Bees for Development takes a closer look at Nature-based Beekeeping in Amhara, Ethiopia

Janet Lowore and Getsh Kassa, Bees for Development

Ethiopia’s Ten-Year Development Plan: Pathway to Prosperity (2021- 2031) aims to increase honey production from 59,000 to 152,000 tonnes a year. This raises questions about the type of intervention needed to achieve this growth. Often the narrative in the beekeeping sector in developing nations' context is about ‘modernisation’, implying a shift in beekeeping approach towards greater adoption of the movable comb hive. In this article we take a closer look at the beekeeping system used by one experienced beekeeper in Ethiopia and ask questions about what this might tell us about the factors which support successful beekeeping.

Anduamlak Asmare catching a swarm.

© Bees for Development Ethiopia

Anduamlak Asmare lives near Bahir Dar in Amhara, Ethiopia. He is 31 years old and married with three children. When Anduamlak was visited by Bees for Development Ethiopia in November 2021 he explained how he started beekeeping;

I began beekeeping as a child and learned the basic skills and resources from my parents and grandparents who were living in this kebele*.

Anduamlak owns 48 colonies located in the forest area. Most of the hives he uses are local-style widely used in Amhara; constructed using locally available materials. Anduamlak sells honey and bees to support his livelihood, confident in the knowledge that he will be able to catch more swarms and split his remaining colonies to increase his colony numbers. The sale of 58 bee colonies earned him ETB63,000 (US$/€1,240) and is encouraging him to engage more in bee colony selling. Asked about his apiary site he explained:

I keep all bees in a forest area far from my home because I have learned from experience there is ample forage resource there and the micro-climate is more suitable for bees compared to homestead beekeeping.

Anduamlak is convinced that keeping bees in the forest area is more productive than backyard beekeeping and believes the main reasons for this are greater availability of forage, a strong affinity between the bees and the natural setting and reduced human and livestock interference. He explained:

I have a neighbour who used to keep 30 colonies next to my apiary in the forest. Last year he transferred them to his backyard because he felt that they would be safer as he was concerned about theft at the distant forest location. He was surprised to find that he could not get as much honey as previously and his beekeeping income reduced”. Anduamlak believes that this happened because forest beekeeping, in a natural setting, is more productive.

Anduamlak is most interested in localstyle and top-bar hives. His reasons:

• Easy to construct using locally available materials

• Very suitable to catch swarms

• No need of sophisticated and additional pieces of equipment

• Appropriate for natural settings

• Suitable for colony management

He considered that movable comb hives are not suitable on account of their high cost, which is a constraint to beekeeping on a large-scale, that they are not compatible with local beekeepers' indigenous knowledge, and ill-suited for swarm catching. Of the three types of hive Anduamlak is clear. Top-bar hives are productive and make inspection and colony management easy, but are less suitable for forest beekeeping because anyone, even those with no experience, can open them and steal honey. Given the forage advantages of placing hives in the forest – this is a real issue. He least prefers movable comb hives on account of high price, being difficult to manage, high risk of theft and the need for additional equipment, for example honey extractors. On balance Anduamlak considers the local-style hives to be most practical.

Anduamlak earned over ETB28,000 (US$/€533) from honey sales and ETB63,000 (US$/€1,200) from sale of the colonies, a total of ETB91,000 (US$/€1,700) a significant proportion of his total income.

The forest area where the hives are kept is relatively green and conserved well. We asked Anduamlak about natural resource conservation:

As you may observe my apiary is relatively green and there are beautiful flowers and green plants even if the summer season is ending. This is because I take care of this landholding and no one can cut a single tree here, or even enter the place. But, when you see the other common lands especially grazing lands, no one is taking care of them, and all that people want is to harvest the remaining resources of trees and shrubs. I believe that if there were many beekeepers next to me the environment would be conserved well.

Case study information collected by Bees for Development Ethiopia

Taking a closer look

There is much to learn from this case study. The beekeeper is successful, making not only a good income from his system, but a good profit – all without adopting the advanced features of so-called ‘modern’ beekeeping. His outgoings are minimal. Anduamlak, who gained his skills from family members, has a keen understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of different hive types and recognises that his preference is based on a balance of different factors – citing cost, useability and practical issues. Of particular interest is the intersection between hive type choice, apiary location and habitat protection. The beekeeper has evidence that the forest location away from the village provides excellent forage for his bees and this forage abundance underpins his good honey yields. Yet this distant location has implications for safety, and he would prefer not to place movable comb hives in this distant location for this reason. In addition to the other benefits of local-style hives – low cost, ease of swarm catching – they are more resistant to thieves, therefore the most practical option for the preferred forage rich location. It is fascinating to learn how the beekeeper protects his hive sites from other users, demonstrating a good link between beekeeping and habitat conservation.

*A kebele is roughly equivalent to a village.

Images © Bees for Development Ethiopia

Conclusions

• Movable comb hives are not a panacea for profitable beekeeping, other systems are very effective

• When considering the suitability of a beekeeping system for any given location, it is necessary to consider all aspects of the system and not only hive type. Scalability, fitness for purpose, security, ease of management, ease of swarm catching and need for other accessories (or not) must also be considered

• Local knowledge and culture are important, they give people a sense of security, ownership and empowerment

• We learn that forage abundance and richness is the greatest determinant of yield.

Taking this into account, this case study tells us that for Ethiopia to meet its honey production goals it is probably most important to pay attention to habitat and forage availability, above other considerations.

Anduamlak Asmare in his apiary in Amhara.

© Bees for Development Ethiopia