The residue was then extracted with two additional 25 mL portions of methanol
as described above The combined methanolic extracts were evaporated at 40 degC to
139
dryness using a rota evaporator (Stuart R3300) and re-dissolved in methanol at the
concentration of 50 mgml and stored at 4 degC for further use
Determination of free radical scavenging activity
The antioxidant activity of methanol extracts was determined by 22-diphenyl-1-
picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method as described by Woldegiorgis et al
(2014) A 0004 solution of DPPH radical solution in methanol was prepared and then
2mL of this solution was mixed with 1mL of various concentrations (01ndash50 mgmL) of
the pollen extracts in methanol Finally the samples were incubated for 30 min in the
dark at room temperature Scavenging capacity was read spectrophotometrically by
monitoring the decrease in absorbance at 517 nm Ascorbic acid was used as a
standard and mixture without extract as the control The capability of samples to
scavenge DPPH was obtained by comparison of sample color reduction effect with the
control using the following equation and expressed as percentage values
DPPH radical scavenging activity () = (A0-A1 )A0x 100
Where
A0 = absorbance of the control
A1 = absorbance of the sample
The extract concentration providing 50 of radicals scavenging activity IC50 (minimum
concentration required to inhibit to 50 of DPPH initial concentration) was calculated
from the graph of RSA percentage against extract concentration
Determination of total polyphenols content
The phenolic compounds concentration in pollen samples were estimated with Folin-
Ciocalteu reagent according to the methods as described by (Woldegiorgis et al 2014)
with some modification 1 ml of Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent was added to the
mixture and shaken After 3 minutes 1ml of saturated sodium carbonate (20) solution
was added to the mixture and adjusted to 10 ml with distilled water The reaction was
kept in dark for 90 minutes after which the absorbance was read at 725 nm The total
phenolic content of the samples were expressed in milligram per Gallic acid equivalents
(GAE) The total phenolic content was calculated as Gallic acid equivalent (GAE) using
the calibration equation y = 00031x + 08095 (Rsup2 = 09966)
Statistical analysis
All samples were analyzed in triplicate and the results were expressed as the average plusmn
the standard deviation Data on nutritional mineral and phenol content of the pollen
were analyzed using an analysis of variance Tukeyrsquos multiple comparison tests was
applied at the significance level of 005 using SPSS software version 20
140
Results
Among pollen loads and hand pollen 49 plant species were identified as main
harvesting sources for honeybees (Annex 1)The majority of the pollen samples include
pollen from Guizotia scabra Eucalyptus camalduensis Echinopes macrostachyus
Vernonia spp Ageratum conyzoides Ethulia gracilis Combretum paniculatumDatura
inoxia Coffea arabica and Trifolium spp Ilex mitis Allophylus abyssinicus Maesa
lanceolata Prunus africana Schefflera abyssinica and the rest of the plant species
were minor pollen sources in the area ( Figure 2) Pollen samples were sorted based
on the different seasons of the year and the intensity of pollen collection significantly
fluctuated (Plt005) between the different season Mean separation using Tukeyrsquos
multiple comparison test indicated that pollen collection during March to May and June
to August were highly significant between different seasons Pollen collection during
June ndashJuly and Marchndash April are strongly significant from the season mentioned
above Based on this analysis about 423 plant species provided pollen during
September-November 322 during December to January 189 during March to
May and 62 of pollen during June to August Table1)
Figure 2 The major pollen source plants identified from the collection with pollen
traps
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Po
llen
yie
ld in
(g)
Plant species
141
Table1 Seasonal availability of pollen yield for Apis mellifera of Ethiopia
Season mean SD Min Max
September-November 3893a 305
35900 420
Decmber ndash Feburary 282b 2778
2160500 300
March-May 1713c 1026 16000 1800
June-August 632d 583 5980 70 Values with different letters are significantly different (Plt005)
Proximate composition
Moisture
The moisture content of bee pollen ranges from 1929 in Combretum paniculatum to
2307 in Vernonia amygdalina These values are in line within the accepted ranges of
20-30 according to pollen composition and standardization of analytical methods set
for Brazil national pollen (Campos et al 2008) The analysis of proximate composition
of different pollen source plants is shown in Table 2 The analysis of variance showed
that there was no significance difference (Pgt005) for most plant species for
moisture content however Vernonia spp is significantly from the rest of the species
with mean moisture content of (2495) The analyized moisture content of bee pollen
ranges from 1929ndash2495 The highest moisture content was recorded for Vernonia
spp (2495 ) and the lowest for Combretumpaniculatum (1929 ) Table 2 These
values are in line within the accepted ranges of 20-30 moisture according to pollen
composition and standardization of analytical methods (Campos et al 2008)The
moisture content of pollen is affected by climatic condition of the area The
Vernoniaamygdalina pollen collectedfrom higher rainfall area (2307) has higher
moisture when compared to mid altitude area of Chora-Boter-Becho in Jimma zone of
southwest Ethiopia
Total Protein content
The protein content of the pollen for different plant species were significantly different
The protein content of the pollen of different species are significantly different (Plt005)
among the plant species The protein content of Echinopes macrostachyus Croton
macrostachus and Vernoinly spp were significantly different from most species with
mean protein content of 1616 1676 and 1920 The protein content of Glycine weighti
and combretum paniculatum strongly sigficant from the rest of pollen source plants with
mean protein content of 2718 and 2909 respecteively The total protein content of
pollen samples ranged from 1504 - 2709 with the lowest values for Ageratum
conyzoides (1504 ) and the highest for Combretumpaniculatum (2709 )
142
Fat content
The fat content of pollen was not significantly differing between different pollen source
plants for honeybees Pollen from Croton macrostachys is sigficantly different from all
pollen source plants in this study (Table 2)The fat content of the pollen samples in this
study ranges from 274 - 568 with the highest values for Croton macrostachys (568
) and lower value for Guizotia scabra (274 )
Ash
The ash content of the pollen is signficantly differnt (Plt005) for most pollen source
plants from the area The fat content of Trifolium spp and croton macrosatcys were
signficantly differ from cynotis barbata vernonia spp Plantago lanceoata Guizotia
scabra Apodytes dimidata Ageratom conyzoides Vernonia amgydalina Echinopes
macrostachus Hypotes triflora Moreover Glycine weighti and Combretum paniculatum
were also signficantly differe from the rest of the pollen source plants The ash content
of pollen ranges from127-349 mg and smallest for Vernonia spp and highest for
Combretum paniculatum
Vitamin c
The vitamin c content of pollen of Echiopes and cynotis barbata were significantly
different from the rest of the species mean value of 115 and 826 The highest vitamin
was obtained from Glycine wt Guizotaia and Agertum and the lowest vitamin c was
echinopes spp
Table 2 Proximate composition of bee pollen from different taxa
plant species Moisture Fat Ash Protein Vitc mg100g
Vernonia amygdalina 229plusmn099 a 425plusmn68b 168plusmn054ab
938plusmn747 abc 1509plusmn197d
Guizotia spp 2033 plusmn0 15a 276plusmn052a 137plusmn011a 1112plusmn96 abc 1665plusmn18d
Croton macrostachyus 2036plusmn091a 569plusmn02c 208plusmn001bc 192plusmn90 cde 167plusmn149d
Glycine weightii 2218plusmn098ab 46plusmn010b 269plusmn035c 2908 plusmn703 e 166plusmn26d
Combretum paniculatum 1981plusmn009a 435plusmn018b 349plusmn002d
2718plusmn052 de 1549plusmn56d
Vernonia spp 2495plusmn37b 417plusmn005b 127plusmn001a 1616plusmn091 cd 1599plusmn29d
Echinopes macrostchyus 2236plusmn060a 426plusmn16b 18plusmn02a
1676plusmn076 cd 116plusmn03a
Ageratum conyzoides 2095plusmn210a 489plusmn037ab 149plusmn005ab
1543plusmn015 cd 1674plusmn15d
143
Hypoestes triflora 2106plusmn038 492plusmn026ab 192plusmn06ab 213plusmn01a 1421plusmn08c
Trifolium spp 2098plusmn056a 487plusmn011ab 207plusmn001bc 332plusmn16 a 125plusmn047c
Cynotis barbata 2231plusmn10a 487plusmn026ab 125plusmn001a 434plusmn033 ab 826plusmn055b
Apodyted dimidata 2320plusmn032a 457plusmn011b 144plusmn008ab 26plusmn158 a 1675plusmn12d
Planatgo lanceolatum 2236plusmn095ab 486plusmn011ab 134plusmn026a 258plusmn020a 1437plusmn064c Values with different letters are significantly different (Plt005)
Mineral analysis
The analysis of data using one way anova indicated that there were strong signficant
diffrences (Plt0001) for mineral content among the diffrent pollen source plants The
mean comparison using Tukeyrsquos multiple comaprison indicated that the iron content of
Glycine weightii is signficantly differnt from the rest of bee collected pollen The iron
content of pollen ranges from 787-2838 mg 100g pollen The highest for Glycine
weightii (2838 mg and lower for vernonia spp (787) (Table 3) The copper content of
pollen is almost uniform between the differnt bee pollen plants and it ranges 049-
128mg100 The Calicium content of bee pollen was highest for combretum
paniculatum (435) and lower for Croton macrostachys (196 mg100g) The phosphous
and potassium content of the pollen vary signficantly amnog the pollen source plants
and ranging from 035-707mg100g and 049-592 mg100g of pollen respectievly The
phosphorus content of pollen showed the highest values for Combretum paniculatum
and Glycine weightii) Similarly the Potassium content is highest for Combretum
paniculatum Croton macrostachys and Guizotia scabara and lowest for Vernonia
amygdalina The sodium content of pollen is higher for Glycine weightii
(61086mg100g) and lower for Trifolium (48mg100g) The sodium level of the pollen
for some plant species is beyond the detectble level (BID) as indicated in Table 3
Table 3 Mineral content of pollen samples from different taxa
Plant species Iron mg100g
Copper mg100g
Calcium mg100g
Potassium mg100g
Phosphrous mg100g
Sodium mg100g
Vernonia amygdalina 831plusmn1037ab 054plusmn095ordf 285plusmn52830 def
058plusmn003a 16406plusmn32ab 33828plusmn22b
Guizotia scabra
1025plusmn1186ab
074plusmn0010ordf 379plusmn0577 ef 049plusmn02a 26088plusmn0029ab
40584plusmn033 bc
Croton macrostachyus
1329plusmn1020abc
053plusmn075ordf 196plusmn72005 bdc 095plusmn01a 247plusmn25ab 45442plusmn517a
Glycine weighti
1429plusmn0957a 071plusmn010 236plusmn1000 f
128plusmn06a 251plusmn067 bc 61086plusmn027a
144
Plant species Iron mg100g
Copper mg100g
Calcium mg100g
Potassium mg100g
Phosphrous mg100g
Sodium mg100g
Combretum Paniculatum
2838plusmn061e 049plusmn010 435plusmn0786 abc 088plusmn02c 406 plusmn033 bc BID
Vernonia spp 787plusmn208de 095plusmn010e 2299plusmn0949de 297plusmn069d 454plusmn016bc BlD
Echinopes spp 2645plusmn006de 128plusmn010c 32931plusmn036 ef
5923plusmn099 c
61086plusmn1000bc
BlD
Ageratum conyzoides
2052plusmn05 de
088plusmn007ab 31923plusmn367 cde
38443plusmn054c 621plusmn071 39506plusmn24bc
Hypoestes triflora
1678plusmn19 bcd
066plusmn0124ab 32223plusmn2073 cde
244plusmn021b 20756plusmn004ab
32404plusmn4184
9 b
Trifolium spp 1854plusmn119 bcd
078 plusmn 0067a 23206plusmn51 abcd 378plusmn023 a 040plusmn030 a 481plusmn183205
a
Cynotis barbata
1332plusmn0352 abc
077plusmn124a 22232plusmn4617 ab 468plusmn039 a
055plusmn061a BID
Plantago lanceolata
1562plusmn2466 a
088plusmn072a 2145plusmn5231 ab 551 plusmn032 a 035plusmn002a BID
Apodytes dimidata
195plusmn376abcd
066plusmn118a 2112plusmn1970 ab 49plusmn034 064plusmn088a BIDa
Zea mays 1022plusmn233 abc
087plusmn0124a 1602plusmn29075a 67plusmn022 054plusmn035a BID
Range 787-2838 049-128 160-435 088-5923 035-621 481-610
Values with different letters are significantly different (Plt005)
The analysis of proximate composition and mineral content of the present is coinciding
with international standards and the pollen can be promoted as export products
provided that the quality and food safety conditions are maintained
Table 4 Comparison of the test parameters of the study samples with International standard for proximate composition
Test parameter This study International standards
References
Moisture 1971-2307 20-30 Almeida-Muradian et al2005
Protein 1587-2907 Not less than 15 g100 g
Almeida-Muradian et al 2005
Ash 127plusmn347 2-6 Almeida-Muradian et al 2005
Vitamin C 113-2185 mgkg 70-560mgkg Talpay 1984 Oliviera 2006
Fat 27-58100 gt15 g100 g Szczesna and Rybak-Chmielewska 1998
145
Table 5 Comparative study of mineral content of pollen samples with International standards Test parameters This study International
standards References
Iron mg100g 0-2838 11-170 Almeida-Muradian et al 2005
Copper mg100g
044-128 2-16 Almeida-Muradian et al 2005
Calcium mg100g
196-435 200-3000 Almeida-Muradian et al 2005
Potassium mg100g
44-5920mgkg 4000-20000 Talpay 1984 Oliviera 2006
Phosphrous mg100g
34-4100 800-6000 Szczesna and Rybak-Chmielewska 1998
Sodium mg100g
481-610 ND ND (not dectable)
Total phenolic and Vitamin C content and free radical scavenging activity
Total phenolic content was expressed as milligrams of Gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per
gram (mggm) of the pollen samples and the Free radical scavenging activity expressed
in The data is shown together in Table 5 to simplify the approach in the discussion
The total phenolic content in the taxa analyzed ranges 1952 - 3984 mgGAE (Gallic
acid equivalents) There was no significant variation for total phenolic content among
the pollen source plants Relatively the higher polyphenol content was recorded for Zea
mays Guizotia spp Vernonia amaygdalina Croton macrostachyus and Datura inoxia
The lowest was determined in Echinopes spp Ageratum conyzoides Combretum
paniculatum and Trifloium spp The percentage of DPPH radical scavenging capacity of
the analysed pollen samples was significantly different (Plt005) between different
pollen source plants (Table 5) The antioxidant power of Plantago lanceolata
Eucalyptus spp Vernonia spp Trifoilumspp and Zea mays were significantly different
from remaining bee pollen and relatively higher radical scavenging power were 98 933
98 93 and 89 respectively) The lower values were recorded for Echinopes spp
Ageratum conyzoides Combretum paniclutum and Plantago lanceolatum
Table 6 Percent yield for Free radical Scavenging activity and total phenolic content of pollen samples
Plant species
Phenolic content
(mg GAEg)
DPPH
(EC50)
Vernonia amygdalina 3565 plusmn044i 937plusmn0121c
Croton macrostchys 2306 plusmn44c 937plusmn010c
Guizotia spp 3887 plusmn024 88plusmn10ab
Bidens spp 1952 plusmn095a 89plusmn10b
Ageratum conyzoides 2403 plusmn06c 88plusmn15ab
146
Plant species
Phenolic content
(mg GAEg)
DPPH
(EC50)
Plantago lanceolata 2081 plusmn06b 89plusmn57b
Trifolium spp 2435 plusmn005ef 88plusmn10b
Datura inoxia 2629 plusmn0080 86plusmn10a
Zea mays 3984 plusmn006i 89plusmn057b
Eucalyptus spp 2500 plusmn007f 93plusmn10c
Values in a row with different letters are significantly different (Plt005)
Discussion
Main floral sources collected
Pollen fulfills honey bees nutritional demands for protein and fat This agrees with fact
that the colony development and reproduction are mainly related to the taxa collected
and its composition (Avni et al 2009) The identification of pollen loads from pollen
traps is very important because it gives about the preferences and resource richness in
collecting plant species as the main sources pollen for honeybees From our data 49
taxa were identified among sample collected in pollen traps given the relevant
reference that the highest proportion of taxa become from only a few sources The
highest harvested pollen was from Guizotia spp Vernonia spp Datura inoxia Trifolium
spp Zea mays and Croton macrostachyus Relatively small amount of pollen was
collected during May and June to August The plant species contributing during May to
June for pollen were Schefflera abyssinica Croton macrostachyus Syzygium guinnese
and Coffea arabica The identified pollen taxa from pollen trap was belong to published
Honeybee flora of Ethiopia (Fichtl and Admassu 1994) There was seasonal variability
among the pollen source plants depending species richness duration of flowering and
length of the rainy period In this investigation the highest pollen load gathering occurs
between September to January whileApril to May with the lowest pollen collection The
dearth periods were February and July) The high pollen collection during Septmber and
November is due to the appearance of higher density of flowering plants after rainy
seasons (June-August and March to April) reaching their peak flowering in October and
April The lower pollen yield was recorded during June to August which is the main rainy
season throughout the country affecting the flight condition of honeybees which in turn
affects pollen collection This is in agreement with similar study in central parts of
Ethiopia (Admassu Addi and Debissa Lamessa 2009) stating that during the rainy
season low temperatures possibly inhibit growth and flowering whereas the higher
temperature during dry period causes water deficiency in plants resulting in low nectar
secretion and low pollen production
Moisture
The analysis of bee pollen samples for moisture content from taxa study demonstrated
that moisture content of pollen vary among taxa depending on environmental condition
147
where the plant grows and hygroscopic property of the pollen The moisture content
was relatively higher for all taxa since the study area is located in one of the higher
rainfall regions of the country and hence it receives substantial amount rainfall for nine
months This has great impacts on pollen quality and it is in line with other published
studies once higher values could favor microbiological contamination particularly by
fungi and yeasts (Solange 2009)
Protein content
The protein content from all samples under investigation fall in standard ranges 20-30
(Campos et al 2008) and they are accepted by the International Food Safety Control
The total protein content highest for Combretum paniclualtum (2709 ) and lowest for
Ageratum conyzoides (1587 ) agrees with other studies that reported values at range
of 16 to 29 (Tuumlyluuml and Sorkun 2006 Odoux et al2012) The variation in the protein
content of pollen reflects difference in plant taxa depending on plant origin (Szczęsna
2006) and environmental factors such as climatic and soil conditions (Cirnu et al 1969
Stanley and Linskens 1974 Bosi and RicciardelliDAlbore 1975 during maturation age
and vigor of the plants Similar study reported by Debissa etal2008) indicating the
content of crude protein varies from 1325 to 2868 for pollen producing plants for
central parts of Ethiopia while it was lower for spore producing plant species (Pinus
radiata )
Minerals
Minerals in pollen have different functions as for example Calcium and Phosphorus are
essential for humans and animals particularly in cell physiology since deficit in Calcium
and Phosphorous can affect the formation of bone and tooth Potassium is also an
important mineral involving in muscles contractions specially cardiac muscles resulting
in heart arrhythmia It affects lipids metabolism proteins synthesis maintaining the fluid
and electrolyte balance in the body and is responsible in the nerve impulses sending
Sodium is responsible for depolarization of cellular membrane and for the water
equilibrium in intra- and extra cellular medium Varaion in the mineral composition of
bee collected pollen and others refects the difference in the floral origin of pollen and
the plant growth conditions such as soil and geographic origin (Campos et al 2003
Almaraz-Abarca et al 2004) Similar study by Stanley and Linskens (1974) indicated
that there are difference in mineral content of pollen collected by bees and pollen
collected directly from flowersThe amounts determined in pollen give an add-value to
the product when used for human purposes
Fat and Vitamin C content
Pollen also vary with their relative proportion of fatty acid content The fat content of the
pollen samples ranges from 274 - 568 with the highest values for Croton
148
macrostachyus (568 ) and lower value for Vernonia amygdalina (274 ) Several
factors can affect the type and proportion of the different chemical constituents in pollen
including plant species and area in which plant growth with type of soil and climatic
condition season of the year and even time of day pollen is collected (Smchidt and
Buchmann 1992) Like other components there is a considerable variation depending
on the pollen type Pollen contains significant amount of carotenoids mainly β-carotene
are related to vitamin But these too depend on the botanical source of the pollen
Total phenolic content
It has been recognized that total phenolic content of pollen extract is associated with
their antioxidant activities due to their redox properties which allow them to act as
reducing agents hydrogen donors According to our finding the pollen collected by
honeybees from different taxa shows characteristic amounts of total polyphenols and
the result obtained from this study falls with bee pollen phenols range reported in most
scientific literature Bogdanov et al( 2004) Atip et al (2012) Serra Bonvehı (2001)The
amount of total polyphnol is low as compare to similar studies mentioned above due to
different factors involved during data collection such as storage condition geographic
origin and modification of pollen during packing of the pollen loads by honeybees that
may affect enzymatic reaction The polyphenol content is vary among pollen source
plants due to variation in chemical composition of pollen in different location and
different floral sources Apart from this total phenolic compounds content of pollen
extracts were solvent-dependent Similar data was provided by (Solange et al 2007)
were they give information about pollen extracted with ethanol at 60 70 and 80 of
concentration showed relatively higher levels of phenolic compounds (gt10 mgg)
Campos et al 1997 showed that phenolics in pollen are specie-specific and contribute
to the fingerprint of each taxon which could be used for identification of floral origin
Free radical scavenging activity
The ability of pollen extract to quench reactive species by hydrogen donation was
measured through DPPH radical scavenging activity test Compounds with antioxidant
activity can react with DPPH which solution has a violet color The solution discoloration
during the reaction can be quantified by measuring the absorbance at 517 nm which
indicates the scavenging ability of these compounds Pollen samples analyzed in the
present work shown to have considerable variation in compounds that could be
correlated to its antioxidant activity These constituints were correlated to the bioactivity
in the taxa under evaluation in this work that show values increased in the order of
Eucalyptus sppgtTrifolium rupplienaumgtVernoniaamygdalinagtDatura arboreagtBidens
sppgtGuizotia sppgt Croton macrostachysgt and Combretum paniculatum A significant
correlation between the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity in bee pollen were
149
reported (Bogdanov 2011) However the variation in free radical scavenging values in
the above cited plants species was not correlated with the variation in the levels of
phenolic compounds present in samples neither with vitamin C or other of the
constituents as proteins or fat content This is in line with previous results carried out
with different taxa (Campos et al 2003 Almaraz et al 2008 Lopes et al 2011and
Stanciu et al 2016) This will stimulates further investigation to pursuit the full
understanding of the mechanisms involved in this bioactivity
Conclusions and recommendation
It is concluded that the proximate composition determined for protein moisture fat ash
vitamin C and minerals indicated that bee pollen can be used as to supplement diets for
humans since the results of nutritional analysis found are in line with the International
ranges of food quality as it has high antioxidant factors The samples from the flora
collected during the year possess a considerable amount of polyphenolics which have
relevant antiradical activity to protect body from damage caused by radicals are more
significantly at September-November season with the good preservation schedule of
the product Therefore due to the biodiversity available in Ethiopia further investigations
should be performed to evaluate the total profile of polyphenolic and amino acids
composition among other nutrients to improve the consume once it is a very good
source of macro and micronutrients which is fundamental for human health
References
Admassu Addi amp Debissa lamessa (2009) The pollen potentiality and protein content
of bee collected pollen from Mengesha suba state forest Ethiop J Biol Sci 8(2) 85-
97
Almaraz-Abarca N Campos M G Aacutevila-Reyes J A Naranjo-Jimeacutenez N Herrera-
Corral J Gonzaacutelez-Valdez L S (2008) Antioxidant activity of polyphenolic extract of
monofloral honeybee-collected pollen from mesquite (Prosopisjuliflora Leguminosae)
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 20(2) 119-124
Almeida-Muradian L B Pamplona L C Coimbra S Barth O M (2005) Chemical
composition and botanical evaluation of dried bee pollen pellets Journal of Food
Composition and Analysis 18(1) 105ndash111
AOAC (1990) Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical
Chemists 15th Edition Washigton DC USA
AOAC (2000) Official Methods of Analysis Arlington VA USA Aouali N Laporte
AOAC( 2003)Official methods of analysis of AOAC International 17th edition
150
AOAC (2005) Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL18th edition
Atip Chantarudee Preecha Phuwapraisirisan Kiyoshi Kimura Masayuki Okuyama
Haruhide Mori Atsuo Kimura and Chanpen Chanchao (2012) Chemical constituents
and free radical scavenging activity of corn pollen collected from Apis mellifera hives
compared to floral corn pollen at Nan Thailand
Avni D Dag A Shafir S (2009) Pollen sources for honeybees in Israel Source
periods
504 of shortage and influence on population growth Israel Journal of Plant Sciences
57 263-505
Budryn G Nebesny E (2006) Phenolic acids-their properties occurrence in plant
materials absorption and metabolismBromatolChem 39 PP103ndash110
Bogdanov S (2011) Pollen Nutrition Functional Properties Health A Review Bee
Product Science Available online httpwwwbee- hexagonnetfilesfile
BOGDANOV S BIERI K GREMAUD G IFF D KAumlNZIG A SEILER K STOumlCKLI H
ZUumlRCHERK (2004) Swiss Food Manual Pollen Bienenprodukte BAG (Swiss Federal
Office for Public Health) Berne
Bogdanov S (2016) Pollen Production Nutrition and Health A Review Bee-
Hexagonnet Available online httpwwwbee-hexagonnetfilesReview
Bosi G Ricciardelli DAlbore G(1975) Quantitative determination of amino acids in
some bee collected pollens XXXV Int Beekeep Congr Apimondia
Cirnu et al (1969) do processo de desidrataccedilatildeordquo Master Dissertation Pharmaceutical
Science
Campos M G Bogdanov S Almeida-Muradian L B Szczesna T Mancebo Y
Frigerio C Ferreira F (2008) Pollen composition and standardisation of analytical
methods Journal of Apicultural Research 47(2) 156-163httpdxdoiorg
103896IBRA147212
Campos M G Webby R F Markham K R Mitchell K A Da Cunha A P (2003) Age-
induced diminution of free radical scavenging capacity in bee pollens and the
contribution of constituent flavonoids Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51
742-745
151
Crane E (1990) Bees and beekeeping Science Practice and World Resources
Cornstock Publ Ithaca NY USApp 593
Debissa Lamessa amp Admassu Addi (2008) Importance of honey and bee pollen for
vegetation characterization in Ethiopian Journal of Natural Resource (ESNR)
Friis Ib (1992) Forest and forest trees of north-east Tropical Africa Kew Bull Additional
Ser 151 -396
Freire K Antonio C S Lins Marcos C Doacuterea Francisco A R Santos
Celso A Camara and Tania M S Silva (2012) Palynological Origin Phenolic Content
and Antioxidant Properties of Honeybee-Collected Pollen from Bahia BrazilMolecules
17 1652-1664
Herbert EW (1999) Honey Bee Nutrition in Graham JM (Ed)The Hive and the
HoneyDadantamp Sons Hamilton Illinois pp 197-233
Haydak MH (1970) Honey bee nutrition Annual Reviews of Entomology 42 611ndash643
Kroyer G Hegedus N (2001) Evaluation of bioactive properties of pollen extracts as
functional dietary food supplement Innov Food Sci Emerg 171-174
Lopes J Stanciu OG Campos MG Almaraz-Abarca N Muradian LB Marghitas
LA (2011) Bee pollen antioxidant activity ndash a review achievements and further
challenges J of Pharmacognosy 2 25-38
Methods of Vitamin Assay (third Edition) (1966) Inter science Publishers pp 320-327
Manual for Nutrition Surveys (Second Edition) (1963) pp 230-232
Morais M Moreira L Feaacutes X and Estevinho LM (2011) Honeybee-collected pollen
from five Portuguese natural parks Palynological origin phenolic content antioxidant
properties and antimicrobial activity Food Chem Toxicol49 1096ndash1101)
Odoux JF Feuillet D Aupinel P Loublier Y Tasei JN Mateescu C (2012)
Territorial biodiversity and consequences on physico-chemical characteristics of pollen
collected by honey bee coloniesApidologie 43 561-575
Pernal S F amp Currie R W (2001)The influence of pollen quality on foraging behavior
in honeybees (Apismellifera L)BehavEcol Socio biol Pp 53ndash68
Ranganna S (1977) Plant Pigments Manual of Analysis of fruit vegetable products
77- 79
152
Reinhard Fichtl and Admassu Addi (1994) Honey bee flora of Ethiopia Margraf Verlag
Germany Pp 510
Schmidt JO Buchmann SL (1992) Other products of the hive In Grahan JM (ed) The
hive and the honeybee Hamilton Dadant amp Sons pp 927-988
Solange TC Rosicler B Severino Matias A Maria Luacutecia M (2009) Study of
preparations of bee pollen extracts Antioxiant and Antibacterial activity Ciecircnc Agrotec
Lavras v 31 p 1818-1825
Šramkovaacute Nocircžkovaacute Kačaacuteniovaacute Maacuteriaacutessyovaacute Rovnaacute andStričiacutek (2013) Antioxidant
and antimicrobial properties of monofloral bee pollenJ Environ Sci Health B 48(2)133-
138
Stanley RG Linskens HF (1974) Pollen Biology Biochemistry Management
Springer New York
Szczęsna T (2006) Protein content and amino acid composition of bee collected
pollen from selected botanical origins Journal of Apicultural Science 50 81-90
Tuumlyluuml AOuml Sorkun K (2006) Protein analysis with kjeldahl of pollen grains collected
by Apismellifera L 6 7-11
Serra Bonvethi Soliva Torrento Oacute M Centelleslorente E (2001) Evaluation of
polyphenolic and flavonoid compounds in honeybee-collected pollen produced in Spain
Journal Agricultural Food Chemistry Easton v 49 n 4 p 1843-1853
Talpay B M (1984) Der PollenVersuch einer Standortbestimmung Institut Fuumlr
Honigforschung Bremen 1ndash84
Woldegiorgis Dawit Abate Gulelat Haki D Gregory R Ziegler (2014) Antioxidant
property of edible mushrooms collected from Ethiopia
Winston ML (1987) The Biology of the Honey Bee Harvard University Press ISBN 0-
674-639 07408-4
Yang K Wu D Ye XQ Liu DH Chen JC Sun PL (2013)Characterization of
Chemical Composition of Bee Pollen in China Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry 61 PP 708-718
Zenebon O Pascuet N S (2005) Methods of fisico-quimicos para analise dealimentos
153
Annex 1 List of pollen identified from samples collected around Gesha and
Saylem districts ( Ethiopia)
Plant species Family Habit Pollen weight
Proportion
Flowering period
Acacia spp Fabaceae Tree 289 02 Sept-Oct
Achyranthes aspera Amaranthaceae
Herb 065 01 Sep-Jan
Agave sisalana Agavaceae Shrub 23 02 Nov-Jan
Ageratum conyzoides Asteraceae Herb 293 02 Sep-Nov
Ageratum conyzoides Asteraceae herb 3664 29 Sept-Nov
Andropogon abyssinicus
Poaceae Herb 0773 01 Aug-Nov
Bidens spp Asteraceae Herb 155 122 Sept-Oct
Brassica spp Brassicaceae Herb 034 00 Sep-Oct
Cirsium schimperi Asteraceae Herb 234 02 Oct-Nov
Combretum paniculatum
Combretaceae
Climber 275 22 Jan-Mar
Cordia africana Boraginaceae Tree 74 06 Sept-Oct
Croton macrostachyus Euphorbiaceae
Tree 2453 19 Mar-Jun
Cyperaceae Cyperaceae Herb 1011 08 Feb
Cyperus fischerianus Cyperaceae Herb 289 02 Jan
Datura inoxia Solanaceae Shrub 135 106 Sep-Jan
Echinops macrochaetus
Asteraceae Herb 5671 45 Oct-Jan
Ethula gracilis Asteraceae Herb 253 20 Nov-Dec
Eucalyptus spp Myrtaceae Tree 1219 96 July-Aug
Glycine max Fabaceae Herb 2466 02 Aug-sept
Glycine wightii Fabaceae Climber 60652 05 Oct-Jan
154
Plant species Family Habit Pollen weight
Proportion
Flowering period
Grevillea robusta Proteaceae Tree 14 01 Sept-Oct
Guizotia scabara Asteraceae Herb 2875682
227 Nov-Jan
Helminthotheca echioides
Asteraceae Herb 3006 02 Nov-Jan
Hibiscus spp Malvaceae Shrub 0639 01 Sep-Dec
Hypericum revolutum Guttiferae Shrub 167 01 Sept-Oct
Hypoetses triflora Acanthaceae Herb 632 05 Sep-Nov
Illex mitis Aquifoliaceae Tree 35 28 Sept-Oct
Maesa lanceolata Myrsinaceae Shrub 45 35 Aug-Oct
Mangifera indica Ancardiaceae Tree 178 01 Sept-Nov
Maytenus arbutifolia Celestarceae Shrub 1074 08 Sept-Nov
Ocimum spp Lamiaceae Herb 0421 00 Oct-nov
Pinus spp Pinaceae Tree 1562 01 Feb
Plantago lanceolatum Plantaginaceae
Herb 2432 19 Sept-Jan
Poaceae Poaceae Herb 1045 01 Sept-Jan
Pterolobium stellatum Fabaceae Shrub 175 01 Sept-Nov
Ranunculus multifidus Ranuculaceae Herb 028877 00 Sept-Nov
Rhus spp Ancardiaceae Shrub 145 01 Sept-Dec
Rumex nervosus Polygonaceae Shrub 28 02 Sept-Nov
Saturja paradoxa Lamiaceae Herb 25 02 Sept-Nov
Schefflera abyssinica Araliaceae Tree 151 12 April
Sesamum indicum Pedaliaceae Herb 015 00 Oct-Nov
Syzygium guineense Myrteatceae Tree 88 69 Jan-Feb
155
Plant species Family Habit Pollen weight
Proportion
Flowering period
Trifoilum spp Fabaceae Herb 564231 04 Sept-oct
Unknown pollen1 Asteraceae - 63 05 Sept-oct
unknown pollen2 Fabaceae - 914 07 Jan
Vernonia amygdalina Asteraceae Shrub 2686 21 Jan
Vernonia spp Asteraceae Shrub 5288 42 Dec
Vicia faba Fabaceae herb 3946 03 Aug-sept
Zea mays Poaceae Herb 6832 05 Aug
156
Figure3 Pollen grain morphology identified from pollen trap
157
Beekeeping benefits to communities with challenging environments
Example from a far northern community in Canada
Kerry Clark (presenting author) and Courtenay Clark Email kccsclarkgmailcom
Abstract
Beekeeping can bring benefits to communities in a wide range of environments in the world
This presentation describes the climatic and logistical challenges of introducing beekeeping to a
remote community in northern Canada (latitude 60 degrees N) Benefits may include increased
productivity of native berries and better reclamation of disturbed lands The author has long
experience in beekeeping in Canada and has undertaken beekeeping development projects in
other Canadian communities and also in the Philippines Tanzania and Ethiopia
ldquoTHE STATUS OF HONEY QUALITY PRODUCED IN GEDEBANO
GUTAZER WOLENE CENTRAL ETHHIOPIArdquo
Akalework Gizaw1 Asaminew Tassew2 and Desalegn Begna3
1Ministry of Livestock ampFishery Resource Development Addis Ababa
2Colleges of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Bahir Dar University
3Oromia Agricultural Institute Holleta Bee Research Center Ethiopia Email awgawgaprmgmailcom
Abstract
The study was conducted by aiming of evaluating the status of the physicochemical properties
of honey produced in Gedebano Gutazer Wolene District of SNNP central Ethiopia in
201617To evaluate the physicochemical properties of honey 20 sample of honey having1 kg
each were collected randomly from traditional amp frame hive at farm get level of three different
agro-ecological locations amp two rural markets The results were compared with National
European and International honey quality standard requirement Additionally the results were
compared between market and farm-gate level honey samples as well as between traditional
and frame hive honey samples The physicochemical parameters of honey quality conducted in
the analysis were Color moisture content HMF free acidity PH Ash Electro-conductivity
Sugar content Sucrose amp Maltose According to the analysis except HMF significant
differences between hive type was observed all other quality parameters in relation to hive
type and locations did not show significant differences between them Generally the result of
quality parameters were indicated that within the range of National European and International
quality standard requirement The mean value of the collected honey samples were moisture
content (1891) electro-conductivity (065Msm) free acid (163meqkg) HMF (263mgkg)
158
Ash content (02g100g) sugar content (744) Sucrose (106) maltose (095) and the
range of honey color was 33-396 mm p-fund scale (extra light amber to amber )The results
obtained therefore indicate that honey produced in the district show excellent quality and free of
any adulterants in relation to National European and International limits
159
Topic 4 Commercialization and Transformation
of Beekeeping
160
Pollen the perfect food for the bee but also for humans By Dr Peter Gallmann Food and Nutrition Scientist (ETHSFT) Emeritus Director of the Swiss
Bee Research Centre Agroscope Liebefeld Email petergallmannicloudcom
Abstract
The common term for the application of bee products is apitherapy It derives from the Latin
name for bee = Apis and Therapeja the Greek word for ldquoserverdquo or ldquobe of userdquo Falsely therapy
today is often translated as healing Apitherapy is a well tried holistic health supporting process
that uses bee products to maintain or restore good health and well-being including good
nutrition To take a closer look at bee products many-sided reactions lets take the example of
Bee-Pollen and its importance for the bee as well as in human nutrition
Pollen is the dust that the wind blows from the flowers The bee collects these microscopic
pollen grains or core bundles from the flowers With secretions from the mandibular gland and
nectar from the honey stomach it sticks and kneads these granules together hard-working to
form the Bee Pollen which it then carries to the hive There other bees take over this pollen
and again add secretions (especially enzymes) and honey to push this mix into the cells with
their heads At the end a thin layer of propolis comes over this package and the whole is
fermenting well packed for about 10 days to Perga or Beebread Thatrsquos the staple food of the
bee It provides all basic substances for the body Honey provides the energy The effect of this
food on the bee can best be seen in the wintering of the bee colony in Europe There the bees
that hatched in the fall eat much larger quantities of beebread This results in an extension of
their lives by a factor of four This is vital for a colony because it can raise no brood during
wintertime The October bee therefore raises new brood in February while a bees life otherwise
ends after 30 days But pollen is not just the staple food of the bee Pollen is also the raw
material for all bee secretions and ultimately for all bee products (Perga Wax Royal Gelly
Propolis and Honey) because all bee products are at last secretions of bees or secretions of
plants mixed with complex bees secretions
Pollen for human nutrition Based on its composition pollen is one of the 10 most valuable
foods for humans Unique in terms of diet is the amount the completeness and the proportions
of essential amino acids In addition pollen or bee bread is also known as the most effective
antioxidant food The underlying reactions are explained in the context of this article Pollen is
collected with pollen traps at the entrance to the hive The product is an intermediate for
processing to Perga and is not stable Perga is the stable end product but has a limited shelf life
as well (2 years) Both products are well-suited as a nutritional supplement when properly
treated People who do not want or cannot eat meat could pick up all the missing components
with 20-25-gram pollen a day Caution Like honey pollen in certain cases could be
contaminated with defensive substances from certain plants and could then be toxic when
ingested Rhododendron (Grayanotoxane) in Turkey as well as Echium vulgare (Pyrrolizidine
Alkaloids) in Europe and Australia are known as critical plants in this context
161
Building a honey value chain in Ethiopia strong enough to face international
competition
Gemechis Jaleta Email gjaletasnvorg
Abstract
The European list of African countries eligible to export to Europe is growing steadily However
many companies in these African countries are still struggling to gain access to international
markets These companies include companies in Ethiopia which became eligible to export to the
European Union in 2008 Like many other African countries Ethiopia learned many lessons
during its struggle to catch up with international competition The major lesson was to ensure
food safety before exporting
Food safety was one of the priority areas for the ASPIRE value chain development programme
This programme of SNV ProFound Enclude and the Ethiopian Apiculture Board started in 2013
and finished in 2017 We selected 7 high potential processors including both cooperatives and
private companies to take the lead in development of their respective value chains We closely
cooperated with these processors to build strong value chains that produce high quality honey
Together with them we provided training to 30000 beekeepers provided inputs to those
beekeepers and provided market access
During the ASPIRE programme several processors developed from new companies without
any actual sales to international exporters with different buyers At the Organic Africa Pavilion at
the Biofach trade fair in Germany these exporters learned particularly valuable lessons through
direct contact with international buyers
______________________________
Note that this article ldquoBuilding a honey value chain in Ethiopia-strong enough to face international
competitionrdquo was submitted by Kasper KerverProfound advisers in development and was presented by
Gemechis Jelata
Honey and Geographical indications Why is honey a good pilot
product for the implementation of Geographical
Indications labeling in Ethiopia
Denis SAUTIER (1) Getachew MENGISTIE ALEMU (2) Degefie TIBEBE DEGEFIE (3)
(1) Economist CIRAD Univ Montpellier F-34398 Montpellier France
sautierciradfr
(2) Intellectual Property specialist and consultant Washington DC USA
(3) Geographer Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research Addis-Ababa Ethiopia
Email sautierciradfr
162
Abstract
This paper scrutinizes the opportunities and challenges of honey as a potential pilot product for
the implementation of Geographical Indications labeling on a value chain in Ethiopia
Geographical Indications designate products that have a specific geographical origin and
possess qualities characteristics or a reputation that are essentially due to that place of origin
The registration of Geographical Indications protects the name of the product and serves as a
collective marketing tool for the producers and processors of the regional product Geographical
Indications gained recognition as an Intellectual Property Right by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Famous Geographical
Indications include for example Darjeeling tea from India Coffee from Colombia
Champagne wine from France African countries are also increasingly active in implementing
Geographical indications Ethiopia is willing to establish a legal framework for Geographical
Indications (GI) and to implement GI labeling on at least one pilot value chain
Honey can be a good pilot product to implement and test GI labeling in Ethiopia for several
reasons There are many different specialty regional honeys in Ethiopia with strong links and
distinct characteristics according to the locality of production such as Wukro (Tigray) Lalibella
(Amhara) Yayo forest (Oromia) Masha-Bonga (SNPP) among others External market
demand is recent but growing and with great potential The volumes of each regional honey
production area are not so big Therefore it seems possible to develop in one region a careful
quality monitoring experience that could be useful for other places The apiculture sector in
Ethiopia also counts with high-level technical support from national and international institutions
and with dynamic value-chain wide coordinating institutions such as the Ethiopian Apiculture
Board
Despite the existence of difficulties and challenges honey appears to be a credible candidate
for the establishment of this new form of land-based labelling in Ethiopia
Geographical Indications definition and opportunities
Geographical Indications designate products that have a specific geographical origin
and possess qualities characteristics or a reputation that are essentially due to that
place of origin Famous Geographical Indications include for example Darjeeling tea
from India Coffee from Colombia Champagnerdquo sparkling wine from France The
registration of Geographical Indications protects the name of the product and serves as
a collective marketing tool for the producers and processors of the regional product
Famous local origin products exist since many centuries in many parts of the world the
name of given places have long become synonymous of distinctive quality products
such as regional incense marble olive oils wines and others However the official
registration and commercial protection of such famous names began in Europe in the
20th Century Geographical Indications gained worldwide recognition as an Intellectual
Property Right by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World
Trade Organization (WTO) According to WTO Geographical indications (GI) are
ldquoindications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a [country] or a region
163
or locality in that territory where a given quality reputation or other characteristic of the
good is essentially attributable to its geographical originraquo (WTO TRIPS 1994 Article
22) A WIPO survey in 2017 revealed the existence of 42527 protected GIs worldwide
(WIPO 2017 204) African countries are increasingly active in implementing
Geographical indications Within this international context Ethiopia - a country rich in
diverse ecologies and production know-how for agriculture and handicraft- is currently
willing to establish a legal framework for GI and to implement GI labeling on at least
one pilot value chain
Geographical Indications (GI) establish and formalize the existence of a unique link
between ldquoPlace People and Productrdquo (FAO-SINERGI 2010) For this category of
products natural and human factors concur to obtain distinctive product characteristics
Honey is a good example of such local specialty products (see Figure 1) The place or
production area enhances the productrsquos quality characteristics or reputation due the
local vegetation altitude soils and climate and the people have developed a know-how
to master extraction maintenance and processing as well as trading and consuming
skills
Figure 1 Geographical Indications Specific links between Place People and Product
In many countries GIs have become a tool for rural development policy because of their
capacity to simultaneously protect promote and organize the value chains of specific
products First GIs protect both producers and consumers by conferring a non-
exclusive right of use of the name to all individual producers who are complying with the
product specification (namely producing within a delimitated area and following the
appropriate production and processing practices) Second GIs promote the uniqueness
164
of these local products thereby highlighting their reputation and stimulating premium
prices Third GIs enhance value chain organization through the establishment
monitoring and control of the product specifications
The potential of Geographical Indications for Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the worldrsquos origin zones for cultivated plants and is richly endowed
with ecological biological and cultural biodiversity It enjoys a wide diversity of high-
quality regional products coffees tef (Eragrostis tef) sesame butter honeyshellip
However no ldquoGeographical Indication Actrdquo is yet in place The recognition of regional
quality products such as the Ethiopian fine coffees initiative (2006) has so far been
managed through the trademark law Yet this legal framework is facing several
limitations It excludes most geographical names which are descriptive and cannot be
used for collective trademarks but which could serve as GIs under the WTO definition
A new effective domestic legal framework is therefore needed in the interest of
producers and in compliance with Ethiopiarsquos current process of accession to WTO
membership (Hirko 2014) Before obtaining adequate international protection national
GI recognition must be granted at home
The Ethiopian government and House of Peoplersquos representatives therefore support the
preparation of a new framework for legal registration and operational implementation of
Geographical Indications A feasibility study was conducted in 2018 with the
participation of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Organization (EIPO) and of several
national Ministries and Agencies and with the support of the French Development
Agency (AFD) for a project on ldquoSupport to the definition of a Legal Framework for
Geographical Indications in Ethiopia and Implementation on a pilot Value Chainrdquo
(CIRAD-ECOCERT 2018)
Honey in Ethiopia Quality local specialty products
Honey was one of the five products under review by the Geographical Indications
project feasibility study The screening criteria included the technical feasibility ndashie the
distinctiveness of regional products and their links to the local natural and human
factors as well as their controllability- the commercial feasibility ndashie the market trends
and willingness to pay for specialty products- and the organizational feasibility ndashie the
value chain dynamism and structuration
21 TECHNICAL DIMENSION
Ethiopia has a very old skills and widespread tradition of beekeeping (ATA 2016) Until
today it is estimated that one out of ten rural households keep honeybees Honey is the
basis of the traditional and popular fermented drink tej According to the Ethiopian
Apiculture Board (EAB) Ethiopia counts with about 10 million bee colonies which
165
makes it the nation with the highest bee density in Africa Total honey production in the
country is estimated in 48 000 TM (vs 28 000 TM in 2001) and the large proportion of
wild bee colonies means that only a part of the honey is currently harvested Honey
plays an important role in rural householdsrsquo food security and also in income
generation mostly for domestic or commercial tej brewing Honey accounts 13 of
agricultural GDP
Honey also relates strongly to natural factors since it is a highly environmental-sensitive
product reflecting the placersquos vegetation flora biodiversity and climate Out of the
complete Ethiopian flora of Ethiopia of 6000-7000 species 500 species (400 herbs and
shrubs and 100 trees) have been shown to be important to bees (Flichtl and Adi 1994)
Regional states like Oromia Amhara Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoplersquos
Region (SNPPR) Tigray Benishangul Gumiz and Gambella have intense apicultural
activity and further potential for increasing collected volumes Some honey types are
well established such as Tigray white Honey (Wukro area) Lalibela honey Masha
Bonga honey Yayu forest honey and Wonchi Volcanic honey among others
A physico-chemical characterization of Ethiopian honeys has been conducted on samples collected from 16 famous producing areas nationwide (Abera et al 2017) This study has shown that different producing regions are linked with distinctive honey characteristics and with different dominant flora The monofloral honeys identified were Acacia Becium grandiflorum Croton macrostachyus Eucalyptus globulus Hypoestes Leucas abyssinica Schefflera abyssinica Syzygium guineense and Vernonia amygdalina with a level of floral dominance ranging from 598 to 903 Although further characterization work remains necessary these results show the potential for geographical indications in honey Honey production in Ethiopia is present almost nationwide with a good balance among federal
States (Figure 2)
166
Figure 2 Honey Regional production in Ethiopia (Central Statistical Agency)
The diversity of honey types and their balanced repartition across the national territory
fit well with a pilot scale approach to focus on one quality honey labeling experience in
one region This pilot experience can later be consolidated and scaled out to other
regional honey value chains
22 COMMERCIAL DIMENSION
Ethiopia is the 10th-largest honey producer in the world and accounts for respectively
3 and 28 of global and African output with 44 000 MT production in 2014 growing
2 annually on average However its linkages with export markets are
underdeveloped Nearly 80 of Ethiopian honey output is crude honey (primarily for
brewing of the popular honey wine tej) About 15 is mass table honey Only about 5
is premium table honey (organic monofloral etc) The vast majority of Ethiopian honey
is consumed domestically with only about 2 of output currently exported (ATA 2016)
The world demand for honey is steadily growing and natural food concerns command a
strong trend towards certified and origin honeys
Traceability and quality control
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 9623EC notified
under document C(2010) 3548 (2010327EU)
167
Since 2009 Ethiopia keeps 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 High-level honey expertise is now available in Universities and training
centers although more analytical facilities are needed
Ethiopia has developed honey standards (ES 1202) which comply with ISO and CODEX
standards but enforcement remains uneven A well-monitored pilot level activity is
important to ensure the implementation of a fully-fledged traceability and control system
Honey fetches a premium price in cities Local price of honey is high in towns (range
from USD 6 to 10 per kg) and relatively low in remote rural areas (range from USD 14
to 5 per kg) External market demand is recent but growing and with great potential
Figure 3 Organization of the Ethiopian honey value chain (Source Dong Y et al 2016)
Moreover Ethiopia has the potential to produce up to 500000 tons of honey and 50000
tons of beeswax per year Ethiopia is leading in Africa in honey production The
beekeeping industry is flourishing in the country In the last 15 years (2001-2015)
Ethiopiarsquos honey production increased from 28000 tons to 54000 tons
23 ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION
Beekeepers in Ethiopia often organize into associations or cooperatives to channel the
product to markets The Ethiopian Apiculture Yearbook 2016 lists more than 130
beekeepersrsquo cooperatives and cooperative unions as well as 43 processorsexporters
The apiculture sector counts with public and private national and international support
The Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) was established as an apex body to coordinate
professional Associations and other stockholders towards the implementation of policies
and development activities Other national sector-wide coordinating institutions include
the Ethiopian Honey and Beeswax Producers and Exporters Association (EHBPEA)
and the Ethiopian Society of Apiculture Science (ESAS) Dedicated research Centers
include Holeta bee Research center and specific university Departments
168
Ethiopia counts with some certification experienceQuality regulation institutions in
charge of Ethiopian food quality standards certification and accreditation are
established and can be trained to become operational on Geographical Indications
particularly for external control Concerned entities could include ECAE (Ethiopian
Conformity Assessment Enterprise) in relation with ENAO (Ethiopian National
Accreditation Office)
Finally the private sector is actively involved in supporting the apiculture activity as well
as many national and international governmental or non-governmental entities (GIZ
SNV ACDIVOCA Oxfam etc)
Conclusions and way forward
Besides honey the feasibility study for a project supporting a legal framework and
implementation of Geographical Indications in Ethiopia scrutinized several products
such as coffee sesame teff and butter
Honey was found to be the overall best choice to test and implement at pilot scale the
GI labeling in Ethiopia for several reasons (CIRAD-Ecocert 2018) First because of the
long-standing and nation-wide know-how of elaboration use and marketing of honey
products The coexistence of many different specialty regional honeys in Ethiopia with
strong links and distinct characteristics according to the locality of production such as
Wukro (Tigray) Lalibella (Amhara) Yayo forest (Oromia) Masha-Bonga (SNPP) is
favorable to the implementation of a pilot project approach Second external market
demand is recent but growing and with great potential The volumes produced in each
regional honey production area are not so large Therefore it seems possible to
develop in one region a careful quality monitoring experience that could be useful for
other places Finally the apiculture sector in Ethiopia also counts with high-level
technical support from national and international institutions and with dynamic value-
chain wide coordinating institutions such as the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB)
In other words honey was able to reach good scores on the three main dimensions of
feasibility for Geographical indications technical feasibility commercial feasibility and
organizational feasibility)
This approach shall require a wide collaboration from the honey value chain itself from
the national and regional authorities (Ethiopian Institute of Intellectual Property the
Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock the Ministry of Trade Regional governments) and
from national honey experts
Despite the existence of difficulties and challenges (ATA 2016) Ethiopian honey
appears to be a credible candidate for the establishment of Geographical Indications
and can become a showcase to innovate with this new form of land-based labelling in
Ethiopia
169
References
ABERA B et al 2017 Rheology and botanical origin of Ethiopian monofloral honey
LWT Food Science and Technology 75 393-401
ATA 2016 Addis-Ababa Apiculture Value chain and Market development Value chain
diagnostic and program planning Agricultural Transformation Agency 156 p
CSA 2017 The 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency (CSA)
CIRAD-ECOCERT 2018 Feasibility Study of the project ldquoSupport to the establishment
of a Legal Framework for Geographical Indications in Ethiopia and Implementation on
one Value Chainrdquo Addis-Ababa EIPO-AFD 59 p
FAO-SINERGI 2010 Linking people places and products Rome FAO 189 p
FICHTL R ADMASU A 1994 Honeybee flora of Ethiopia Germany Margraf Verlag
510 p
HIRKO Sileshi Bedasie 2014 The Legal Framework for the Protection of Geographical
Indications in Ethiopia A Critical Review Journal of African Law 58 2 (2014) 210ndash230
MENGISTIE Getashew 2011 Intellectual Property as a Policy Tool for Development
The Ethiopian Fine Coffee Designations Trade Marking amp Licensing Initiative
Experience Geneva World Intellectual Property Organization 55 p
WIPO 2017 Geographical Indications World Intellectual Property Indictors 2017
pp202-206
Dong Y Frimpong K et al 2016 Improving household livelihoods with modern
beekeeping and honey production in Ethiopia Final Report for WEEMA International
Columbia University school of International Affairs 73 p
170
Enzyme activity amino acid profiles and hydroxymethylfurfural content in
Ethiopian monofloral honey Abera Belay1 Gulelat Desse Haki2 Marc Birringer3 Hannelore Borck3 Young-Chul Lee4
Kyung- Tack Kim4 Kaleab Baye5 Samuel Melaku6
1Department of Food Science and Applied Nutrition Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Addis Ababa Ethiopia abberabelaygmailcom +251911840655
2Department of Food Science and Technology Botswana College of Agriculture University of Botswana
3Fulda University of Applied Sciences Fulda Germany 4Korea Food Research Institute Seongnam 463-746 Korea
5Center for Food Science and Nutrition Addis Ababa University Ethiopia Box 1176 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
6Department of Chemistry Columbus State University 4225 University Avenue Columbus GA 31907 USA
Abstract
The enzymes activity hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and amino acids in honeys are relatively
lowHowever they play very significant role for honey quality Vis-agrave-vis there is a repeated
complaint from the EU market that the Ethiopian honey is low in enzyme In this study
enzymes amino acids and HMF contents of Ethiopian monofloral honeys were investigated
Diastase invertase and HMF were analyzed based on the Harmonized International Honey
Commission method and amino acids using amino acids analyzer (HPLC) Diastase activity
ranged from 391 plusmn 0730 (Schefflera abyssinica) to 136 plusmn 230 [Becium grandiflorum (L
Lalibella)] invertase 365 plusmn 193 (Leucas abyssinica) to 485 plusmn 236 (Schefflera abyssinica) and
HMF 0 plusmn 0 (Hypoestes and Leucas abyssinica) to 337 plusmn 173 (Croton macrostachyus)
Significant variations were observed among Schefflera abyssinica honeys in diastase content
despite being from the same botanical origin
Significant variations were also observed among Becium grandiflorum honeys in invertase and
diastase contents Beesrsquo geographical race and location affected enzymes activities Even
though honey samples were fresh ripened amp from the comb lower enzyme could be an
intrinsic characteristics of Ethiopian monofloral honeys This showed that enzymes activity alone
cannot be a worthwhile indicator of quality for Ethiopian honey besides diastase and invertase
activity the quality control of Ethiopian honeys should be supported by HMF parameters The
results of this study could be used to address complaints of the market will provide feedback for
standard agencies and information for the scientific community Promotion of this characteristic
will help to create knowledge in the market which consequently improve the life of the forest
dwellers and the environment
Key words - Amino acid Enzyme Honey quality Hydroxymethylfurfural Monofloral Ethiopia
171
Production and Composition Analysis of Stingless bees honey from West Showa
zone of Oromia region Ethiopia
Alemayehu Gela Zewudu Ararso and Deresa Kebede
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (IQQO) Holeta Bee Research Centre Holeta Ethiopia
POBox22 E-mail alemaygbyahoocom
Abstract
Stingless bees (Hymenoptera Meliponini) are eusocial insects living in permanent colonies and
they are among potential pollinators in various tropical ecosystemsAmong several species in
Africa Meliponula beccarii which is locally called as rsquorsquoKannisa Damuurdquo or ldquoTazima Nibrdquo is
uniquely identified in Ethiopia living by harboring underground nest Honey from stingless bees
is known as valuable medicinal product with high market demand achieving higher prices than
Apis honey in Ethiopia However honey-harvesting system from feral colonies in the country is
absolutely traditional and destructive poor honey quality Despite all these facts comprehensive
honey production system and composition of stingless bee honey is not yet characterized and
documented The study was therefore conducted to investigate the production system and
composition analysis of stingless bee honey from West Shoa zone of Oromia region Following
the honey flow season samples of honey were collected from multiple potential locations of four
districts including Wolmera Jeldu Tokke Kutaye and Chalia Accordingly about 20 honey
samples were directly harvested from sealed honey pots using disposable syringes (10ml) and
stored in refrigerator (-4 Co) until laboratory analysis Physicochemical properties for moisture
content electrical conductivity pH Ash Free acidity HMF insoluble materials and proline were
analyzed at HBRC Lab according to standard procedures From the study result it is possible
to harvest about 350 ml-15lit pure honey from each nest depending on colony strength
Composition analysis revealed that the mean values of parameters of honey samples were MC
(29+145) EC(022+003) PH(373+013) Ash(041+11) TA(573+036) HMF (18+345) IM
(070+03) and Proline (2145+15) There is no mean significance difference (P gt 005) between
values of all parameters for honey samples collected from different locations except for proline
value The values were compared against the standard Apis mellifera honey quality parameters
and vary for some parameters based on botanical origin This first study reveals the necessity of
proper honey harvesting and standardizing specific composition for stingless bee honey given
the specific bee species exist in the country for future utilization and species conservation
Key words Stingless bee Physico-chemical parameters standard honey
172
Introduction
Honey is a natural sweet substance produced by different bee species from plants
nectar plant secretions or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of
plants (Codex Alimentarius 2001) With its composition and constituents honey is
known globally to have a wide variety of uses and applications and in various countries
it is used as sweetener in food and for medicinal purposes (Alvarez-Suarez et al
2010) Honey is composed of sugars mainly monosaccharide with carbohydrates
constituting about 95 to 97 of the dry weight of honey (Bruno et al 2006) Fructose
(38) and glucose (31) are the most predominant sugars present and responsible for
nutritional characteristics of honey (Alvarez-Saurez et al 2010 Sato and Miyata 2000)
The volatile compound found in honey includes alcohols ketones aldehydes acids and
esters that determine its flavour and aroma (Cotte et al 2003) However the chemical
composition in honey is rather variable and is primarily dependent on floral source
geographical origin seasonal and environment factors and processing methods
(Alvarez-Suarez et al 2010 Silva et al 2013) Moreover honey-making processes are
highly related to enzymes added by the bees so that the types of bee species (Siok et
al 2016) also affect composition of honey
Apinae (Apis mellifera) honey and Apidae (Stingless bee) honey are the two commonly
known honey types found in the world (Temaru et al 2007) In Ethiopia both honey
types are produced all over the country and exclusively the stingless bee (Meliponula
beccarii) honey commonly known as ldquoDamma Damuurdquo or ldquoTazma Marrdquo honey is a
valuable bee product with long consumption tradition to which several medical uses are
attributed The unique stingless bees (M beccarii) in Ethiopia live harboring
underground and store their honey in honey pots constructed from ceriman of various
plant species Its honey harvesting process from feral colonies is absolutely traditional
and destructive that endangered the existing species and reduces the quality of honey
(Fig1)
Certainly with its specific delicate taste and medicinal property the value of stingless
bee ldquoTazma Marrdquo honey in Ethiopia is higher than the value of Apis mellifera honey
(Andualem 2013 Lemma et al 2013 Pimentel et al 2013) To this fact stingless bee
honey has high local market demand achieving higher prices than the Apis honey and
commercialized in different regions of the country Despite its high demand and
medicinal value stingless bee honey is not yet included in the international standards for
honey and the food control authorities due to the scant knowledge about the product
composition do not control it In contrast several studies have been conducted for the
characterization of Apishoney with botanical and geographical origins so that its quality
parameters are standardized both at national and internationally level (QSAE 2005
Codex 2001)
173
Although the use of ldquoTazmardquo honey has been of great importance traditionally in the
country the information on composition of stingless bee honey from Ethiopia is still
scarce to set its quality standard fit both for nutritional and medicinal value The
objective of this study was therefore to evaluate the chemical profiles of proximate
composition of stingless bee honey of Ethiopia to determine its quality standard in
comparison with Apis mellifera honey in the Ethiopian Quality Standard Authority This
is the first study investigated on composition of stingless bee honey in Ethiopia
Material and Methods
Study area Description
The study is conducted in West Shoa Zone of Oromia National Regional State which is
located in western part of Ethiopia The study focused on purposively selected districts
for having high potential for stingless bee honey ldquoTazma Marrdquo and diverse floral
composition like Wolmera (09o0351 N and 038o30rsquo37 E latitude and longitude with
altitude 2398 masl s) Jeldu (09 o0401 N and 039 o06rsquo45 E latitude and longitude with
altitude 2400 masl) Toke Kutaye (08 o5812N and 037 o46rsquo03 E of latitude and
longitude with altitude 2304 masl) and Chalia (09 o0211N and 037o25rsquo35 E) of latitude
and longitude with altitude 2329 masl)
Honey harvesting and sample collection
All the honey samples were collected from stingless bee species (M beccari) (Gribodo
1879) which is commonly called in the country as ldquoKanniisa Damuurdquo or ldquoTazima Nibrdquo
which lives by harboring underground in the soil Following the honey flow season the
stingless bee honey samples were collected from four districts (Wolmera Jeldu Tokke
Kutaye and Chalia) of West Shoa zone of Oromia National Regional State Honey
samples were collected by carefully excavating in to the underground nest until reach at the
nest chamber containing both honey and pollen stores When the honey pots are sealed
the honey is already ripe and ready to harvest Accordingly 20 honey samples (350 ml-
15 lit) (Table1) were harvested directly from sealed honey pots with disposable syringes
and collected in to air tighten glass jars for each respective areas (districts) The
collected samples were further strained for impurities and stored in refrigerator (-4 oC)
until laboratory analysis conducted (Fig1)
174
Fig1 Stingless bee honey harvesting and sample collection process
Physicochemical properties Analysis
Physicochemical properties for parameters of moisture content electrical conductivity
PH Free acidity HMF Insoluble materials and Proline were analyzed in HBRC Lab
following standard procedure the harmonized methods of the international honey
commission (Bogdanov 2002)in Holeta Bee Research Centar (HBRC) Lab
Moisture Content
The moisture content of stingless bee honey was determined using a portable digital
professional hand held refractometer (Bellingham RFM 330 SER No016468 made of
UK) with the range expressed in percentage () and with the refractive index for water
(nD) at 20degC after waiting for 6 minutes for equilibration The method was based on the
principle that refractive index of the honey increases with solids content Moisture
contents of sample were measured twice and the average value was recorded and it
was done following the procedure of Codex Alimentarius Commission Standards
(2001)
Nest excavation process Nest entrance with guard bees
Sealed honey pots with plant resinous
Harvesting and straining the honey samples
175
PH and Free Acidity
The pH and acidity in stingless bee honey samples were determined in accordance with
the methodology adopted by Moraes and Teixeira (1998) The pH value was
determined using a solution containing 10 g of honey dissolved in 75 mL of distilled
water homogenized and subjected to reading in a pH meter (3100 Janeway England)
calibrated at pH 40 and 70 The solution was further titrated with 01M sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) solution to pH 830 (a steady reading was obtained within 2 minutes
of starting the titration) For precision the reading to the nearest 02ml using a 10 ml
burette was recorded Free acidity expressed as milli equivalents or milli moles of
acidkg honey was equal to ml of 01M NaOH x 10 and the result expressed to one
place of decimals and done following the procedure of the harmonized methods of the
international honey commission (Bogdanov 2002)
Acidity =10V Where
V = the volume of 01N NaOH in 10 g of honey
Determination of Ash Content
The ash content of stingless bee honey samples was determined according to the
standard procedure of Marchini et al (2004) and AOAC) (1990) First the crucibles
were identified and heated in a furnace for approximately 25 min at 300 oC Then they
were transferred to the desiccators for 20 min to cool down and were weighed
separately to 0001g (M1) Then 10 gram of stingless bee honey sample was weighed
accurately into an ignited and pre-weighed crucible In each sample two droplets of olive
oil was added to prevent frothing and the samples gently heated on an electric hot plate
until the samples were completely carbonized The samples were then incinerated in an
electric muffle furnace (CFS 11B England) (600 oC) for about 5 hours until complete
incineration (white to light gray color) to reach the constant weight The crucibles were
then cooled in the desiccators and weighted for constant weight (M2) Percent ash in
g100g honey was calculated using the following formula following the procedure of
Codex Alimentarius Commission Standards (2001)
Ash by mass=M2-W1 X100
M
Where
M1 =weight of empty crucible
M2 = weight of the ash and crucible
M = mass of the sample taken for the test
Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)
176
The determination of HMF was based on the readings in different UV absorbance
scales (284 and 336 nm wavelengths) in a spectrophotometer according to the
procedure of the harmonized methods of the international honey commission (2009)
The HMF is expressed in mg kg-1 in the equation
HMF = (A284 ndash A336) x 1497 x 5 x DW where
A284 = absorbance at 284 nm
A336 = absorbance at 336 nm
D = dilution factor if necessary
W = weight of honey sample (g)
Electrical Conductivity
Twenty grams of honey (on dry matter basis) were dissolved in distilled water and
transferred to a 100 ml volumetric flask and made up to volume with distilled water 40
ml of this solution was poured into a beaker and placed in thermo stated water bath at
20 degC Electrical conductivity measurements were obtained with a low range
conductivity meter (4310 Wagtech England) with a cell constant of 103 The
conductivity cell was there after immersed in the sample solution and the conductance
in MS read after temperature equilibrium had been reached Electrical conductivity was
calculated using the formula based on the harmonized methods of the international
honey commission (2009)
SH = K G Where SH = electrical conductivity of the honey solution in mScm-1
K = cell constant in cm-1
G = conductance in mS
Determination of Proline
For the determination of proline content 5g of homogenized stingless bee honey was
weighed and dissolved in water then quantitatively transferred to a 100 ml volumetric
flask and diluted with water The absorbance was determined using a Lambda 25
double-beam spectrophotometer UVVis Perkin Elmer Waltham Massachusetts USA
A spectrum of proline from 440 to 560 was performed to evaluate the wavelength at a
maximum absorbance which was 510 nm
Proline in mgkg honey at one decimal place is calculated following equation developed
by International Honey Commission (2009)
Proline (mgkg) = Es X E1 X 80
Ea E2
Where
Es = Absorbance of the sample solution
Ea = Absorbance of the proline standard solution (average of two readings)
177
E1 = mg proline taken for the standard solution
E2 = Weight of honey in grams
80 = Dilution factor
Insoluble matter
Approximately 20 grams of honey samples were accurately weighed and dissolved in
200ml of water at about 800 C by mixing well After drying a crucible in the oven it was
weighed for total dry mass Then the sample solution was filtered through the crucible
and washed extensively with warm water until free from sugars A few drops of
concentrated sulphuric acid was mixed and run down the sides of the tubes Finally the
crucible was dried at 135OC for an hour in the oven and cooled in the desiccator then
again returned to the oven for 30 minute intervals until constant weight is obtained The
of insoluble matter then calculated according to the following formula based on the
harmonized methods of the international honey commission (Bogdanov 2002)
Insoluble matter in g100g = M X 100
M1
Where M = mass of dried insoluble matter and
M1 = mass of honey taken
Statistical analysis
One-way ANOVA was computed to compare means for each physicochemical property
of honey samples data in triplicate and the data was expressed as mean and standard
errors (plusmn) For all the computations SPSS version-20 statistical software was employed
and tests were made at 95 level of significance
Result and discussion
The result of the study indicates that average honey amount collected from each nest
ranged from 350 ml -15 lit which was varied among every district (Table 1) The
highest honey amount (23 lit) was harvested from Chalia district (Sekondo site) while
the lowest honey amount (250 ml) was recorded from Toke Kutaye district (Gorosole
site) This variation among stingless bee honey yield from nest to nest was determined
based on several factors such as the nest size colony population size vegetation type
and longevity of established colony harbored in the specific nest (traditionally estimated
by counting the number of guard bees on their nest entrance equivalent to year of
colony established)
178
Table 1 Area description and stingless bee honey volumes collected from
underground nest
No Zone District Specific
areaPA
Bee
species Nest nature
Agro
ecology
Average
honey
volume
1 West
shoa Chalia
Gedo
Sokondo M beccari Underground High land 15 lit
2 West
Shoa Jaldu
Gafaree
Meja M beccari Underground High land 500 ml
3 West
shoa Wolmera
Holeta
around M beccari Underground
Mid high
land 680 ml
4 West
Shoa
Toke
Kutaye
Goro
Sole Mbeccari Underground
Mid high
land 350 ml
The results of physicochemical analysis of 20 (twenty) stingless bee honey samples
revealed that no significant differences (P gt 005) for values of all parameters (moisture
content electrical conductivity pH Ash free acidity HMF insoluble materials) for
honey samples collected among different locations except for proline value Proline is
higher in Jeldu district (293+14) and lower in Wolmera district (171+13) The value of
moisture content electrical conductivity and HMF were compared against Venezuela
and Australian stingless bee honeys and not significantly different (P gt 005)
Moisture is one of the most relevant characteristics of honey because it influences
viscosity specific weight maturation crystallization taste and enhance the shelf life of
the product (Nascimento et al 2015) In this study the moisture contents of all honey
samples ranged from 251-350 with mean value 296+14 (Table 2) There was no
significance difference (P gt 005) in moisture content of honey samples collected from
all districts However the mean moisture (296+14) content of honey produced by
stingless bees demonstrated significantly higher when compared to the Ethiopian
standard Apis mellifera honey moisture (205) content (QSAE2005) This might be
due to high hygroscopicity characteristic of Meliponinae honey which is mostly
harvested from high humidity (Alves et al 2005) This fact according to the author
shows that the moisture content in honey is an intrinsic characteristic of bee species
with no significant influence of vegetation type and the producing honey source
The higher moisture content characteristic of honey from stingless bees largely
influenced by the air relative humidity and possibly by the process of harvesting and
storage This may facilitates the proliferation of yeasts causing a fermentation process
which makes the product unfit for human consumption and hinders its marketing
(Ribeiro et al 2009) The high moisture in stingless bee honey is therefore reinforce
179
the need to store this product in refrigerated chambers to avoid its degradation or
fermentation thereby ensuring a product with quality to the consumer
The pH and free acidity parameters showed statistically no significant differences
among stingless bee honey produced from all districts The overall pH value ranged
between 34-39 with mean value of 37+015 This value is lower than commonly known
standard pH value of honey from Apis mellifera which ranges from value 43-485
(Bekele et al 2016) This indicates that stingless bee honey is more acidic than Apis
honey The pH is a physical-chemical parameter associated with the microbial
development in any food Therefore in the current result the low pH of stingless bee
honey confirms that it prevents the development of microorganisms that require neutral
or basic pH values significantly limiting the spectrum of potentially contaminating
microorganisms
The ash content expresses the richness of honey in mineral content which is mainly
influenced by the botanical origin of the nectar region bee species and type of
manipulation In this study the honey samples assessed for ash content showed no
statistical difference among the locations ranged between 021 to 057 which is
consistent with allowable range (Table 2) However the ash content of stingless bee is
relatively higher (041+11) than the Apis honey (021+007) This might be related to
the origin of stingless bee honey that is harvested uniquely from the ground in the soil
where the mineral content is expected richer than in the beehives This is result
indicates that the ash content in honey denotes the amount of minerals in the product
while the mineral content is related to the soil type Therefore the result of current study
revealed that honey produced from stingless bee honey in Ethiopia is richer in mineral
content and good if standardized for both medicinal and nutritional consumption
The free acidity of honey is the content of all free acids in particular amount expressed
in milliequivalentskg honey The recommended acidity of honey is usually less than 40
meq acidkg of honey Codex Alimentarius (2001) In this study it was observed that
there was no significant variation (Pgt005) in free acidity among the honey samples
from the four districts (Wolmera Jeldu Chalia and Toke Kutaye) but it was ranged from
167 - 21 meq kgminus1 and with mean value of 173 + 07meq kgminus1 value
The electrical conductivity of honey can be used to identify the botanical origin of honey
and the result is expressed in milliSiemens per centimeter (mScm-1) (Richter et al
2011) This is closely related to the concentration of minerals organic acids and
proteins and it is a parameter that shows great variability depending on the floral
source of honey The electrical conductivity values in the investigated honey samples
from the four locations varied in the range 016-034 mScm-1with overall average value
of 021+016mScm-1 while values for Apis honey ranges 022-152 mScm-1 (Table 2)
The non-significance differences in electric conductivity of honey samples between the
180
four locations indicated the similarity of flora composition in similar ecological condition
of West Shoa zone
181
Table 2 Mean comparison of physic-chemical properties of stingless bee honey samples
collected from four districts of West shoa zone oromia and compared to National
honeybee honey standards (N=20)
Parameters (Mean + SE)
Distric
ts
N=
20
MC
()
EC
(mScm
-1)
PH Ash
()
F A
(meq
kg-1)
HMF
(mgkg-
1)
IM ()
Prolin
e
(mgk
g-1)
Wolm
era
5 282+1
5a
021+0
1 a
38+0
3 a
041+3
2a
169+0
5 a
186+4
3 a
071+0
06 a
171+1
3 a
Jeldu 5 325+2
5 a
020+
01 a
37+0
1 a
038+
25a
171+0
1 a
159+2
6 a
068+0
0 a
293+1
4b
T
Kutay
e
5 290+1
0 a
022+0
1 a
38+0
1 a
056+
4 a
168+0
5 a
224+0
0 a
066+0
0 a
213+2
1 a
Chelia 5 287+0
8 a
024+0
6 a
36+0
1 a
023+
02a
184+1
3 a
151+0
0 a
073+0
7 a
181+1
4 a
Overall
mean
296+1
4
021+0
16
37+0
15
041+
11
173+7 18+17 069+0
6
214+1
5
Overall
range
25-35 016-
034
34-
39
021-
57
167-21 112-
224
056-
087
124-
307
Standards
Apis Honey
18-23 022-
152
32-
45
014-
30
lt 40 lt 40 hellip hellip
ab=means with different superscripts within column are significantly different (Plt005)
N=Number of sample SE= Standard Error Notice MC =moisture content EC = Electric conductivity PH =PH value FA = Free acidity
HMF = hydroxyl methyl furfural IM = insoluble matter P=Proline Source Quality and
Standards Authority of Ethiopia (2005)
182
The hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a chemical compound formed by the
reaction of certain sugars with acids and used as an indicator of honey
freshness and good quality (Marchini et al 2004) regarding product
adulteration or improper storage conditions The greatest HMF was recorded
at Toke Kutaye district (224 mgkg-1)and the lowest was observed at Chelia
district (151 mgkg-1) with the overall mean of 18+17 mgkg -1(Table 1) This
parameter shows values within the range of established national honey
standard (Codex 2001) that allows a maximum of 40mg kg-1 and in
agreement with Ethiopian honey HMF value studied by different authors
(Bekele Tesfaye et al 2016 Belie 2009 Nuru Adgaba 1999)
Insoluble matter is estimation for the presence of impurities in the product (in
) and therefore for indicate its cleanliness as stated by international Honey
Commission (2009) The Current study showed that the insoluble matter in
stingless bee honey ranged 056 - 087 with mean value 069+06
Good manufacturing practices in production and processing plants are
generally effective to assure the observance of law limits
Proline is the predominant free amino acid of honey and it is a measure of the
level of total amino acids (Iglesias et al 2004) The proline content of honey is
measured as a criterion for estimating the quality (Bogdanov 2002) and the
antioxidant activity of the honey (Meda et al 2005 Saxena et al 2010) and it
may be used also for characterization on the basis of botanical origin The
value of proline in the present study significantly different between the
localities where the highest mean value is record in honey from Jeldu district
(293 +14 mgkg-1
) and the lowest mean proline recorded in honey from Wolmera
district (171+13 mgkg-1) This difference might be related to the degree of nectar
processing by the bees themselves and which makes the honey proline
content is a criterion of honey ripeness (Together with other factors related to
bees such as saccharide and glucose oxidase activities) (Cristina et al
2013)
Conclusions and recommendations
Honey is a naturally sweet and viscous fluid produced by different bee
species from the nectar of flowers Apinae (Apis mellifera) honey and Apidae
(stingless bee) honey are the two commonly known honey types found in the
Ethiopia Despite its high medicinal and market price value little is known
about the composition of stingless bee honey when compared to Apis
mellifera honey Due to this fact there is no quality standard established both
at national and international level The result of this study revealed that most
of the analyzed parameters like electrical conductivity PH
hydroxymethylfurfural Proline and insoluble matter in the honey samples of
stingless beesrsquo best comply with the requirements of the standard national
honey quality of Ethiopia The parameters of the moisture content and free
183
acidity however do not comply with the limits More study is recommended for
other parameters like sugar and mineral contents of stingless bee species
across different agro-ecological zones of the country Moreover this first
study points out to the necessity of analyzing a specific composition for
stingless bee honey given the specific bee species exist in the country and
the different characteristics of the honey that they produce based on botanical
origins
References
1 Association of Official Analytical Council (AOAC) (1990) Official
methods of Analysis 15 2ed suppl
2 Alves RMO Carvalho CAL Souza BA Sodreacute GS Marchini LC
(2005)Physical and chemical characteristics of honey samples of
Melipona mandacaia Smith (Hymenoptera Apidae) Science and
Technology Alimentos 25(4)644-650
3 Bekele Tesfaye Deaslegn Begna M Eshetu (2016) Evaluation of
Physicochemical Properties of Honey Produced in Bale Natural Forest
Southeastern Ethiopia Int J Agricultural Sci Food Technology 2(1) 021-
027 DOI 10173522455-815X000010
4 Codex Alimentarius (2001) Revised Codex Standard for Honey Codex
STAN 12ndash1981 Rev 1 (1987) Rev 2
5 GRIBODO G 1879 - Note Imenotterologische Annali del Museo Civico
di Storia Naturale di Genova 14 325-432
6 Moraes RM Teixeira EW (1998) Honey analysis Pindamonhangaba
7 Richter W Jansen C Venzke TSL Mendonccedila CRB Borges D (2011)
Evaluation of physicochemical quality of the honey produced in the city of
Pelotas RS Food and Nutrition 22(4)547-553
8 QSAE (2005) Ethiopian Standard Honey-Specification First edition
9 Ribeiro ROR Silva C Monteiro ML Baptista RF Guimaratildees CF Maacutersico
ET Mano SB Pardi HS (2009) Comparative evaluation of physical-
chemical quality inspected and illegal honey marketed in the state of Rio
de Janeiro Brazil Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Science 16(1)3-7
10 Nuru Adgaba (1999) Quality state of grading Ethiopian honey In
Proceedings of the first National conference of the Ethiopian Beekeepers
Association Addis Ababa Ethiopia
11 Belie T (2009) Honeybee Production and Marketing Systems Constraints
and Opportunities in Burie District of Amahara Region Ethiopia MSc
Thesis
12 Marchini LC Sodreacute GS Moreti ACCC (2004) Brazilian honey
composition and standards Ribeiratildeo Preto ASP
13 Iglesias M T de Lorenzo C Polo M C Martin-Agravelvarez P J amp Pueyo
E (2004) Usefulness of amino acids composition to discriminate between
184
honeydew and floral honey Application to honeys from a small geographic
area Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52 84ndash89
14 Bogdanov S (2002) Harmonized methods of the International Honey
Commission CH-3003 Bern Switzerland Swiss Bee Research Centre
FAM Liebefeld
15 Meda A Lamien C E Romito M Millogo J amp Nacoulma O G
(2005) Determination of the total phenolic flavonoid and proline contents
in Burkina Fasan honey as well as their radical scavenging activity Food
Chemistry 91 571ndash577
16 Saxena S Gautam S and Sharma A (2010) Physical biochemical
and antioxidant properties of some Indian honeys Food Chemistry 118
391ndash397
17 Cristina Truzzi Anna Annibaldi Silvia Illuminati Carolina Finale Giuseppe
Scarponi (2013) Determination of proline in honey Comparison between
official methods optimization and validation of the analytical Food
Chemistry DOI 101016jfoodchem201311003
18 Temaru E Shimura S Amano K Karasama T Antimicrobial activity of
honey from stingless honeybees (Hymenopetra Apidae Meliponinae)
Polish J Micro 2007 56(4)281ndash285
19 Siok Peng Kek1 amp Nyuk Ling Chin1 amp Sheau Wei Tan2 amp Yus Aniza
Yusof1 and Lee Suan Chua (2016) Classification of Honey from Its Bee
Origin via Chemical Profiles and Mineral Content Food Anal Methods DOI
101007s12161-016-0544-0
20 Alvarez-Suarez JM Tulipani S Romandini S Bertoli E Battino M (2010)
Contribution of honey in nutrition and human health a review Med J
Nutrition Metab 315ndash23
21 Silva ADS Alves CN Fernandes KDG Muumlller RCS (2013) Classification of
honeys from Paraacute state (Amazon region Brazil) produced by three
different species of bees using chemometric methods J Braz Chem Soc
241135ndash1145
22 Bruno A Souza David W Roubik Ortrud M Barth Tim A Heard Eunice
Enriacutequez Carlos Carvalho Jerocircnimo Villas-Bocircas Luis Marchini Jean
Locatelli Livia Persano-Oddo Ligia Almeida-Muradian Stefan
BogdanovPatricia Vit (2006) Composition of stingless bee honey setting
quality standards Interciencia vol 31 nuacutem 12 diciembre 2006 pp 867-
875
23 Cotte JF Casabianca H Chardon S Lheritier J Grenier-Loustalot M-F
(2003) Application of carbohydrate analysis to verify honey authenticityJ
Chromatogr A 1021145ndash155
185
CHALLENGES OF BEEKEEPING AND HONEY TRADE AMONG
SMALLHOLDER BEEKEEPERS AND SMErsquoS IN AFRICA
sup1CHIBUGO OKAFOR
sup1Pharmacist Beekeeper and Director of Kendake Honey President-Founder Young
Women in Beekeeping and Secretary-General Nigerian Youth Apiculture Initiative
143 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent FCT Nigeriaojiugongltdgmailcom
Abstract
Honey cost five times that of oil and demand for this natural product is increasing not
only in Africa itself but globally The African apiculture sector is already experiencing
a boost in production and export volumes as new technology is being introduced
However several challenges exist that affect beekeeping and honey trade among
African smallholder beekeepers and SMErsquos that hinder the progress of the apiculture
sector as a whole Conclusively the apiculture sector in Africa remains untapped as
there is minimal understanding for the potential of beekeeping to be used as a
method to combat the poverty situation synonymouswith the African continent This
paper aims to showcase African apiculture as a feasible business opportunity and
detail the main challenges affecting the sector with the intention of generating long-
term solutions
Introduction
The beekeeping industry and honey production is an old age practice
particularly in Africa with most African communities practicing long before
they cultivated coffee cotton or cocoa In 2013 the global trade in honey
exceeded 19 million tonnes however Africarsquos honey production was
responsible for only about 13 African honey is attributed to its unique taste
and has great potential to compete with premium honey in global markets
Unfortunately there are numerous challenges that affect smallholder
beekeepers and SMErsquos in Africa and in turn inhibit the development of the
industry as a whole These challenges are important to resolve as the present
gap between Africarsquos consumption of bee products and available supply
presents a lucrative opportunity for smallholder beekeepers and SMErsquos It
has been reported that global demand for honey continuously exceeds
supply with more investment and research to overcome these challenges
local small-scale production has the potential to not only satisfy but also
exceed these demands
The Challenges
For the beekeeping and honey trade industry to facilitate business growth and
expansion many of the challenges affecting the smallholder beekeepers and
SMErsquoS in Africa have to be overcome The challenges disrupting the honey
trade sector within Africa are as follows
1 Finite technical capacity
186
As is the case in many other agricultural markets in Africa inept skills and
technological development and knowledge sharing prevent advancement of
the honey market in African countries Smaller holder beekeepers tend to
have limited technical knowledge which means poor hive management
(including replacement of old combs swarm control and adding of honey
chambers) low capacity to identify and treat beehives for pests and disease
incorrect hive colonisation techniques and lack of ability to improve beehives
and beekeeping techniques This can result in unproductive colonies and or
low honey production
2 Limited access to financial services
With increased investment in the African apiculture sector small-sale
production has the ability to surpass local demands However the beekeeping
sector is overlooked and gravely neglected resulting in minimal investment
and support For example smallholder beekeeper and SMErsquos have low
capacity production meaning that governments are reluctant to provide
financial assistance because minimal evidence exists proving that the sector
can generate revenue This poor access to financial investment stifles the
development of industrial level production and packaging and processing
plants undermining the potential of the sector Additionally the cost and
bureaucracy of acquiring a beekeeping loan from commercial banks is
burdensome for smallholder beekeepers
3 Absence of enabling regulatory and policy framework
This is a major challenge for the honey industry as the absence of an enabling
regulatory framework strategy and policy regime to establish and define
necessary guidelines Thus the lack of these defined guidelines prevents
honey from African Exporting countries from being listed on EUrsquos list of lsquothird
countriesrsquo as they fail to meet the EU criteria or organic standards However it
is important to note that EU organic standards have been designed for
European beekeeping and can be difficult to apply in Africa
4 Lack of standardisation and quality management system
In addition to the point above limited availability andor access to appropriate
grade laboratories used for quality assessment results in a poor level of
standardisation and quality management
5 Limitation in business management
Currently the majority of smallholder beekeepers find the management and
expansion aspect of their business the most challenging There is also limited
knowledge of international regional and national level support structures in
place for business and entrepreneurship development
Poor apiary locations can make protecting hives from theft and vandalism
difficult and minimise chances of operating on organic-certified land Also an
absence of smallholder beekeepers unions and associations means bee
187
products are sold at prices lower than value due to limited access to market
knowledge and it is difficult to access resources from donor agencies to be
able to even compete in the market Lastly limited use of innovative
technologies in the apiculture sector in Africa is plagued by similar challenges
faced by the African agricultural sector including poor infrastructure hindering
access to markets climate change and a declining interest in farming
amongst youth
6 Profitability of the business
Commercial pollination has fast become a source of income for beekeepers
as pollination from bees can improve crop yields by 15-30 However it can
be difficult to use colonies for commercial pollination via traditional
beekeeping methods which is predominant in African apiculture settings
Also honey production tends to be relatively cheap however beekeepers
harvesting honey are usually poor remote less literate andor disconnected
from the market Thus transportation costs low volume production and poor
communication with traders makes getting honey to wider market difficult and
expensive
Conclusions
The comprehensive impact of the difficulties outlined above exhibits in low
levels of honey production poor yield restricted market access and
penetration low return on investments and under utilisation of beekeeping for
effectual wealth creation Harvested and handled appropriately the African
honey trade sector has an extremely strong growth potential and ability to
penetrate markets of international quality with its distinctive attributes
However the apiculture sector has not been the focus of much interest due to
the sparse production volumes high prices and lack of competitive advantage
over imported honey Thus it is crucial to revise current regional and national
policies and supportive structures so as to deliberately guide the development
of the African honey trade industry that has the potential to promote
employment opportunities and alleviate poverty in line with Sustainable
Development Goals 1 2 and 8
Acknowledgement
This paper is dedicated to Kendake Honey Young Women in Beekeeping
Nigerian Youth Apiculture Initiative Apimondia Symposium and the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nigeria
188
References
1 Kevin J Hackett ARS National Program Leader Biological Control Bee
Benefits to Agriculture httpwwwarsusdagovisARarchivemar04
form0304pdf
2 John-Paul Iwuoha From Honey to Money-Why African entrepreneurs
should be interested in the beekeeping business
httpwwwsmallstartercombrowse-ideasbeekeeping-and-honey-business
3 Beacuteneacutedicte Chacirctel Bee products Honey exports take off in Africa
httpsporectaintentradehoney-exports-take-off-in-africahtml
4 Jonathan Kalan Honey Changes Everything
httpwwwbbccomfuturestory20121214-honey-changes-everything
5 Bees for Development The African Honey Trade Unlocking the Potential
chromextensionoemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadmhttpunctadorgsec
tionswcmudocsc1EM32p34pdf
189
INTEGRATION OF AFRICAN YOUTHS IN APICULTURE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND WEALTH CREATION
By Youth for Apiculture Initiative
Email apiyouthinitiavegmailcom adeniyiorganicgmailcom Chi Okafor
Abstract
As we plan for the symposium to be held on African soil with themed ldquoThe Role of Bees in Food
productionrdquo we further affirm that integration of apiculture vegetation and agriculture can
provide answers to a combination of needs for people-ecological land balance bee-plant
relationship and protection against human pressure of vegetation and African bees However
there is the fact that the situations of youths are crucial for the overall development prospects of
the continent The growing population of unemployed people in Africa must be gainfully
engaged for the continent to develop In Africa apiculture is emerging as a successful non-farm
activity for people as it holds a great potential for economic activities across the country
Unfortunately the industry has not been explored in depth to support food production and wealth
creation It is on this background that Youth for Apiculture Initiative in Nigeria (YAI) the first
national youths platform involved in apiculture in Nigeria came up with a position paper on 7
points which are Api-Education Api-Advocacy-Awareness Api-Forestry-Land Api-Trade-
Investment Api-Innovation-Tech Api-Youth Africa and Api-Government-Policy as part of
deliberations emerging after ApiExpo Abuja September 2018 This is to further re-awaken
youths and African governments toward modern apiculture The agenda will not only promote
African youthrsquos sustainable future and open more room for innovative researches in the
development of beekeeping for food security but also create new business discussions and
employment in Africa
Key words Youth Apiculture Food Security and Wealth Creation
Beekeeping management practices and gap analysis of beekeepers at different
agro-ecological zones of Tigray region Northern Ethiopia
Guesh Godifey1 Amssalu Bezabeh2 Hailu Mazengia3 Yayneshet Tesfay4
1Tigray AgriculturalResearch InstituteMekelle Agricultural Research Center Apiculture
and sericulture Research Case Team
PO Box 492 Mekelle Tigray Ethiopia gueshgodyahoocom
2Oromia Agricultural Research Institute Holeta Bee research Center
3Bahrdar University Department of Animal Production and Technology 4ILRI_LIVES project
190
Abstract
The study was conducted to assess beekeeping practices seasonal colony management gaps
in eastern south-east and central zones of Tigray region in northern Ethiopia About 384
beekeepers were interviewed The trend of honeybee colonies indicated an increment in the last
five years but variable (72) in honey productionThe majority (773) of beekeepers inspected
their apiary and honeybee colonies externally and only 217 did such inspection inside the
hive The most common locally available supplement feed types included sugar syrup (946)
Shiro (peas and beans flour) (891) tihni (barley flour) (876) followed by maize flour
(255) honey (144) and fafa (supplementary food for infants) (79) Major colony
management gaps observed entailed adding super by guessing (479) reluctance to
decreasing super (355) continued use of foundation sheets (404) and queen excluder not
removed (379) The frequency of colonization was significantly different (plt005) in frame
beehives but not in traditional hives The seasonal colony activities included brood rearing in
July to September reproductive colony swarming in August to September absconding in March
to June dearth periods in January to May high availability of honeybee plants in July to
December and honey harvesting period in September to November Therefore seasonal colony
management practices followed by floral cycle should be practiced through empowering
beekeepers with skill in modern beekeeping management in order to improve their seasonal
bee management practices thereby increase honey production
Key words Agro-ecology Beekeeping Honeybee colony Management Seasonal Tigray
Introduction
In Ethiopia the contributions of beekeeping in poverty reduction sustainable
development and conservation of natural resources have been recognized and well
emphasized (GDS 2009 Gidey and Mokenen 2010 Gebremedhin et al 2012)
Beekeeping is also considered as one of the income-generating activities for resource-
poor farmers including women youth and the unemployed sectors of the community
Ethiopia has about 14ndash17 million households that are engaged in beekeeping and
produce different types of honey that vary regionally as well as in terms of color
consistency and purity (Haftu 2015) Nowadays the well known and popular Tigray
white honey is brought to the attention of beekeeping service provider partners in the
region Throughout the country Tigray white honey is mainly sold in bulk to
intermediaries and often distributes it in the large towns (Slow Food 2009)
Although Ethiopia is recognized as top ten producers of honey globally the nationrsquos
output is still below 10 of its production capacity (CSA 2017) Hence the country in
general and the region in particular are not benefiting from the Subsector as its potential
would allow Among the major challenges of beekeeping in Ethiopia more than 90 of
the beekeeping is practiced in traditional ways using traditional hives with low
production and productivities of the Subsector lack of technical skill or poor
191
management the critical shortage of inputs inadequate extension delivery system and
lack of bee forage could be mentioned (Gezahegn 2012)
Regardless of the beekeeping potential of smallholder farmers little is done to identify
the seasonal cycles of activities in honeybee colonies in Tigray region Beekeepers lack
a basis to undertake their beekeeping activities based on possible information on
seasonal floral calendar (Haftom et al 2013) This would have a negative effect on
practicing appropriate hive and apiary management honeybee feeding honey
harvesting and controlling natural swarming For this reason proper seasonal colony
management practices would greatly improve colony performance and honey yields
(Tolera and Dejene 2014) The beekeeping practice and the gaps in beekeeping
management are the basis for future intervention by professionals organizations and
beekeepers
Hence the present study was undertaken to assess beekeeping practices identify
seasonal colony management and determine gaps in colony management as currently
applied by smallholder beekeepers
Materials and Methods
Study area
The study was conducted in six districts of (Atsbi-Womberta Kilte-Awlaelo Degua-
Temben Saharti-Samre Ahferom and Kolla-Temben) of Tigray Regional State northern
Ethiopia (Figure 1) The districts were selected based on their potential for beekeeping
and representing three agro-ecologies (low altitude mid altitude lands and high altitude
areas) Atsbi-Womberta and Degua-Temben districts represented high altitude areas
Kilte-Awlaelo Ahferom and Saharti-Samre districts represented mid altitude areas and
Kolla-Temben district represented lowland agro ecologies The agro-ecology of Tigray
contains the three main traditional divisions of arable Ethiopia the kolla ndash lowlands
(1400-1800 meters above sea level) with relatively low rainfall and high temperatures
the woina dega ndash middle highlands (1800-2400 masl) with medium rainfall and
medium temperatures dega ndash highlands (2400-3400 masl) with somewhat higher
rainfall and cooler temperatures Most of the area is arid or semi-arid with annual
precipitation of 450ndash980 mm The annual mean temperature for the most part of the
region is between 15-210c (BoFED 2014)
192
Figure 4 Map showing the study area
Source Extracted from Tigray 2012 map
Data sources and methods of collection
Both primary and secondary sources of data were used in this study Primary data were
collected from sample household beekeepers through semi-structured questionnaire
and field observation Secondary data were obtained from the reports of Office of
Agriculture and Rural Development of the respective districts Regional Bureau NGOs
and other published and unpublished materials
Sampling technique and Sample size determination
A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select beekeepers and honeybee
colonies At the first stage three administrative zones were selected using purposive
sampling based on their potential for beekeeping In the second stage two districts were
selected from each zone purposly based on their relative beekeeping potential and
representing the three agro ecologies In the third stage three rural peasant
associations from each district were sampled using purposive sampling based on their
beekeeping potential and transport accessibility In the fourth stage beekeepers were
193
sampled from all rural peasant associations using simple random sampling technique
Sample size for beekeepers was calculated based on Cochran (1963) as follows
n0= Z2pq
e2
Where n0 is the sample size Z2 is the abscissa of the normal curve that cuts off an area
α at the tails which is 196 e is the desired level of precision (5) p is the estimated
proportion of an attribute that is present in the population which is 50 and q is also 50
Accordingly a total of 384 beekeepers was used for the study
24 Data management and statistical analysis The collected data were coded managed and tabulated for analysis Simple descriptive
statistics such as mean standard deviation frequency percentage and one way
ANOVA were used to analyze the data using SPSS (Version 20 2011)Independent
sample T-test methods were used to compare honeybee colonization Tukey HSD was
used to separate means and mean differences were considered significant at plt005
Results
Beekeeping Practices
Types and Number of beehives owned by the respondents
The number of traditional and improved frame beehives owned per household varied
among agro- ecologies and beekeepers (Table 1) The result revealed that the average
number colony ownership per household recorded in traditional and improved frame
hives were almost the same for all the respondents It was observed that the mean
number of honeybee colonies managed under traditional hive in lowland and midland
was significantly (plt005) higher than in highland agro-ecological zones Whereas
significantly (plt005) large number of bee colonies in improved frame hive were found
in highland agro-ecologies
Table 8Ownership of colonies managed under traditional and frame hives per
household across agro-ecologies
Agro ecological
zones
Number of colonies in
traditional hive
Number of colonies in
improved frame hive
N Min Max Mean SD N Min Max Mean SD
Highland 85 1 12 46b 28 110 0 49 76a 81
194
Midland 120 0 40 68a 61 154 0 47 54ab 66
Lowland 48 2 20 68a 32 58 0 30 52b 50
Overall 253 0 40 61 48 322 0 49 61 69
Note Superscript a amp b are significantly different at plt005
According to the survey result the numbers of honeybee colonies in traditional and
framed hives increased in the last five years (2010 to 2014) (Figure 1) However
slightly decrease in 2014 was observed in improved frame hives Even though the
presence of the high demand of honeybee colony skill of splitting queen rearing
technique and frame hive adoption by most beekeepers is assured lack of appropriate
beekeeping equipments affected the increment of improved frame hives
Figure 5Trend of honeybee colony in the last five years
Apiary types
Majority of the beekeepers in the study areas placed their honeybee colonies at back
yard whereas about 125 of the beekeepers placed their honeybee colonies at
closure areas (protected areas) The rest placed in inside house (109 ) and hanged
on trees found near to the home (03) (Table 2)
Table 9 Placement of honeybee colonies across agro ecologies
Placement
Agro-ecologies Overall
Highland Midland Lowland
195
Homestead 104
(813)
154 (803) 35 (547) 293 (763)
Inside house 7 (55) 24 (125) 11 (172) 42 (109)
Closure areas 17 (133) 14 (73) 17 (266) 48 (125)
Hang on trees 0 0 1 (16) 1 (03)
Note Values in parenthesis are in percentages
Source of bee colony and means of stock increment
The result indicated that majority of the beekeepers obtained their establishing colonies
by purchasing from market places and other beekeepers while the remaining by getting
bee colonies through gift from parents and catching swarms by hanging bait hives on
the apex of trees (Table 3) The proportion of swarm catching was the highest in
lowland agro ecological zones and lowest in midlands On the other hand the majority
of the respondents from midlands and highlands could get their bee colonies through
purchasing
Table 10 Source of colonies
Colony source Agro-ecologies Overall
Highland Midland Lowland
Gift from parents 27(211) 40(208) 19(297) 86(224)
Swarm catching 21(164) 19(99) 21(328) 61(159)
Purchasing 80(625) 133(693) 24(375) 237(617)
Note Values in parenthesis are in percentages out of respondents in the same agro
ecology
Once established the bee colony beekeepers of the respective districts used different
means of increasing their colony stock number (Table 4) Majority of the beekeeper
respondentsrsquo indicated that their colony numbers were with no change over time
Moreover the respondents used splitting natural reproductive swarming purchasing
and the rest through swarm trapping Splitting and overcrowdings were the major colony
sources for majority of the study areas The main source of colony sizes for highland
midland and lowland was splitting (25) overcrowding (266 ) and splitting
(4695) respectively
Table 11 Methods of colony stock increment
Agro-ecologies Overall
196
Colony source Highland Midland Lowland
Swarm catching 2(16) 6(31) 6(94) 14(36)
Purchasing 29(227) 13(68) 5(78) 47(122)
Natural
swarming(Overcrowding)
27(211) 51(266) 18(281) 96(25)
Splitting 32(25) 35(182) 30(469) 97(253)
Constant 38(297) 87(455) 5(78) 130(339)
Note Values in parenthesis are percentages out of respondents in the same agro ecology
Honey production and harvesting frequency
According to the survey results most of the respondentsrsquo harvested honey once followed
by twice a yearHowever few respondents explained that they could harvest from three
to four times per a year (Table 5)The highest honey harvesting frequency was
observed in highlands as compared to midland and lowlands The major honey
harvesting months were September to November (Figure 3) in all agroecological zones
Where as the minor honey harvesting months were June to August In the major honey
harvesting months the beekeepers could harvest honey even twice in a month if the
season is with well rained
Table 12 Honey harvesting frequency
Frequency Agro-ecologies Overall
Highland Midland Lowland
Once 46(359) 138(719) 47(734) 231(602)
Twice 64(50) 45(234) 17(266) 126(328)
Three times 15(177) 9(47) 0(0) 24(63)
Four times 3(23) 0(0) 0(0) 3(08)
Note Values in parenthesis are percentages out of respondents in the same agro ecology
197
Figure 6 Honey harvesting months by agro-ecological zones
As could be indicated in Table 6 the amount of honey harvested from traditional and
improved frame hives was 104 plusmn 44 and 265 plusmn 87 kg per year respectively The
result indicated there was a significant difference (plt005) in honey yield in traditional
bee hive among agro-ecologies However there was no significant difference in honey
yield (pgt015) in frame hive The highest honey yield obtained from traditional hive was
recorded in lowlands compared to highland and midland
Table 13 Average honey yield (kghiveyear) from traditional and improved frame
beehives
Agro ecologies Traditional beehive Improved frame beehive
N Mean plusmnSEM N Mean plusmn SEM
Highland 65 95plusmn45a 100 275plusmn85a
Midland 103 99plusmn34a 138 257plusmn91a
Lowland 45 127plusmn56b 48 268plusmn85a
Overall mean 213 104plusmn44 286 265plusmn87
Note Superscript a amp b are significantly different at plt005
However majority (72) of the beekeepers declared that honey production was
variable among the years The rest 14 10 and 4 of the beekeepers responded as
the production of honey remainsstable decreased and increased respectively (Figure
4)
Pe
rce
nta
ge o
f re
spo
nd
en
ts
Months of the year
Highland
Midland
Lowland
198
Figure 7Trends of honey production
Seasonal colony management
Colony inspection
Beekeepers inspect their honeybee colonies at different times (Table 8) Majority of the
respondents mentioned that they frequently (daily to weekly) inspect their apiary and
honeybee colonies externallyThe result indicated that an external inspection of apiaries
and honeybee colonies is done by most of the respondents In the external inspection
beekeepers visit their hives and apiary to safeguard honeybee colonies from different
natural disasters and various hazards and to look their flight movement However only
13 and 279 of the respondents do undertake internal inspection of their bee
colonies frequently for traditional and frame hives respectivelyThe majority of the
beekeepers internally inspected their honey bee colonies by chance at their convenient
time For the external honeybee colony inspection there was no signinificant difference
(χ2= 2625 pgt005) done on tradional and frame hives by the beekeepersHowever
there was significantly (χ2= 49180 plt001) internal inspection undertaken for frame
hives than tradional beehives
Percentage ()Decrease10610
Percentage ()Increase
414
Percentage ()No
change(stable)13614
Percentage ()Variable(Seasonal)7
1772
Percentage ()
Decrease Increase
No change(stable) Variable(Seasonal)
199
Table 14 Percent distribution of frequency of inspection of apiary by respondents
Types of
Inspection
Frequency of
inspection
Hive types χ2 Pvalue
Traditional Frame
External Daily to weekly 74 771 2625 0453
At convenient 195 20
Yearly 52 29
No inspection 13 0
Internal Daily to weekly 13 279 49180 0001
At convenient time 377 571
Yearly 91 114
No inspection 403 36
Feeding management
Honeybees store honey for their own consumption during dearth periods Beekeepers
are harvesting honey which the honeybees stored for themselves As a result
honeybees face starvation due to lack of feed To overcome the problem
supplementary feed is required for thehoneybees The most common locally available
feed types used for colony supplements were identified as sugar syrup (946) Shiro
(peas and bean flour)(891) tihni (barley flour) (876) followed by maize flour
(255)honey (144) and fafa (supplementary food for infants) (79)in their order of
utilization (Table 9)In all agro-ecological zones of the study areasbeekeepers offered
supplementary foods for their honeybee colonies
Table 15 Locally available feed types for honeybee colony supplementation used by the
beekeepers in the study districts()
Types of feeds Agro-ecological zones Overall
Highland Midland Lowland
Sugar syrup 932 939 100 946
Shiro 932 889 793 891
Tihni 946 848 359 876
Maize flour 324 242 103 252
Honey 14 214 241 144
Fafa 0 81 276 79
Manipulation of hive supers foundation sheet and queen excluders
Movable frame beehives allow common bee management practices such as migratory
beekeeping supers adding or reducing regular inspection quality honey harvest
200
swarm control feeding during dearth periods stimulating early colony growth and pest
and disease control Table 9 indicated the common practice for seasonal colony
management The result revealed that 521 of respondents put additional hive supers
by inspecting the internal condition of the colonies and the rest of them put without
inspection (479) Even though majority of the respondents (645) reduce the super
during the dearth period still 355 of them keep their colonies without reducing during
the dearth periodThese finding also suggest that some beekeepers replace very old
brood combs from their colonies every year (41) every 2 to 3 years (186) and no
replace forever (404)Most of the respondents explained that 621 of them remove
the queen excluder immediately after honey was harvested However in some
beekeepers queen excluders were left on top of the base hive or without reducing the
supers (379) even during the dearth period (Table 10)
Table 16 Percent distribution of improved honeybee colony manipulation in the study
areas
Manipulation variables Category Frequency Percentage
Super adding Through inspection 162 521
Through guessing 149 479
Super reducing Yes 198 645
No 109 355
Foundation sheet change Every years 126 410
Every 2-3 years 57 186
No change 124 404
Queen excluder removal Yes 190 621
No 116 379
Absconding and swarming of honeybee colonies According to the survey result the trend ofhoneybee colony absconding in the study
districts increased from 6 to 242 and 25 to 441in traditional and
framebeehivesrespectively in the years of 2010 up to 2014 (Figure 4)Within the last
five years a total of 441 traditional and 854 frame beehives were absconded in the
study areas
An average number of modern beehive enumerated during survey in beekeepers apiary
were 303 of which 115 were colonized and the rest 188 without bees due to colony
absconding at different time for different reasons The average number of traditional
beehive colonized were 325 whereas 385 were without bees The frequency of
201
colonization was significantly different (plt005) in frame beehives but not in traditional
hives (Table 11)
There was a financial loss due to absconding of honeybees from frame and traditional
hives A total of 441 traditional and 854 frame beehives without honeybee colonies
represented a minimum loss of about 661500 ETB and 3996720 ETB respectively
From the existing total 1295 empty beehives it would be possible to earn 4658220
from a sale of honey
Figure 8 Trend of honeybee colony absconding
Table 17 Mean number of honeybee colonies with and without bees in traditional and
frame beehives
Hive types Colonization Significant
With bees Without bees
Traditional 325 358 NS
Frame 115 188
Note NS=Not significant difference significantly different at Plt001
Some beekeepers considered swarming was a good thing because beekeepers were
able to naturally increase the number of colonies by capturing swarms However in
202
more recent times swarming is considered a nuisance because it instantly reduces
honey production The mean reproductive swarming incidence per colony was 877
912 and 864 in highland midland and lowland agro ecologicalzones respectively and
insignificant difference (pgt005) was observed (Table 12)However the average number
of incidental swarms caught by the respondents was 144 171 and 190 in highland
midland and lowland agro ecological zones respectively and the swarmed return to their
original hive
Table 18 Average number of swarms produced and used for next generation (N=241)
Agro ecological zones Number of swarms produced
per colony(Mean plusmnSD)
Number of swarms used for
next generation
Highland 877plusmn238a 144
Midland 912plusmn306a 171
Lowland 864plusmn280a 190
Note Super script lsquoarsquo indicates significant difference at plt005
Seasonal colony activities
Brood rearing reproductive swarming and absconding are a common phenomenon in
honeybee colonies Honeybees perform their normal activities based on seasons
normally during honey flow and dearth period seasons
The respondents replied that there was an incidence of major brood rearing in the
months May (258) July (99) August (997) September (100) and October
(63) in their increasing orderRegarding season of reproductive colony swarming
beekeepers of the survey area indicated that September (997) August (924) July
(331) and October (206) were the main months in which colony swarming occurs
because of availability of pollen vegetation coverage and instinct behavior of bees
while November December January February March April and May were months in
which there was no record of incidence (Figure 5)
Honeybee colonies abandoned their hives at any season of the year for different
reasons The beekeepers indicate that March (503) April (544) May (633) and
June (59) as the first four main colony absconding months in their locality As
indicated by the beekeepers incidence of pests and predators poor management and
excessive weather conditions (sun wind and rain) are the causes of colony absconding
According to beekeepers the peak dearth periods of the year are dry season period
(March to May) as there is no flowering plant as a source of pollen and nectar and
during rainy season (June to July) as the pollen of the flowering plants is diluted and the
203
nectar is washed by the rain and referred as dearth period and agro-chemical
applications
Similarly high availability of honeybee plants from July to December was recorded
September to November were regarded as the main honey harvesting period of the
year as this period is the main flowering season of the year whereas June was
regarded as the second honey flow season harvesting period of the yearDearth period
of honeybees occurred from the months January to June (Figure 5)
Figure 9 Seasonal activities of honeybees
Discussion The number of colonies owned per household were significantly (plt005) different
across the agro ecologies Improved frame hives and traditional beekeeping practices
204
are found to co-exist in the all areas which is similar with the finding of Workneh (2011a
amp b)The sample households in highland had significantly larger number of bee colonies
in improved frame hives but lower in traditional hives compared to the sample
households in low land and midlands However the number of improved frame hives
owned by the sampled respondents in highland and midland were insignificant
difference The greater number of honeybee colonies in improved hives in highland and
midland is probably because of strong intervention on beekeeping by Government and
non-government organizations in the areas According to Workneh (2011) improved
box hive was introduced into the highland districts of Tigray region in 1998 for the first
time Contrary to this Alemayehu Abebe et al (2016) reported that in highlands with
availability of dense forest and lack of access to modern box hives would have greater
number of honeybee colonies in traditional hives
Majority of the respondents kept their honeybee colonies at backyard and traditional
hives inside the house This finding is in line with the reports of Tessega (2009) Gidey
et al (2012) Nebiyu and Messele (2013) Niguse (2015) Placing hive around
homestead and in house apiary sites is appropriate for daily follow up activities of
beekeeping (Berhanu 2016) However Kidane (2014) reported that majority of the
traditional hives are hung in the dense forest which are mostly far from residential
areas and have limited hive visit to only one or two times until harvesting in Gambella
people national regional state
The honey yield obtained in the current study was similar to the result of Gidey and
Mekonen (2010) who reported 8-15 kg and 20-30 kg of honey from traditional and
improved movable frame beehives in the region respectively The amount of honey
obtained from traditional and improved movable frame beehives was higher than the
national average honey yields of 92 and 191 kg reported by CSA (2017) Honey yield
fluctuates from year to year and varies between coloniesThe difference may be due to
climatic condition beekeeping management and extension support offered to
beekeepersThe frequency of harvesting honey per hive in the same area and year is
also different among beekeepers Kajobe et al (2009) stated that frequency and
amount of honey harvested varied depending on seasonal colony management
practices (skill of beekeepers) flowering condition of major bee forage (rainfall) and
type of beehive (Belets and Gebremedhin 2014)
Most of beekeepers visit and inspect their beehives externally However internal hive
inspection was limited Beekeepers inspect colonieswhen colonies become weak and
during honey harvesting seasons This is apparently because of the absence of
personal protective cloths and tools fear of being stung the risk of colony absconding
and lack of awareness of the value of doing so Moreover almost all beekeepers in the
study area perform external inspection and also clean their apiary to prevent ant and
other insect pests from getting access to hives This result agrees with previous findings
of (Kerealem et al (2009) Nuru (2007) Kebede and Lemma (2007) Teklu (2016)
205
reported that farmers in Ethiopia do not commonly practice internal hive
inspectionHowever Yetimwork et al (2015) reported that 535 of respondents
(beekeepers) visit their honeybee colonies frequently
In the present study beekeepers were adding supers by guessing and continued to
keep constant number of supers during the dearth period This is due to low awareness
of the beekeepers Similar result was reported by Gidey and Mekonen (2010) indicated
that lack of proper bee management is one of the problems facing the honey sub sector
in the region Similar result was reported by Tolera and Dejene (2014) Furthermore
there are beekeepers that did not change the old comb for many years
During the shortage of bee forage most of the beekeepers supplement their honeybee
colonies from locally available feed types to survive dearth periods in the region This
finding is in consistent with that of Yetimwork (2015) Tessega (2009) Solomon (2009)
stated that majority of the beekeepers in Ethiopia practice dry season supplementary
feeding Providing supplemental feed to honey bee colonies improved their performance
through improving colony maintenance buildup and production during a shortage of
natural pollen (Lumturi et al 2012)
Absconding due to inappropriate colony management is the major constraint in the
districts and beekeepers failed to produce sufficient amount of honey regardless of
apiculture potential in study the areas Proper bee management practices enhance
colony performance such as reduced absconding improved colony strength and higher
hive yields (Wilson 2006 Tolera and Dejene 2014) Such loss is partially compensated
by the high rate of swarming of colonies
5 Conclusions
Beekeepers of the study areas owned both traditional and frame hives Even though
absconding of honeybee colonies was the most phenomena in the study areas the
number of bee colonies showed an increment trend in the last five years Some
beekeepers have not considered absconding as the major problem because there is
high swarming tendency to substitute the absconded colonies
Despite feeding management was practiced during the dearth period management
gaps on super adding or reducing and old comb replacement were observed
The incidence of major brood rearing was in the months July to September Regarding
season of reproductive colony swarming was August to September Honeybee colonies
abandoned their hives at any season of the year for different reasons March to Jun was
recognized as colony absconding months in most localities According to beekeepers
the peak dearth periods of the year are dry season period (January to May) as there is
no flowering plant as a source of pollen and nectar Similarly high availability of
honeybee plants from July to December was recorded September to November were
regarded as the main honey harvesting period of the year as this period is the main
206
flowering season of the year whereas June was regarded as the second honey flow
season harvesting period of the year
Therefore seasonal colony management practices followed by floral cycle should be
practiced through empowering beekeepers with skill in modern beekeeping
management in order to improve their seasonal bee management practices thereby
increase honey production
6 References
Alemayehu Abebe Yilma Tadesse Yohannes Equar Mulisa Faji and Habtamu Alebachew 2016 Analysis of honey production systems in three agro-ecologies of Benishangul-Gumuz Western Ethiopia J Agric Ext Rural Dev Vol8 (3) pp 29-38 DOI 105897JAERD20140705
Belete Gebremichael and Berhanu Gebremedhin2014Adoption of improved box hive technology Analysis of smallholder farmers in Northern Ethiopia International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension 2 (2) 077-082
Birhanu Tesema Areda 2016 Constraints and Opportunities of Honeybee Production and Honey Marketing Systems A Case of Guji and Borena Zone of Oromia State EC Agriculture 33 635-645
BoFED (Bureau of Finance and Economic Development)2014Atlas of Tigray Regional State
Cochran WG 1963 Sampling Techniques 2nd Ed New York John Wiley and Sons Inc
CSA (Central Statistical Agency)2017 Agricultural Sample survey Volume II Report on Livestock and Livestock characteristics Addis Ababa Ethiopia
GDS (Global Development Solutions) 2009 Integrated value chain analyses for honey and beeswax production in Ethiopia and prospects for exports the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV)
Gebremedhin Woldewahid Berhanu Gebremedhin Dirk Hokestra and Azage Tegegne 2012 Watershed Conservation-based Market Oriented Commodity Development A move towards resilient farming IPMS Ethiopia
Gezahegne Tadesse 2012 Apiculture in Ethiopian Agriculture 3rd ApiExpo Africa 2012 26th - 29th September 2012 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Gidey Yirga and Kibrom Fitwi2010 Beekeeping for rural development Its potentiality and Constraints in Eastern Tigray Northern Ethiopia Agricultural Journal 5(3) 201-204
207
Gidey Yirga and Mekonen Teferi2010Participatory Technology and Constraints Assessment to Improve the Livelihood of Beekeepers in Tigray Region northern Ethiopia Mekelle University Volume 2 (1) 76-92
Gidey Yirga Bethelhem Koru Dawit Kidane and Alem Mebrahatu 2012 Assessment of Beekeeping Practices in Asgede Tsimbla district Northern Ethiopia Absconding Bee Forage and Bee Pests African Journal of Agricultural Research 7(1) 1ndash5
Haftom Gebremedhin Zelalem Tesfay Girmay Murutse and Awet Estifanos2013 Seasonal honeybee forage availability swarming absconding and honey harvesting in Debrekidan and Begasheka Watersheds of Tigray Northern Ethiopia Livestock Research for Rural Development25(61)
Haftu Kebede Sebeho2015 Production and Quality Characteristics of Ethiopian Honey A Review Academic Journal of Entomology 8 (4)168-173 DOI105829idosiaje2015 8496210
Kajobe R Agea JG Kugonza DR Alioni V Otim AS Rureba T and Marris G 2009 National beekeeping calendar honeybee pest and disease control methods for improved production of honey and other hive products in Uganda A research report submitted to Natural Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Entebbe Uganda
Kerealem Ejigu Tilahun Gebey and Preston TR 2009Constraints and prospects for apiculture research and development in Amhara region Ethiopia Livestock Res Rural Dev 21(10) 1-14
Kidane Mollaw2014 Assessment of Beekeeping Practices and Honey Production in Mejhengir Zone of Godere District Gambella People National Regional State Ethiopia MSc Thesis Haramaya University pp90
Lumturi Sena Sabah Sena Anila Hoda2012 Feeding efficiency of pollen Substitutes in a honey bee colony Third International Scientific Symposium Agrosym Jahorina
Nebiyu Yemane Messele Taye2013 Honeybee production in the three Agro-ecological districts of GamoGofa zone of southern Ethiopia with emphasis on constraints and opportunities Agric Biol J N Am 4(5) 560-567
Niguse Gebru2015 Assessment of Hive Placement Colony Unification and Colony Transfer of Modern Beehive Production System on Eastern Zone of Tigray Regional State North Ethiopia Journal of Biology Agriculture and Healthcare 5(1) 50-53
Nuru Adgaba2007 Atlas of pollen grains of major honeybee flora of Ethiopia Holeta Ethiopia PP121
Slow Food2009 Wukro White Honey EthiopiaSlow Food Presidium
208
Solomon B2009 Indigenous knowledge and its relevance for sustainable beekeeping development a case study in the Highlands of Southeast Ethiopia Livestock Research for Rural Development 21 (11)
Teklu Gebretsadik and Dinku Negash2016Honeybee production system challenges and opportunities in selected districts of Gedeo zone Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples regional state Ethiopia International Journal of Research ndash Granthaalayah Vol 4(4) 49-63
Tessega Belie2009 Honeybee Production and Marketing Systems Constraints and opportunities in Burie District of Amhara Region Ethiopia A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Animal Science and Technology School of Graduate Studies Bahir Dar University Ethiopia
Tolera Kumsa and Dejene Takele2014Assessment of the effect of seasonal honeybee management on honey production of Ethiopian honeybee (Apis mellifera) in modern beekeeping in Jimma Zone Research Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Management3(5)246-254
Wilson RT 2006Current status and possibilities for improvement of traditional apiculture in sub-Saharan AfricaLivestock Research for Rural Development 18 (8)1-14
Workneh Abebe 2011a Identification and documentation of indigenous knowledge of beekeeping practices in selected districts of Ethiopia Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development 3(5) 82-87
Workneh Abebe2011b Financial benefits of box hive and the determinants of its adoption in selected district of Ethiopia American Journal of Economics 1(1) 21-29
Yetimwork Gebremeskel Berhan Tamir and Desalegn Begna2015 Honeybee production trend potential and constraints in Eastern Zone of Tigray Ethiopia Agric Biol J N Am 6(1) 22-29
209
Strengthening Extension Service Delivery- Lead beekeepers as service providers
Lessons from ASPIRErsquosi
Yetnayet Girmaw Email ygirmawsnvworldorg
Abstract
The government of Ethiopia is committed to increasing agricultural production to meet the
growing demand for food industrial raw materials and foreign exchange earnings In order to
respond to these demands there is a need for a dynamic and proactive agricultural extension
system that will bring about agricultural transformation The Ethiopian agricultural extension
system is heavily dependent on Farmersrsquo Training Centres (FTCs) and development agents
(DAs) who provide extension services to farmers Central to the ASPIRE extension approach is
the use of lsquolead beekeepersrsquo who provide technical assistance to lsquofollower beekeepersrsquo in their
localities
Initially 89 lead beekeepers from four regions (Oromia Amhara Tigray and SNNPR) were
selected based on their existing beekeeping practices and their interest in supporting others
These beekeepers were trained in modern beekeeping production techniques facilitation skills
and business development and provided with the necessary beekeeping materials to help them
assist others During their training an agreement was made with the lead beekeepers that on
top of expanding their own beekeeping business they would each work with between 15 and 20
follower beekeepers
The field survey results indicate that the ASPIRE project reached a large number of beekeepers
in a short period of time About 31376 beekeepers (6573 female) were trained using the
minimum ASPIRE training package These trained beekeepers provided technical support to
about 31235 (6185 females) copy beekeepers The average number of copy beekeepers per
30000 targeted beekeepers increased from 038 in 2013 (base year) to 408 in 2017 This
increase is an indicator of the multiplier effect of the ASPIRE approach Specifically the lead
beekeepers supported other beekeepers in making transitional beehives transferring colonies
and seasonal management So far these lead beekeepers reached and are providing support
to 5105 other beekeepers by the end of the project period There is regional disparity in
reaching other beekeepers For example the largest reached beekeepers were in Tigray
(2991) while the smallest reached beekeepers were in SNNPR (169) suggesting the significant
role of the lead beekeepers in Tigray Region which can be a key lesson for other regions to
make use of the roles of the lead beekeepers
This lead beekeeper model is one of the innovative approaches of the ASPIRE project It is an
effective and proven extension approach that reaches people who are located remotely and
does so in a short period of time It also provides sustainable extension services to beekeepers
in the absence of experts and development agents
____________________ Apiculture Scaling-up Programme for Income and Rural Employment (ASPIRE) was a five years project (2013 ndash 2017) implemented by SNV
Ethiopia in partnership with the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) Enclude and ProFound with funding from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands (EKN) The programme aims to contribute to poverty reduction in rural areas of Ethiopia by establishing a dynamic and sustainable
apiculture sector in the country
210
Glycemic index of Ethiopian monofloral honey Abera Belay1 Gulelat Desse Haki2 Marc Birringer3 Hannelore Borck3 Samuel
Melaku4 Kaleab Baye5 1Department of Food Science and Applied Nutrition Addis Ababa Science and
Technology University abberabelaygmailcom 2Department of Food Science and Technology Botswana College of Agriculture
University of Botswana 3Fulda University of Applied Sciences Fulda Germany
4Department of Chemistry Columbus State University 4225 University Avenue Columbus GA 31907 USA
5Center for Food Science and Nutrition Addis Ababa University Ethiopia Box 1176 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Abstract
Background The rapid promotion of honey production amp quality merit investigation are an urgent need for
science functionalities and market development The African honey in general and Ethiopian in
particular are consumed or used within household and are not further experimented and entered
in the proper utilization chain Honey is one of the richest carbohydrate foods and dietary
significance of carbohydrates often described using glycemic index (GI) GI mostly related to
diet related non-communicable disease diabetes
Objective
To investigate GI of Ethiopian monofloral honeys using human subjects
Method
Ethical Clearance was approved by Addis Ababa University Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The experiment was conducted in Asella Hospital Eight monofloral honeys and reference
glucose were used as treatment Each treatment was provided to ten human subjects with four
days of washout period After fasting for 11hrs overnight a blood sample was collected from
their finger and 25g available carbohydrate of treatment was fed Additional blood samples
were taken at 15 30 45 60 90 and 120 minutes Blood glucose concentration was used to plot
a two-hour blood glucose response curve Incremental Area under curve (iAUC) for test food
and reference glucose was used to calculate GI
Result
Acacia Becium grandiflorum Croton macrostachyus Eucalyptus globulus Hypoestes Leucas
abyssinica Syzygium guineense and Schefflera abyssinica had GI of 53 62 59 57 63 64 72
and62 respectively There was a significant difference (plt005) between Acacia and all
thetreatments except (pgt005) Eucalyptus globulus Croton macrostachyus and Becium
grandiflorum Linear regression model of collinearity indicated that highest predictor was
sucrose(4563) in the positive side and flavonoids (-628) in negative side
Conclusion
GI of honey influenced by botanical origin Accordingly Acacia Becium grandiflorum Croton
macrostachyus Eucalyptus globulus Hypoestes Leucas abyssinica and Syzygium guineense
werefound as low and intermediate GI food The knowledge of having the special merit of these
211
honeyspossibly used for the intensification and diversification of the product for better income
andlivelihood Accordingly further study is necessary to promote the specialty of Ethiopian
honey
Queen excluders enhance honey production in African honeybees Apis mellifera
by limiting brood rearing during peak nectar flow
Nuru Adgaba1 Ahmed A Al-ghamdi1 Mebrat Hailu2
1 Bee Research Unit Department of Plant Protection King Saudi University Saudi Arabia
2 Holetta Bee Research Center Oromia Agricultural Research Institute Ethiopia
Nuru Adgaba Email nuruadgabagmailcom
Abstract
Unlike honeybees in temperate regions those in tropical Africa exhibit a strong tendency
towards continuous brood rearing rather than storing honey which is a behaviour that lowers
both the productivity and commercial value of African bees In this study the possibility of
maintaining a balance in resource allocation between brood rearing andhoney storage was
assessed Twelve colonies were examined half of which were fitted with queen excluders three
weeks before an expected honey harvest while half were used as controls Data on the honey
yields and brood populations of the colonies were collected during four flowering seasons over a
two-year period The mean brood populations of all of the colonies did not differ significantly
when the queen excluders were inserted into the six treatment colonies However at honey
harvest three weeks later there was a highly significant difference in the mean number of
brood populations between the treatment and control groups Colonies without queen excluders
continued to rear broods even during peak honey flow periods The partial limiting of queen egg
laying using queen excluders significantly reduced the average colony brood population
compared to the control group at peak honey flow The seasonal average honey yields were
significantly different between the control and treatment groups Under African conditions in
which bees tend to rear broods continuously even at peak honey flow and when flowering
periods are short the use of queen excluders during such periods would probably enhance
honey yields of colonies
Keywords brood-rearing honey production queen excluder tropical African honeybees
1 Introdction
The African and temperate European races of honeybees Apis mellifera differ
significantly in the extent to which they invest their basic resources The former group of
bees exhibit adaptations geared toward brood rearing and subsequent reproductive
swarming while the latter towards massive storage of resources (Hepburn and Radloff
212
1998) It has been inferred that tropical bees are continuously selected to invest more in
brood rearing to compensate for losses as a result of predator and climatic pressures
(Seeley 1985) Indeed African races of A mellifera can raise 50 more broods than
European bees in hives of an identical volume over the same time period (Ruttner
1988) Conversely the same amount of honey that can be obtained in six weeks during
a favourable summer in temperate regions may require six months in tropical Africa
(Douhet 1979 1980) which also reflects fundamental differences in the utilisation of
incoming resources
In many tropical climates the seasonal flowering phenology of bee plants and the
brood-rearing cycles of bees are biphasic (Crane 1990 Hepburn and Radloff 1998)
Therefore the time intervals of forage scarcity periods are shortened which may also
affect the hoarding tendency of tropical bees Moreover in most of the Sahel rainfall is
meagre and subsequent flowering periods are relatively short In such environmental
conditions beekeepers cannot expect to benefit from high honey yields if the bees tend
to utilise the resources available for continuous brood rearing Under tropical conditions
during the honey harvest it is a common phenomenon to observe an excess of brood
compared to honey production which is completely undesirable from a beekeeping
perspective Moreover the bees are adapted to migrate and exploit the resources
available in ecologically different habitats at different times (Chandler 1976 Castagneacute
1983 Hepburn and Radloff 1995)
Although honey production has been reported to be proportional to honeybee
populations (Szabo and Lefkovitch 1989) continuous growth of the brood population
may not enhance honey production (Woyke 1984 Winston 1987) because colonies
invest much of their resources (nectar and pollen) labour and time in brood rearing
Schneider and Blyther (1988) reported that A m scutellata commonly stores little food
and devotes 78 of comb space to brood production In this regard Harbo (1993)
estimated that 163 mg of honey is required to rear one worker bee from the egg to the
pupa stage and approximately 65 kg of honey is therefore required to rear 40000
worker bees during one brood cycle
If a colony continues to rear broods during nectar flow a considerable amount of honey
will be consumed by the brood population The high brood-rearing tendency of tropical
African honeybees has likely greatly affected their productivity in commercial terms and
explains the slow expansion of commercial beekeeping using African bees which is still
dominated by small-scale household beekeeping
To solve this problem it is imperative that colonies have to be managed to maintain a
balance in the allocation of resources for brood rearing vs honey production This might
be achieved through partially limiting of the continuous egg-laying by queens using
queen excluders during peak nectar flows and diverting workers towards nectar
gathering and honey production However despite the introduction of queen excluders
213
in many African countries the general belief is that queen excluders are useful only for
separating the brood and honey chambers for the purpose of maintaining honey quality
Beekeepers also believe that honeybee colonies can produce an equal amount of
honey without queen excluders and there is a general reluctance to buy and use this
device In this regard currently there is no tangible information available on the
contribution of queen excluders towards improving the honey yields of colonies under
tropical African honeybee conditions With this background in mind the effect of using
queen excluders on honey yields through the partial restriction of egg laying of a queen
during peak honey flow periods was assessed
2 Materials and Methods
The experiments were conducted at the Holetta Bee Research Center in Ethiopia
(3832E 915N alt 2400 m) The experimental design was based on the flowering
phenology of bee plants in the area for which a flowering calendar has been maintained
for over 25 years Likewise the brood-rearing cycles honey flow and dearth periods in
the region are also known Apart from differences of a few days the seasonal flowering
and brood-rearing cycles recur more or less at the same time every year These periods
are governed by the onset and cessation of the rains One flowering flush occurs after
the minor rainy season (May-June) in the study area and a second one after the main
rainy period (September-October)One dearth period occurs during the dry season
(December-March) and the other during the rainy season (July-August) Thus the
experimental design was based on large historical flowering phenology and
metrological databases
The study was conducted from 2007-2009 using 12 honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera
L) in Zander movable-frame box hives with supers each The colonies for this
experiment were selected from the research centrersquos apiary and were more or less
equally populous At the beginning of the experiment each selected colony had an
average of two combs of stored pollen three combs of nectar and honey about five
brood combs and the adult bees covered all 20 frames in the base and super The
colonies were randomly assigned to the treatment (n = 6) and control (n = 6) groups
The brood-rearing status of the colonies was continually checked before determining
when the queen excluders should be inserted in the six treatment colonies In the study
area during the September to October flowering season honey flow usually begins
around the first week of October and extends to the end of October In the May to June
flowering season honey flow begins around the first week of June and ceases at the
end of June A queen excluder (5 mm mesh) was inserted into each of the treatment
colonies at the beginning of each honey flow three weeks before the expected honey
harvest while the control colonies were without queen excluders All of the colonies
were maintained in the same apiary with equal access to the surrounding natural bee
forage Routine dearth and active period management activities such as reducing and
214
adding honey supers maintenance feeding during dearth periods and controlling
reproductive swarming through queen cell removal were applied to all colonies
The brood populations were quantified twice during each honey flow season in both the
treatment and control groups using frames with a wire grid to form equal unit areas (25
cm2) The first measurements were made just prior to the insertion of the queen
excluders and the second measurements were performed three weeks later at honey
harvest The brood population measurements and honey yield records were taken
during the flowering seasons (two per year) for two years
Statistical analysis
Three-way ANOVA analyses were used to test for differences in brood population sizes
before and after the insertion of queen excluders between harvesting seasons and
between the treatment and control groups Differences in the mean honey yields
between the treatment and control groups and harvesting seasons were determined
using two-way ANOVA analyses Tukeyrsquos multiple pairwise comparison tests were
employed to test for significant group effects Levenersquos test and the Kolmogorov-
Smirnov test were used to check for homogeneity of the variances and normality
respectively Correlation analyses were performed to determine whether there was a
relationship between the brood populations and honey yields of the colonies The mean
values and standard deviations (SD) of the variables were recorded The data were
analysed using Statistica 90 (StatSoft 2009)
3 Results
In this experiment the honey flow started as expected following the trend of data
collected from previous years The onset of the dearth periods were sudden both at the
end of June with the beginning of heavy rains and at the end of November in the dry
season The mean sizes of the brood populations of the colonies for both seasons
before the queen excluders were inserted in the hives were 3343 plusmn 657 x 103 and
3240 plusmn 406 x 103 for the treatment and control groups respectively and the variations
in the brood size were not significantly different (Tukey n = 24 P = 08394 Table 1 amp
Fig 1) However the mean brood populations of the colonies at honey harvest (three
weeks after the queen excluders had been inserted in the hives) were 1006 plusmn 198 x
103 and 2651 plusmn 327 x 103 for the treatment and control groups respectively (Table 1 amp
Fig 1) which were highly significantly different (Tukey n = 24 Plt 00001) The average
honey yield per harvest for all of the colonies in the treatment group for both seasons
(1251 plusmn 382 kghive) was significantly higher than that of the control group (944 plusmn 346
kghive) (Table 1 amp Fig 2) The ANOVA results showed that the amount of honey
obtained from the colonies with a queen excluder was significantly greater than was
collected from those without queen excluder (n = 24 P = 00026 Table 1) The
response variables brood population size and honey yield both passed tests of
normality (brood size K-S d = 00726 Pgt 020 honey yield K-S d = 01083 Pgt 020)
215
Levenersquos test showed no evidence of heterogeneity of the variances in brood size (F788
= 163 P = 01393) nor in honey yield (F344 = 000004 P = 09999)
Table 1 The mean plusmn SD of the brood population sizes and honey yields of the colonies in the
treatment and control groups in different honey harvesting seasons
Harvesting
Season
Variable Treatment Control P value
Sept - Oct
Brood population x 103 (day 1) 2989 plusmn 595a 3059 plusmn 274a 09998
Brood population x 103 (day 21) 938 plusmn 183a 2590 plusmn 306b lt 00001
Honey yield in kg (day 21) 1095 plusmn 250a 781 plusmn 184b 00336
May - June
Brood population x 103 (day 1) 3698 plusmn 524a 3421 plusmn 445a 06484
Brood population x 103 (day 21) 1073 plusmn 196a 2712 plusmn 349b lt 00001
Honey yield in kg (day 21) 1408 plusmn 436a 1107 plusmn 399b 00414
Both
Seasonsrsquo
Data
Brood population x 103 (day 1) 3343 plusmn 657a 3240 plusmn 406a 08394
Brood population x 103 (day 21) 1006 plusmn 198a 2651 plusmn 327b lt 00001
Honey yield in kg (day 21) 1251 plusmn 382a 944 plusmn 346b 00026
Tukey Different letters in same row indicate a significant difference
When we consider seasonal variations on insertion of the queen excluders in the
September-October season mean colony brood populations of 2989 plusmn 595 x 103 and
3059 plusmn 274 x 103 were recorded for the treatment and control groups respectively and
these values were not significantly different (Tukey n = 12 P = 09998 Table 1)
However at the honey harvest 21 days later the mean brood populations were 938 plusmn
183 x 103 and 2590 plusmn 306 x 103 for the treatment and control groups respectively
which were significantly different (Tukey n = 12 Plt 00001 Table 1) For the
September-October harvest average honey yields of 1095 plusmn 25 kgcolony and 781 plusmn
216
184 kgcolony were obtained for the treatment and control groups respectively and
these results were significantly different (n = 12 P = 00336 Table 1)
May-June
Before After5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Bro
od
Po
pu
lati
on
x 1
03
Sept-Oct
Before After
Treatment
Control
Fig 1 Brood populations (mean plusmn SE) of the colonies before and after the insertion of queen
excluders and by harvesting season
Similarly in the May-June harvest season the mean colony brood populations upon
insertion of the queen excluders were 3698 plusmn 524 x 103 and 3421 plusmn 445 x 103 for the
treatment and control groups respectively and the variations in brood sizes between
the groups were not significantly different (Tukey n = 12 P = 06484 Table 1)
However at honey harvest the values were 1073 plusmn 196 x 103 and 2712 plusmn 349 x 103
for the treatment and control groups respectively which were significantly different (n =
12 Plt 00001) The honey yields obtained in the May-June harvest were 1408 plusmn 436
kgcolony and 1107 plusmn 399 kgcolony for the treatment and control groups respectively
which were again significantly different (n = 12 P = 00414 Table 1) The mean honey
yields recorded in the May-June harvest season were significantly greater than yields in
217
the September-October season for both the treatment and control groups (n = 24 P =
00018 Fig 2)
May-June Sept-Oct
Season
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Me
an
Ho
ne
y Y
ield
(k
gc
olo
ny
)
Treatment
Control
Fig 2 Honey yields (mean plusmn SE) of the colonies by treatment and harvesting season
Generally the data on the brood populations and the honey yields of the colonies
showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0727 n = 48 Plt 00001) prior to the insertion
of queen excluders (before honey flow) however the correlation between the brood
population and the honey yield was negatively correlated at honey harvest (r = - 0187)
4 Discussion
The average amount of honey obtained from the control group colonies was significantly
lower than from colonies with queen excluders (Table 1) The results of this study
indicate that tropical African honeybees indeed exhibit a strong tendency to continue
brood rearing even towards the end of a honey flow period which is behaviour that has
significant adverse effects on the honey yield of the colonies Similarly Schneider and
Blyther (1988) reported that A m scutellata commonly stores little food and devotes
much of its comb space to the brood production
The existence of a positive correlation between the brood populations and honey yields
of the colonies prior to the insertion of queen excluders may indicate that early large
218
brood colony populations contribute to the subsequent productivity of the colony The
negative and weak correlation detected between the brood population and honey yield
at honey harvest indicates that the existence of a large brood population at peak honey
flow has no positive effect on the honey yields of the colonies This result is consistent
with the findings of Szabo and Lefkovitch (1989) who reported an absence of a
significant correlation between honey production and brood populations reared late
during a peak honey flow period Moreover Nolan (1925) stated that the quantity of
nectar gathered by a colony depends not only on the total number of bees in the colony
during a honey flow but also on the relative number of nectar foragers
Minimising the brood population during a peak honey flow period through partial limiting
of egg laying by queens using queen excluders significantly decreased the size of the
brood population This contributed to the higher production of honey in the treatment
group (Table 1) which was approximately 25 greater than in the control group on
average This effect may occur because brood rearing consumes much of the workersrsquo
labour as demonstrated by the observation of 1300 nurse bees visiting a single larva
per day (Lindauer 1953) and because larvae consume honey at a rate of 163 mg
honeylarval stage (Harbo 1993) Based on this estimation if 16000 broods are
minimised for just one brood cycle per colony during the peak honey flow period using a
queen excluder it is possible to save more than 26 kg of honey per colonyharvest from
larval consumption alone
The flowering patterns of honeybee plants in the study area are biphasic (showing two
peak flowering periods) Moreover there are other plants that bloom outside of these
peak flowering periods that provide an alternate food source during feed shortage gaps
As a result the critical dearth period in the area is either short or totally absent This
may have encouraged the continuous brood-rearing tendency of the bees as opposed
to storing large reserves which is the survival strategy observed in bees in temperate
regions The absence of an inclination to store large quantities of honey reflects the
unique survival strategy of tropical African honey bees which involves migration to
neighbouring areas where alternative forage resource is available (Crane 1990)
This study further showed that during an extended good honey flow period such as
those that occurred in the area during the May-June flowering periods the colonies
produced comparable amounts of honey even without queen excluders Therefore the
use of a queen excluder is more important during short flowering periods and poor flow
conditions (September-October) (Table 1) Most of the honeybee plants in the study
area that flower between September and October are annual herbs with a short
flowering period Flowering ceases abruptly usually before colonies reach their
optimum peak population levels and before they can store sufficient nectar In contrast
during the May-June period even though fewer species of honeybee plants are
219
flowering there is a dense population of trees with an extended flowering period which
enables the colonies to attain their peak population size and to produce more honey
Based on the findings of this study it is evident that the use of queen excluders may
improve the honey yields of colonies that show strong and continuous brood-rearing
tendencies and this indicate that the amount of honey that can be saved from larval
consumption due to reducing brood-rearing activities during peak honey flow periods is
significant Therefore the partial limiting of queenrsquos egg laying using queen excluders
for short periods (during peak honey flow) would improve the honey yields of honeybee
colonies by maintaining a balance in resource allocation between brood rearing and
honey storage However if the queen excluder is inserted before the colonies have
attained a sufficient work force it may affect the honey yield similarly if the insertion is
delayed to near the end of the honey flow it is unlikely to contribute the honey yield of
the colony Careful determination of the appropriate timing for inserting queen
excluders based on the brood populations and the flowering patterns in a given area is
of paramount importance
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Holeta Bee Research Centre for its financial
and logistic support of the study Moreover we would like to thank the Bee Research
Unit and the National Plan for Science and Technology of King Saud University for
editorial support Finally we acknowledge Colleen Hepburn with great thanks for editing
the manuscript
References
CASTAGNEacute J B (1983) LrsquoApiculture au Gongo Brazzaville Bulletin Technique Apicole10(4)197-208
CHANDLER M T (1976) The African honeybee Apis mellifera adansonii the biological basis of its management Proceedings of the First International Conference on Apiculture inTropical Climates London UK pp 61-68
CRANE E (1990) Bees and Beekeeping Science Practice and World Resources Heinenman Newness London
DOUHET M (1979) LrsquoApiculture en Empire Centrafricain situation et perspectives Institut drsquoEacutelevage et de Medicine Veterinaire des Pays Tropicaux Maisons Alfort France
DOUHET M (1980) LrsquoApiculture en Cocircte drsquoIvoire regions Nord et Centre Institut drsquoEacutelevage et de Medicine Veterinaire des Pays Tropicaux Maisons Alfort France
HARBO J R (1993) Effect of brood-rearing on honey consumption and the survival of worker honeybees Journal of Apicultural Research 32(1)11-17
220
HEPBURN H R RADLOFF S E (1995) First approximation to a phenology of the honeybees (Apis mellifera) and flora of Africa Oecologia 101265-273
HEPBURN H R RADLOFF SE (1998) Honeybees of Africa Springer Germany
LINDAUER M (1953) Division of labour in the honeybee colony Bee World 3463-73
NOLAN W J (1925) The brood-rearing cycle of the honeybee United State Department of Agriculture Department Bulletin No 1349 Washington DC USA
RUTTNER F (1988) Biogeography and Taxonomy of Honeybees Springer-Verlag Berlin Germany
SCHEINDER S S BLYTHER R (1988) The habitat and nesting biology of the African honeybee A m scutellata in the Okavango River Delta Botswana Africa Insects Sociaux 35(2)167-181
SEELEY T D (1985) Honeybee Ecology Princeton University Press Princeton New Jersey USA
STATSOFT INC (2009) STATISTICA version 90 wwwstatsoftcom
SZABO T I LEFKOVITCH L P (1989) Effect of brood production and population size on honeybee colonies in Alberta Canada Apidologie 20157-163
WINSTON M L (1987) The Biology of the Honeybees Harvard University Press London UK
WOYKE J (1984) Correlations and interactions between population length of worker life and honey production by honeybees in a temperate region Journal of Apicultural Research 23148-156
SAMS - International Partnership on Innovation in Smart Apiculture Management
Services
Kibebew Wakjira Taye Negera Gemechis Legesse Oromia Agricultural Research Institute Holeta Bee Research Center
Holeta Ethiopia Email wkibebewgmailcom Abstract
SAMS is a consortium project comprising two partners each from Ethiopia Germany and
Indonesia and one partner each from Austria and Latvia The project is funded by the European
Union within the H2020-ICT-39-2016-2017 call and it addresses UN Sustainable Development
Goal ldquoEnd hunger achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculturerdquo To this end SAMS proposed implementation of Precision Apiculture by allowing
active monitoring and remote sensing of bee colonies and beekeeping by developing
appropriate ICT solutions supporting management of bee health and bee productivity Bee
health and sustainable beekeeping are a key for sustainable agriculture worldwide Risks of
depleting honey production threatens livelihoods of beekeepers but degradation of pollination
221
power of suffering bee colonies threats overall agricultural production and affects entire
population Advanced ICT and remote sensing technologies in SAMS increase production of
bee products creates jobs (particularly youthsandwomen) triggers investments and
establishes knowledge exchange through networks Towards these SAMS tried to address
requirements of end-user communities on beekeeping in project countries Beekeeping contexts
of Ethiopia and Indonesea identified manual on hive construction and hive operation developed
and knowledge exchange networks established As a final outcome of the project a) A physical
low-cost beehive model that is locally produced and adapted to local conditions including
integrated open source sensor and information transition technology as well as energy-supply
solution b) A decision support system that combines the sensor-based data-outputs with other
information sources and predictive models to measure analyse and describe different states of
the bee colony such as health vitality production etc c) An automatic advisory support tool
which will alert the beekeeper in an easily understandable way if any aberrations from normal
states are metered and will provide advice on appropriate countermeasures and d) A bee
management business concept for the local production and up-scaled implementation of the
developed beehives with integrated beehive monitoring system were targeted
THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVE BEEKEEPING IN HILLSIDE REHABILITATION
AREAS FOR RURAL LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA
Teweldemedhn Gebretinsaesup12 Till Stellmacher3 Emai teweldeggmailcom
sup1Department of Animal Science College of Agriculture Aksum University PO Box 314 Shire Ethiopia
2Institute of Animal Science Faculty of Agriculture University of Hohenheim Germany teweldeg2008gmailcom
3Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn Germany
Abstract
Development endeavors in Tigray have been trying to use beekeeping in hillside closure areas
for employing landless youth in rural areas With estimated 619 million managed honeybee
colonies and long tradition of beekeeping Ethiopia is one of the worldrsquos largest honey producers
and exporters A great deal of efforts is being exerted to improve existing traditional beekeeping
for improving the livelihoods of rural communities Mountain sharing program by which
rehabilitated closure areas are distributed to organized cooperatives of landless youths for
beekeeping and other sustainable agricultural practices have been implemented since 2005 in
Tigray for promoting beekeeping as a livelihood strategy Public owned degraded hillside areas
in Tigray region has been massively rehabilitated by excluding from direct contact of livestock
(referred as area closures) and introducing physical and biological conservation techniques for
the past 29 years This paper analyzes the beekeeping in the hillside closure areas in Tigray as
means of rural livelihood and employment Following review of literatures economic analyses
were conducted on a hypothetical beekeeping cooperative of ten members that have forty
222
colonies Official data from FAO and Ethiopian Central Statistical agency were used besides to
thoughtful estimates Costs revenues profitability breakeven production payback period net
present values and internal rate of return were calculated Average honey yield in Tigray region
is 25 kilogram per hive per year A total investment cost of ETB 139470 is estimated to start up
this beekeeping business With a life time of 10 years and scrap value of 10 for the major
equipment such as extractor casting mould and beehives depreciation rate was calculated to
be 9 Total cost of honey production per kilogram is ETB 6746 of which ETB 3308 is
attributed by variable costs while the rest ETB 3438 by fixed costs At a profit margin of 50
the sales price is ETB 10119 which gives annual profit of ETB 21924 The breakeven is 50
which means 328 kilogram of honey per year as contrasted to 650 kilogram per year average
capacity at 65 efficiency of colonies Although the payback period is unusually extended (6
years) due to high costs on shed and equipments both NPV (+248281) and IRR (109) suggest
that beekeeping in hillside closure areas is economically viable Besides to complementing with
environmental rehabilitation programs to boost agricultural productivity beekeeping in hillside
closure areas can be means of livelihood for unemployed landless youth in rural areas The
economic value of honeybee pollination on ten selected crops cultivated in Ethiopia is estimated
to be more than ETB 23 billion in the year 2014 Therefore beekeeping can play significant
roles in climate change adaptation and mitigation However members of beekeeping
cooperatives should be kept proportional with the economic return and the activities required to
be accomplished Beekeeping activities considered in this study can be managed by two
persons whereas the annual profit is too little to be the basis of livelihood for members of the
cooperative Therefore most of the members could be idle which can lead them to abandon
themselves in search of alternatives such as migration and traditional mining or tempt to abuse
the land Sideline activities such as horticulture and agro-forestry can augment incomes of the
beekeepers besides to enriching apiaries (beekeeping sites) boosting honey production and
environmental rehabilitation
Keywords beekeeping cooperative closure area environmental rehabilitation honey youth
1 Introduction
Ethiopia is known for its well-established traditional beekeeping which is practiced as a
livelihood activity by about two million households (OXFAM GB 2011) The beekeeping
value chain of Ethiopia comprises of producers-mainly smallholder farmers distributed
throughout the country-collectors processors retailers and consumers as the main
actors (Abrehet 2015) The country is a home for estimated 10 million colonies (Girma
1998) of which 619 are managed (Central Statistical Agency [CSA] 2017) The
productivity of this traditional beekeeping is low For example the country has produced
an estimated amount of 48-thousand-ton honey which is less than 10 of the potential
although it has demonstrated significant growth compared to 25 thousand annual
production of honey 12 years back ([CSA 2005) With estimated population of 287135
managed honeybee colonies (CSA 2017) Tigray region in the far North of Ethiopia is
known as one of the most important beekeeping areas in the country Traditional colony
multiplication and selling at local markets in Tigray is an important business for some
223
beekeepers who mainly use natural swarming and colony trapping as their sources of
colonies (Teweldemedhn and Yayneshet 2014)
Having realized its immense potentials Ethiopia is trying to promote its beekeeping
which has remained largely underutilized due to technological and skill limitations
Development programs and agricultural extension focus on the introduction of improved
beekeeping technologies and capacity building Beekeeping improvement programs are
more common in Tigray region than in other parts of Ethiopia High yielding movable
frame hives for example account for more than 23 of all beehives in Tigray as
contrasted to the national status which is less than 3 The average honey yield in
Tigray is 25kg per hive per year for movable frame hives and 112kg per hive per year
for traditional hives (CSA 2015) According to Abrehet (2015) the price of honey in the
Central zone of Tigray during the year 201415 ranged 12942ETB for white to
9361ETB for blended honey The price of honey is perceived to be high and
encouraging for beekeepers In Werieleke district of the same zone it was 6385 ETB
per kg for extracted white honey and 5863 ETB per kg for crude white honey
(Teweldemedhn 2010) Reasons for the rise in the price of honey could be overall
increase in values of commodities expansion of trade improvement in market linkage
and increased consumption of honey Prices of honey in the region differ based on its
geographic and botanical origins which can be because of poor market linkages among
producer-trader-processor-consumer in the value chain and consumer preferences
According to UNCTAD (2006) producers say that they canrsquot increase beyond the
existing production of honey because there is no market demand while traders on the
other hand say that they canrsquot export honey because there is no adequate production
that is enough for export market This could be because of the poor market linkage and
infrastructure Market integration is hampered by the semi-constant financial needs of
the farmers making them sell most of their honey during harvesting time when prices
are low (Driesen 2009) that create an incentive for middlemen for spatial and temporal
arbitrage These justify the need for committed beekeeping cooperative to help
themselves in marketing their products as markets mean competition and only the best
informed survives (Draper and Duggan 2001 as cited in Jacobs et al 2006)
Based on these governmental and non-governmental development organizations in
Tigray region have been focusing on the establishment of cooperative beekeeping with
special attention on integrating it with environmental rehabilitation programs The
promotion of beekeeping in rehabilitated hillside closure areas areas that are excluded
from livestock for rehabilitation can play important roles through direct production of
honey indirect products of crops due to pollination and environmental services The
promotion of beekeeping in such closure areas can be nested within the existing
massive and continuous public work on natural resource rehabilitation rich local
traditional knowledge on beekeeping committed extension service and well established
colony multiplication and marketing practices In addition the presence of fragmented
224
and degraded landholding aggravated by climate changes that is not used for
producing cereals could be regarded as an opportunity for promoting beekeeping to
improve rural livelihoods Beekeeping is not labor intensive requires little land can be
done by both sexes regardless of age requires low technological inputs and can
supplement other agricultural activities It is also a useful means of strengthening
livelihoods because it uses and creates a range of assets (Bradbear 2003)
As recognized by the World Future Council (2017) and many others Tigray region has
been exerting a combination of collective action voluntary labor and the involvement of
youth in restoring land on a massive scale These include construction of various
physical structures sowing and plantation programs and excluding degraded areas
Livestock exclusion from degraded hillside areas aims at natural regeneration of
vegetations and has been practiced throughout the region for the past 25 years Since
the mid 2000s the government has introduced a development program initiative known
as mountain sharing by which rehabilitated hillside closure areas that had been public
properties have been distributed to landless rural youth for the purpose of beekeeping
by organizing them as formal beekeeping cooperatives or informal user groups As a
result beekeeping cooperatives of mostly 10 members exist throughout Tigray Several
apiaries (beekeeping sites) have been established in the rehabilitated hillside closure
areas as means of employment and livelihood option for the ever increasing number of
landless rural youth in the region The formation of beekeeping cooperatives can have
synergetic effect to the efficiency of beekeepers by easing input distribution market
linkage sharing skill knowledge and labor when the cooperatives are established
properly
However the process of organizing beekeeping cooperatives selecting sites and
beneficiaries terms and condition on the new land-use can be detrimental for the
sustainable management of the natural resource base and the value chain
development Disputes negligence mistrust and several other negative consequences
may be faced otherwise leading to frustration financial losses institutional collapse
land abuses and degradation According to Biruk (2014) beekeeping cooperatives in
the region are facing constraints such as weak participation of members lack of
transparency and working capital This paper seeks to evaluate the feasibility of
establishing beekeeping cooperatives of with about ten members to run small scale
beekeeping of not more than 40 honeybee colonies in rehabilitated hillside closure
areas as a livelihood basis for unemployed rural landless youth It is believed that
economic feasibility can play decisive role for the socio-economic and environmental
sustainability of a beekeeping farm project This is particularly relevant for landless
youth beekeeping cooperatives who are supposed to get full time employment to
support their livelihoods The paper tries to analyze economic feasibility of such
beekeeping activities as a livelihood basis for unemployed rural landless youth A
beekeeping cooperative having an apiary established in one of the hillside closure areas
of Tigray with 40 honeybee colonies for honey production is assumed Following
literature review on production and productivity economic analyses were conducted
225
2 Methodology
This paper focuses on beekeeping activities operated in hillside closure areas in Tigray
which are mostly characterized by semi-arid climate medium to high altitudes rugged
and mountainous topography Following extensive rehabilitation programs through
physical and biological conservation and exclusion for natural regeneration distributing
those areas for landless youth to be used as means of rural livelihood has been
implemented by the government in collaboration with non-governmental organizations
Beekeeping and forage production through cut-and-carry system are being used as the
main non-wood products of these closure areas Such beekeeping activities in the
region are usually operated by beekeeping cooperatives with members of at least 10
landless and unemployed youths and honeybee colonies that rarely exceed 40 The
primary objective of these beekeeping cooperatives is to manage honeybee colonies in
movable frame hives and produce extracted honey for market
We have analyzed the economic viability of an assumed beekeeping cooperative with
ten landless youth as its members and established in a rehabilitated hillside closure
area Based on thoughtful estimates of technical and financial starting points costs of
production of honey sale price profitability breakeven payback period net present
values and IRR were calculated
In estimating economic value of the honeybeesrsquo pollination service on selected crops in
Ethiopia national production of the crops and their average prices in Addis Ababa were
extracted from the official data of Ethiopian national statistical agency (CSA 2014)
Models and indexes used by Jacobs et al (2006) and FAO (2006) were adapted to
estimate the contribution of honeybeesrsquo pollination service to annual production of ten
selected crops cultivated in Ethiopia based on data from the production year 201314
3 Results
31 Investment cost of beekeeping
To establish a moderate apiary with 40 honeybee colonies it requires constructing a
reasonable shed of thatched grass or soil roof that can accommodate the beehives
purchasing movable frame hives accessories protective closing honey extractor
casting mould and honeybee colonies In the local area an apiary shed is mostly made
from locally available materials such as stone wood soil and grass using local skill and
knowledge Based on field observation and experience such shelters are estimated to
cost about 350 ETB per square meter The exact amount of beekeeping equipments
during the data collection period were gathered from respective suppliers in the region
Besides the cost of honeybee colonies was considered based on personal observation
and literatures Accordingly the total investment costs required for establishing an
apiary of 40 colonies in movable frame hives along with a minimum package of
equipment shed and colonies is computed to be 139470ETB as detailed in table 1
226
Table 19 Investment costs
Quantity Unit cost Total cost (ETB)
Shed (m2)1 120 350 42000
Equipment2
Hive 40 900 36000
Bee suit with veil 4 500 2000
Hand gloves 4 50 200
Smoker 2 60 120
Water sprayer 2 30 60
Uncapping fork 1 50 50
Chisel 1 40 40
Honey extractor 1 7000 7000
Casting mould 1 7000 7000
Total Equipment 52470
Cash at hand (working capital)
5000
Bee colonies2 1000 40 40000
Total investment 139470 1 These costs are estimated based on personal experience and literatures 2primary data collected from inputs suppliers in the region
32 Technical starting points (assumptions)
Technical assumptions considered for this analyzing feasibility are displayed in Table 2
These assumptions are based on personal observations of existing situations on
cooperative beekeeping in hillside closure areas of Tigray region The beekeeping
package in the region varies ranges from one colony beehive in the early 1990s to four
beehives per household recently Therefore forty honeybee colonies are considered in
this cooperative beekeeping The cooperative is supposed to comprise at least 10
landless less youth as its members as per the ongoing practice in the region The
productivity of honeybee colonies differs depending on the type of hives used besides to
other environmental and genetic factors The beekeeping cooperative in this case
manages its bee colony in movable frame hives which defines the situation of
beekeeping in hillside closure areas of Tigray Among the forty honeybee colonies 65
are considered to be productive per year while the remaining 35 donrsquot produce due to
absconding and others factors Colonies that abscond every year are supposed to be
replaced through purchase trapping andor splitting to be productive in the consecutive
years According to CSA (2015) movable frame beehives in Tigray yield 25kg
extracted honey per hive per year (CSA 2015) Most beekeepers in the region sell their
honey at local market Based the activities required such an apiary can be managed
by two none professional beekeepers and their wage can be estimated at 600 ETB per
month based on the local labor market
Table 20 Technical starting points
227
Items Unit Quantity
Colonies managed Number 40
Type of hives used Movable frame hive
Honey production at 65 efficiency
kgyear 650
Average honey yield kgcolonyyear 25
Marketing honey Sold to nearest honey processing
factory as a whole
Manpower needed
Unskilled laborers (2 par timers) ETByear 14400
33 Financial starting points (assumptions)
Cost of interest on fixed investments as apiary shed and beekeeping equipment is
accounted The rate of interest for short term loans offered by microfinance institutions
in Tigray is currently 15 The service life of the shed and beekeeping equipment is ten
years (University of Florida 1992) Therefore the percentage and annual costs due to
depreciation of the shed and equipment is calculated and found to be ETB 5700 and
4722 respectively From experience this investment requires an estimated cost of
maintenance of the shed ( 2) and equipment (3) as percentage of the initial cost
The overall financial assumptions are summarized in table 3
Table 21 Financial starting points
Items Unit Quantity Amount (ETB)
Interest rate 15
Life span of shed and
equipments
years 10
Scrap value of shed of its initial cost
5 300000
Depreciation on shed of its initial cost
10 5700
Scrap value of equipment
of its initial cost
10 5247
Depreciation on equipment
of its initial cost
9 472230
Rate of maintenance
of shed
of its initial cost
2 1200
Rate of maintenance
of equipment
of its initial cost
3 157410
34 Computation of annual costs of honey production
Production costs in any investment are usually categorized as fixed and variable costs
depending on their variability with volume of production Costs incurred due to
maintenance interest and depreciation on shed and equipment are classified as fixed
228
costs Based on the rates displayed on section 33 the total annual fixed costs are
calculated to be ETB 22348 Variable costs of this farm investment include costs of bee
colonies man power beeswax as foundation shed feed supplementation during dearth
periods of the year and colony absconding These are calculated to cost ETB 14400
per year as shown in Table 4 Therefore the total cost of production per kilogram of
honey is found to be ETB 6746 Considering the local price of honey in the region 50
profit was assumed and this has resulted in a selling price of ETB 10119 per kilogram
Therefore the amount of annual profit of this type of apicultural investment is found to
be ETB 21924
229
Table 22 Summary of costs
Fixed costs
Description Amount (ETB)
Shed
Depreciation 3990
Interest 1953
Equipment
Depreciation 472230
Interest 251856
Maintenance and repair of shed (2) 840
Maintenance and repair of equipment
(3)
157410
Purchase of colonies (interest only) 340
Cash in handworking capital (interest
only)
85
Total fixed costs 22348
Fixed costs per kg 3438
Variable costs
Costs of colonies per year (40000ETB10years) 400000
Feed supplementation (1kg15ETB40colonies) 600
Beeswax
(075kg3boxes40hives200ETB4years)
450000
Absconding (5) 200000
Manpower costs (600ETB 2persons12months) 1440000
Total variable costs 21500
variable costs per kg of honey 3308
Calculation of production cost per kg of honey
Description Amount (ETB)
Fixed cost per kg of honey 3438
Variable cost per kg of honey 3308
Total production cost per kg of honey 6746
Calculation of sales price
230
Profit per kg of honey (50 margin) 3373
Sales price per kg (production cost + profit) 10119
Total profit per year (profit per kgproduction
per year)
21924
35 Viability of honey production
The economic viability of this investment was assessed using net present value of
revenues and costs over a period of 10 years internal rate of economic return on
investment payback period and breakeven (Tauer 2000 Alfio et al 2015) The results
are presented as follows
351 Payback period
Payback period represents the length of time required for the cash flows generated by
the investment to repay the cost of the investment Payback period of an investment is
calculated by dividing the total investment cost to the net annual profit With an
estimated investment of ETB 139470 and net annual profit of ETB 21924 the payback
period of this apicultural farm project is found to be 6 years
PB (Year) = Total investment (ETB) = 139470 = 6
Net annual profit (ETBYear) 21924
352 Breakeven
Break-even is a production volume of threshold below which a project will be exposed to
financial losses and hence it canrsquot survive as profitable business In other words break-
even analysis computes the volume of production at a given price required to cover the
costs The breakeven production of honey for this apicultural farm is analyzed in
accordance with (Gutierrez and Dalsted 2012) It is found to be 328 kg honey per year
which is 50 of its capacity
Breakeven production = Total fixed Costs
(Sales price - Variable costs) per kg
Total fixed Costs 2234796
Selling price per kg of
honey
10119
Variable costs per kg of
honey
3308
Breakeven point 328
kg of honey per
year
=50 of the capacity
231
353 Net Present Value (NPV)
Net Present Value is the amount by which the present value of the cash inflows
exceeds the present value of the cash outflowsNet present value was calculated as the
difference between the net present value of revenues and net present value of costs as
displayed in table 5 Net present value of the project is calculated to be 248281
Table 23 Net present value
Year (n)
C=Total cost D=Discount factor=1I
I=(1+015)n
at 15 interest PVC1=Present
value of
costs=CD
R=Total revenue
PVR1=Present
value of
revenues
=RD
0 153870 1 1 153870 6577194 6577194
1 21340 0869565217 115 1855652174 7234913
6291229043
2 23474 0756143667 13225 1774971645 7958405
6017697346
3 258214 0657516232 1520875 1697798964 8754245214 5756058
4 2840354 0571753246 174900625 1623981618 9629669735 5505795
5 31243894 0497176735 2011357188 1553373722 10592637
5266413
6 343682834 0432327596 2313060766 1485835734 11651900
5037438
7 3780511174 037593704 266001988 142123418 12817090
4818419
8 4158562291 0326901774 3059022863 135944139 1409879946 4608923
9 4574418521 0284262412 3517876292 1300335242 1550867941 4408535
total 2945962467 54287700
NPV1 = Total PVR1-Total PVC1 = 248281
354 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Internal Rate of Return which represents the rate of return from capital investment is
one method of analyzing investments To compute the internal rate of return of the
project a discount rate at which net present value becomes negative was identified
through trial and error method As a rule investments are accepted if the internal rate of
return is greater than the threshold rate of return and rejected if the internal rate of
return is less than the threshold rate of return Internal rate of return for the apicultural
investment considered here was calculated and found to be 109 (Table 6)
232
Table 24 Internal rate of return
Year (n)
C=Total cost
D=Discount factor=1I
I=(1+134)n at 134 interest
PVC2=Pres
ent
value of
costs=CD
R=Total revenue
PVR2=Pres
ent value of
revenues
=RD
0 153870 1 1 153870 6577194 6577194
1 21340 0427350427
234 911965812 72349134 309184
2 23474 0182628388
54756 4287018774 795840474
145343
3 258214 007804632
12812904 2015265236 8754245214
68324
4 2840354 0033353128
2998219536
9473469057 9629669735
32118
5 31243894 0014253474
7015833714
4453340155 1059263671
15098
6 343682834
0006091228
1641705089
20934505 1165190038
7097
7 3780511174
0002603089
3841589909
9841006625 1281709042
3336
8 4158562291
0001112431
8989320386
4626114225 1409879946
1568
9 4574418521
0000475398
210350097
217466908 1550867941
737
Total
171060386 1240526
IRR
NPV2 =
1596915-249060386 = -47008
r2-r1 = 134-015 = 119
NPV1 = 084
NPV1-NPV2
(r2-r1)NPV1 = 100
NPV1-NPV2
IRR= (r1+(r2-r1) (NPV1)) = 109
NPV1-NPV2
36 Economics of honeybeesrsquo pollination
Honeybees are known as effective pollinators such as oil seeds fruits and coffee The
contribution of honeybeesrsquo pollination service to annual production of some cultivated
crops in Ethiopia is estimated by the model R = P x I x B which is adapted from Jacobs
et al (2006) and FAO (2006) The annual economic contribution (Eb)of honeybeesrsquo
pollination service on these selected crops is further calculated by multiplying the
market value of each crop (E) and the amount of crop produced due to honeybeesrsquo
pollination as Eb =RE A total of more than 23 billion ETB is estimated to be gained in
the year 2014 due to the pollination of honeybees on the selected crops Coffee is about
70 dependent on insect pollination of which 70 are estimated to be honeybees The
economic contribution of honeybees by pollinating coffee in Ethiopia is calculated to be
nearly ETB 18 billion in the specified year Similarly the honeybees pollination of
sesame is estimated ETB 265 billion for the same period (Table 7)
Table 25 Contribution of honeybee pollination to crop production Crops (Scientific name)
P= crop
production in
201314 1(quintal)
(I) =
Dependence
on insect
pollination
(B) =
Proportion
of
pollinators
that are
honeybees
(R) =
contribution
of
honeybees
to
production
(quintal)
E= Average
retail price in
Addis Ababa2
(ETBQuintal)
Economic
value of
honeybees
due to
pollination
(ETByear)
Coffee (Coffea spp) 392006222 07 07 1920831
9267 17800336244
Sesame-seed
(Sesamum indicum)
220216053 08 03 528519
5010 2647877835
Rapeseed (Brassica rapa)
62450266 10 09 562052
2007 1128039147
Mango (Mangifera indica)
72186977 09 09 584715
1200 701657412
Papaya (Carica papaya)
31588251 08 06 151624
2048 310525133
Avocado (Persea americana)
18206362 10 09 163857
1437 235462883
Orange (Citrus sinensis)
31182652 03 09 84193
2393 201474232
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
8347097 10 09 75124
2062 154905420
Soybean (Glycine max)
61024916 01 05 30512
2075 63313355
Lemon (Citrus spp) 4660950 02 01 932
2806 2615725
Total 4102358
3246207384
4 Discussion
1 CSA (2014) Agricultural sample survey (201314) Area and production of major crops
2 CSA (2014) Average Retail Price (December 2014) of Goods and Services by Region and Selected Market Places Averages of
Addis Ababarsquos prices
234
41 Investment costs
Beekeeping is known for comparatively small startup capital requirements The amount
of investment to establish the project in this case is estimated to be 139470 ETB This
is mainly due to investments on shed construction purchase of honeybee colonies
movable frame hives honey extractor casting mould and associated equipment This
capital may not be small to unemployed youth who have neither their own equity
(matching investment) nor collateral for a bank loan Thus the remaining option for
them is to be organized as beekeeping cooperatives and approach microfinance
institutions which are known for higher interest rate due to high financial risks
Assuming 10 members minimum the investment cost per member is 13947 ETB
which is still too much for both the borrower to afford and the lender to take risks As a
result most beekeeping cooperatives in Tigray do not purchase basic equipment such
as honey extractor and casting mould Instead they depend on the governmentrsquos
limited supply of equipment which are usually placed at farmers training centers to
provide free service to beekeepers residing in a tabia in queue This can pose great
obstacle to the beekeepers in applying management practices according to annual
colony management calendars that can ultimately result in poor performances
Construction of shed for their honeybee colonies and store for their equipment is not
common among the beekeepers which can lead them to low productivity higher rates
of depreciation on equipment and absconding of colonies Therefore honey yield in
Tigray is 25 kg per hive per year (CSA 2015) as contrasted to the regionrsquos potential of
35 to 45 kg per hive per season (Jacosbs et al 2006)
42 Price analyses of honey
Accounting all costs of honey production and a fair profit the selling price of extracted
honey was calculated to be ETB 10119 per kg This can be fair and competitive in the
local market Price being the amount of value that customers are willing to pay for
goods or services is subjective to their preference and certain quality parameters At the
local and regional markets open pricing of honey is used based on color production
system and level of impurities According to Abrehet (2015) who has conducted value
chain analyses of honey in Central zone of Tigray average price per kg was
12942ETB 9361ETB and 5043 ETB for white yellowish and red colored honey
respectively in the year 201415 Considering that most youth beekeeping cooperatives
are well trained and the hillside closure areas are ideal for organic beekeeping honey
produced from such rehabilitation areas is expected to have competitive quality Those
hillside closure areas are dry and away from agro-chemicals In the international
market honey quality is assessed based on physicochemical characteristics drug
residues and microbes European consumers are increasingly interested in organic and
specialty honey such as honey produced in rehabilitation forest and mountain areas in
eco-friendly system
43 Economic viability of honey production
235
At the sales price discussed in section 42 the net annual profit for the cooperative
beekeeping is estimated to be 21924 ETB This is too small when divided among the
ten members of the cooperative On the other hand the beekeeping activities are not
laborious and can be managed by two beekeepers Thus members of the beekeeping
cooperatives may be forced to abandon their beekeeping in search of income
alternatives The payback period at this level of profit is 6 years which is high and
unusual to beekeeping projects This might be caused by high investment cost incurred
on shed construction which is not very common in the local beekeeping The selling
price at 50 profit margin is fair and competitive allowing the youth cooperatives to be
more competitive and able to sale their honey in bulk to traders and processors instead
of relying on retail to consumers as in current practices The breakeven point is 50
(328 kg) while its net present value (NPV) is large positive (248281) and internal rate of
return (IRR) is larger (109) than the discount rate (015) Both NPV and IRR have
proved such beekeeping projects are viable
44 Economics of honeybeesrsquo pollination
Beekeeping plays significant contributions to the global food production through
pollination service Honeybees are essential for pollinating different crops such as fruits
vegetables and oil seeds For instance rapeseed is 100 dependent on insect
pollination of which 90 are honeybees (FAO 2006 Jacobs et al 2006) The results
in this paper show that 49 of coffee produced in Ethiopia the countryrsquos popular cash
crop is contributed by the honeybeesrsquo pollination service which is valued to be about 18
Billion per year The overall economic contribution of the honeybeesrsquo pollination service
on ten selected crops produced in Ethiopia during the year 201314 is estimated to be
more than ETB 23 billion These justify how important the honeybees are for the
countryrsquos economy food production and export earnings The honeybees are
complementing all rounded efforts of crop cultivation income diversification climate
change adaptation and ecosystem conservation This demonstrates the
complementarities of beekeeping environmental rehabilitation local employment and
livelihood improvement
5 Conclusions and recommendations
Beekeeping in rehabilitated hillside closure areas in Tigray region of Ethiopia is
economically feasible It can play significant roles in creating rural entrepreneurships
and help in climate change adaptation However present practices of forming
beekeeping cooperatives that aim at sharing investment costs seem to be not viable
business enterprises This is largely due to the high number of members leading to
negligible share of margins or dividend Considering the economic social and
environmental roles of beekeeping and the livelihood status of unemployed youth who
are the key target group of development organizations there should be special means
of providing adequate entrepreneurship funds at reasonable interest rates Starting with
small stocks of honeybee colonies and gradually expanding using queen rearing and
colony multiplication can help to minimize the startup capital Research on the
236
physicochemical characteristics of honey produced in rehabilitated hillside closure areas
is vital to foresee the potential for certified organic beekeeping and brand development
to help fetching higher producer prices Diversification of products to honeybee colonies
and queens can enhance beekeepersrsquo income and help them to have sustainable
means of livelihood from the closure areas Honey productivity should be improved
through better husbandry and site enrichment that can also rehabilitate the ecosystem
contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation Those apiaries can be
enriched by integrating with horticultural crop production which can in turn be benefited
from the honeybeesrsquo pollination service to diversify and improve the beekeepersrsquo
income Pollination services of honeybees improves crop production and ecosystem
conservation
References
Abrehet G 2015 Honey and Beeswax Value Chains Analysis The case of Adwa and Ahferom Districts Central zone of Tigray Ethiopia Mekelle University MSC thesis httpscgspacecgiarorghandle1056877372
Alfio S Teodora S Anna Irene D L Giacomo F Giovanni G 2015 Profitability Analysis of Small-Scale Beekeeping Firms by Using Life Cycle Costing (LCC) Methodology American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 (3)
Biruk D 2014 The Constraints of Honey Production Performance in Beekeeping Cooperatives Case Study of KilliteAwlaloWoreda Mekelle University MA thesis httpsopendocsidsacukopendocsbitstreamhandle1234567894730The20Constraints20of20Honey20Production20Performance20in20Beekeeping20Cooperativespdfsequence=1
Bradbear N 2003 Beekeeping and sustainable livelihoods FAO Rome Central Statistical Agency National Statistics (CSA) 2014 Agricultural sample survey
Area and production of major crops CSA 2014 Average Retail Price (December 2014) of Goods and Services by Region
and Selected Market Places Averages of Addis Ababarsquos prices CSA 2015 Agricultural sample survey Report on livestock and livestock
characteristics Volume II CSA 2017 Agricultural sample survey Report on livestock and livestock
characteristics Volume II FAO 2006 Economic Valuation of Pollination Services Review of Methods FAO viale
delle Terme di Caracalla Roma 00100 Italia Girma D 1998 Non-Wood Forest Products in Ethiopia FAO Ethiopia AddisAbaba
httpwwwfaoorgdocrep003X6690EX6690E00htm Gutierrez PH Dalsted NL 2012 Break-Even Method of Investment Analysis
Colorado State University Farm and Ranch Series|Economic Fact Sheet No 3759 httpextensioncolostateedutopic-areasagriculturebreak-even-method-of-investment-analysis-3-759-2top
Jacobs F Simoens de Graaf D Deckers J 2006 Scope of non wood forest product income generation from rehabilitation areas Focus on beekeeping Journal of the Drylands1 (2)
237
OXFAM GB 2011 Engaging smallholders in value chains program insights httpwwwoxfamblogsorgeastafricawp-contentuploads201009pi-engaging-smallholders-in-value-chains-110411-enpdf
Tauer LW 2000 Investment analyses in agriculture Cornell University httpsageconsearchumnedubitstream147631sp0003pdf
Teweldemedhn Gebretinsae 2012 Honeybee Production Systems Constraints and Opportunities in Werieleke Woreda of Tigray in Ethiopia Mekelle University MSC thesis
Teweldemedhn G and Yayneshet T 2014 Honeybee colony marketing practices in Werieleke district of Tigray region Ethiopia IBRA Vol 91(2)
The World Future Council 2017 World Future Council awards international prize for best policies to combat desertification in China httpswwwworldfuturecouncilorgfpa-2017-ceremony-press-release
UNCTAD 2006 The African Honey Trade Unlocking the Potential Bees for Development httpunctadorgsectionswcmudocsc1EM32p34pdf
University of Florida 1992 A Study in Profitability for a Mid-Sized Beekeeping Operation httpufdcimagesuflibufleduUF0007712200001AA08900PDF
Yetimwork G Birhan T Desalegn B 2015 Characterization of bee-keeping systems and honey marketing in Eastern zone Tigray Ethiopia Livestock Research for Rural Development Volume 26 httpwwwlrrdorglrrd2610yeti26175htm
238
Annex Methods and approaches applied in the analyses
1 Costs due to depreciation of equipment and shed
Assuming 5 for shed and 10 for equipment scrap values and 10 years project life
spam the rate of depreciation on the beekeeping shed and equipment were calculated
as follows
Depreciation on shed () = (original cost - scrap value)100
(lifetimeoriginal cost)
Depreciation on Equipment () =
(original cost - scrap value)100
(lifetime original cost)
2 Cost of production of honey (CP)
The production cost of a unit of extracted honey is estimated as a summation of all fixed
and variable costs of beekeeping and honey production
CP = sumX
V
Where
X-stands for all variable and fixed costs incurred in a year for producing V amount
of honey
V-stands for total volume of honey produced in a year which is calculated as the
product of unit average yield per year multiplied by number of colonies managed
3 Sales price (SP)
SP = CP + CPPM PM =Profit margin which is set at 50
= CP + CP50100
4 Net annual profit (NP)
NP = (SP- CP)V
5 Breakeven
Breakeven production =
Total fixed Costs
Sales Price of honey - Variable Costs per unit of honey
6 Net Present Value (NPV)
Net Present Value (NPV) = Total Net Present Value of Revenues-Total Net Present
Value of Costs
239
n
n
t
n
t
r
CtRt
NPV
1
1 1
Where r - Stands for interest rate
n- Stands for time equivalent (year)
R- Revenues
C- Costs
7 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
IRR = r1+(r2-r1)(NPV1) (NPV1-NPV2)
Where IRR = Internal Rate of Return
r1 = Interest Rate at which Net Present Value is positive
r2 = Interest Rate at which Net Present Value is negative
NPV1 = Net Present Value at r1
NPV2 = Net Present Value at r2
8 Payback period (PB)
PB (Year) = Total investment (ETB)
Net annual profit (ETBYear)
9 Economics of honeybeesrsquo pollination
Models and indexes used by Jacobs et al (2006) and FAO (2006) were adapted to
estimate the contribution of honeybeesrsquo pollination service to annual production of some
cultivated crops in Ethiopia during the production year 201314 as
Where
R ndashstands for contribution of honeybees to production of the crops (quintal)
P ndash Stands for crop production in the year 201314 (quintal)
I ndash Stands for dependence of the crops on insect pollination
B- Stands for the proportion of insect pollinators of the crops that are honeybees
The annual economic contribution (Eb) of honeybeesrsquo pollination service on these
selected crops was further estimated by the model
R = P x I x B
Eb =RE
240
Where
Eb ndash Stands for annual economic contribution (ETB)
E- Stands for market value of each crop (ETBQuintal)
241
Assessment of colony carrying capacity and factors responsible for low production and productivity of beekeeping in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone of
Oromia Ethiopia
Kibebew Wakjira and Alemayehu Gela Oromia Agricultural Research Institute
Holeta Bee Research Center Holeta Ethiopia
Email wkibebewgmailcomampalemaygbyahoocom Abstract The study was conducted in Horro Guduru Wolega Zone of Oromia region Ethiopia to
investigate colony carrying capacity and prime factors responsible for the low production and
productivity of beekeeping in the area Individual questioner survey focus group discussions
and field assessment were used to collect the relevant data Moreover data on suitable land
size for beekeeping seasons and frequency of honey harvest months of dearth period for
colonies honey potential of the area number of colonies in one apiary and other issues were
collected Personal observations were also made to the apiary management of the beekeepers
The study revealed that out of 820956 ha land mass of the zone 588 is found to be suitable
for beekeeping Two major honey-harvesting seasons with average frequency of 166 times and
two months long dearth period in between the two seasons were identified Estimated honey
production potential of the zone is about 212 thousand tonsyear with sustaining capacity of
428 bee colonies However the average number of bee colonies managed per apiary was
found to be 259 indicating the overall ratio of actual existing colonies to the carrying capacity of
an apiary is 06 From this analysis production of honey per colony revealed constant over the
last three years with about 42 kilogramscolony in the study areas With the current bee colony
holding size and production level each beekeeper produces about 190 kgyear while it has a
possibility of achieving 516 kg honey per year From this the annual yield loss per individual
beekeeper can be estimated to 327 kg honey which can further explore to over $600 financial
loss Therefore bee colony miss-management over the holding size of individual apiary is
identified as fundamental cause of low production and productivity of beekeeping in the study
area It is recommended that beekeepers should follow the standard apiary setting to utilize the
production potential of their beekeeping endeavor
Beekeeping in Rural Development
Peter John Keating - Apicultural Consultant
Quebec Canada Email keatingxplornetca
Abstract
Beekeeping is often thought of as a very minor part of agriculture and of little value in rural
development However the role of bees in crop production by their pollination is often essential
for greater production and improved quality
242
Beekeeping requires very little investment in most African countries The bees are indigenous
and therefore free (unlike North America) be it honey bees or stingless bees The flowers that
supply food for the bees are abundant and also free The only investment is the cost of a
wooden box in which to keep the bees and this can take many forms
Beekeeping can be carried out very easily by women thus giving greater equality to them in the
community
The principal production for harvesting from the colonies of bees is honey which is a highly
nutritious food This in the first instances will be for the beekeeperrsquos family and later as the
number of colonies increase will provide an income Other products from the colonies will
provide other food sources or materials with which to process into items for household use
This will give rise to extra employment either in the family or in the community The knowledge
of keeping bees also creates an awareness of ecological concern for surrounding flora and
therefore reduces non-ecologic activity
Potential sources of new income in Ethiopia from payment for pollination
services biocontrol agent vectoring and agritourism A comparison with current
practices of Canadian beekeepers
James White M Sc Email jwhite007sympaticoca
J White amp Associates Consulting Erin Ontario Canada
Abstrac
Ethiopia recognizes the value and potential growth opportunity for its agricultural products
specifically honey and its products Beekeeping especially provides a path forward for
entrepreneurial women to improve the welfare and education of families and communities in
rural Ethiopia
The impact of pollination on the value of food production worldwide is estimated at 2500B USD
Payment for pollination services (PPS) is well documented in Canada and is a significant source
of income for apiarists With the exception of South Africa PPS in Ethiopia is neither a common
practice nor well documented
Coffee represents $784MUSD or 24 of the value of the Ethiopian exports in 2016 Coffee
requires insect pollination yet beekeepers are not paid for the benefit coffee producers gain in
production The literature review will summarize the relative value of pollination services for
crops in Canada reference a model for calculating the value of PPS and apply the model of
PPS for Ethiopian coffee In addition we introduce the concept of the benefits of agro-tourism
that Ethiopia could access in the beekeeping and coffee industry with examples of agro-tourism
in the Canadian market Agro-tourism and eco-tourism have the potential of improving the
awareness and understanding of sustainable production in the marketing of Ethiopian coffee to
its export customers
Keywords Pollination services coffee production biocontrol agent vectoring sustainable
agriculture agritourism Canada Ethiopia
INTRODUCTION
243
Production of honey and bee products is the usual first mention for beekeeping
commercial activities However the impact of pollination by bees and other insects on
food production for livestock and humans far outweighs the commercial value of honey
and bee products The impact of pollination on the value of worldwide food production
is estimated at $2500 billion USD1 Payment for pollination services is relatively
common in North America Western Europe Australia New Zealand Japan India
Philippines and South Africa The practice of payment for pollination services (PPS) is
growing in both recognition and practice in Brazil Argentina and southern Europe With
the exception of South Africa PPS is neither practiced nor well documented in the
continent of Africa3
PPS in Canada is well documented for a number of oil seed horticultural and tree fruit
crops In 2016 PPS represented $193 billion USD$ compared to the value of honey
products in Canada valued at $180 million USD2
Coffee production employs 25 of the Ethiopian population Coffee (Coffea arabica
and Coffea canephora is the principal cash crop in Ethiopia and represents 24 of the
value of the countries export value at $784 million USD4
It is well documented that coffeasp requires insect pollination7 151617 yet beekeepers
are not paid for the benefit derived by coffee producers nor do coffee producers benefit
from increased quality and increased yields resulting from bee pollination39
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This paper is a literature review with supplementary research from face to face
interviews with researchers and commercial operators in Canada
RESULTS
There is excellent availability of published papers on the importance of insect pollination
in Canadian agriculture as well as both species of coffee
Statistics Canada and the Canadian Association of Professional Apiarists regularly
update production statistics for honey and pollination services26
The 2016 statistics for Canada are
244
The Canadian Association of Professional Apiarists have adopted a research-based
methodology in estimating the economic value of pollination services by honey bees56
bull The value of honey bee to agriculture = V x D x P
bull V annual value of the crop attributable to honey bee activity
bull D dependency of the crop on insect pollinators
bull P proportion of (effective) insect pollinators of the crop that are honey
bees
bull The dependency factor D was calculated according to the following formula for
crops where data could be found in studies on crop pollination
bull D = (Yo -Yc)Yo where
bull Yo open pollinated yield or yield in cages with bees provided
bull Yc yield in cages without insects
bull In using the dependency factor only the value of the yield above what would be
obtained in the absence of honey bees is considered not the entire value of the
245
crop In the case of crops that benefit from insect pollination in more ways than
increases in yield such as improved quality and uniformity an arbitrary value of
01 was added to the calculated D-value
bull Except when a P-value for a particular crop could be found in the literature
Robinson et al (1989) assigned P the value of 08 which was based on the
widely accepted estimate that honey bees account for at least 80 of all
pollinators For crops that normally have a presence of bee hives for pollination
or honey production a coefficient of 01 was added to the P-value to reflect the
higher density of honey bees
Ethiopiarsquos commercial resources for export total in 2014 at $313 billion USD4
More than 65 of this amount is directly attributed to agricultural products of which
coffee is the single largest category valued at $784 million USD4
Recent research in Uganda regarding farmerrsquos perceptions of pollinatorsrsquo importance in
coffee production reveals a high degree of awareness and sensitivity regarding
ecosystems Coffee farmers in Uganda did not have a strong understanding of the role
and importance of bees in pollination for coffee production19 It was observed that more
246
than 90 of the small-scale coffee growers did not understand the value of pollination
services The ability of coffee farmers to identify and differentiate bees from other
insects was highly variable based on geography
Researchers have demonstrated repeatedly and in a variety of coffee growing regions
globally the importance of pollination in the quality and quantity of coffee berries
produced Honey bees while not the sole source of insect pollination are the primary
insects involved in coffee pollination Coffee growers can expect crop yield
improvements of 10-20 by insect pollination rather than simply relying on wind7 C
arabica fruitset increased 22 higher with bee pollination1516 C canephora increased
fruit set by 251517 compared with wind and autogamy pollination C canephora like C
arabica were primarily pollinated by Apis spp Honeybees capability in pollination for a
range of other horticultural crops and oil seeds is well documented
Precision agriculture and its role in sustainable agriculture by minimizing the use of
insecticides fungicides and plant growth regulators is increasingly important in food
production strategies Precision agriculture can take many forms and applications
Researchers at the University of Guelph and NSERC -Canpolin Canadian Pollination
Initiative have developed and demonstrated commercial applications of antifungal
agents using Apis mellifera20 The process is described as Pollinator Biocontrol Vector
Technology (PBVT) The initial research demonstrated that honeybees could also
deliver antagonistic fungus to strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) blossoms Plant
pathogens insect pests and stacking of these production limiting agents can be
successfully delivered to flowers by the honeybee21 The production improvements can
be measured and directly attributed to the impact of honeybees on their pollination visits
with PBVT