Zooming in on Ethiopia

Size

1.07 million km²

Population

55 million

Agriculture

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy. It is estimated that agriculture accounts for 41% of GDP and 90% of foreign exchange earnings.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping has been a tradition since before other farming systems. It is assumed to have started about 3000 years ago. Apiculture in Ethiopia is mainly by local, traditional methods and honey hunting is practised in extreme parts of the south western and southern regions.

Honeybees

Recent morphometric study has verified Apis mellifera abyssinica, Apis mellifera jementica, Apis mellifera monticola and Apis mellifera scutellata.

Habitat

Ethiopia is rich with natural plant habitats and a good environment for bees.

Hives

Traditional hives, top-bar hives and movable frame hives are in use. The total number of fixed comb hives is estimated to be over 5 million of which the large proportion is concentrated in the south west and the central Highlands. Hives such as Kenya top-bar, African long hive and mud top-bar are recent introductions. The frame hive was introduced into the country in the late 1970s and the Zander hive is the first to be widely distributed. Langstroth and Dadant are currently used in certain apiaries. To date there are over 19,000 frame hives with bees. These are owned by commercial beekeepers, hobbyists, backyard beekeepers, joint ventures and government institutions.

Honeybee flora

The country is endowed with various kinds of forest trees, shrubs, herbs, cultivated crops, and weeds that provide nectar and pollen for foraging bees. Some of the most important honey sources are Acacia spp, Bidens spp, Brassica napus, Cordia africana, Coreopsis boraniana, Guizotia abyssinica, Guizotia scabra, Helianthus annus, Schefflera abyssinica, Trifolium spp, and Vernonia spp.

Production

According to the production estimate a totoal of about 23,000 tonnes of crude honey and about 3000 tonnes of beeswax are collected annually. There is strong, local demand for honey, due to high market value obtained for “Tej” (honey mead).

Honeybee diseases, pests and predators

Nosema and Amoeba are diseases so far identified: the degree of infestation is low. The country is free from brood diseases and Varroa. Pests include ants, bee louse, honey badger and wax moth

Training and extension

The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the training and extension of beekeeping. Short and long term training courses are conducted for beekeeping extension officers and beekeepers at Holeta. The Veterinary Faculty of Addis Ababa University and Alamaya Agricultural University also hold courses on apiculture.

Research

Apicultural research is new in Ethiopia. The Ministry of Agriculture is not mandated to conduct research work but the Holeta Bee Research and Training Centre is the sole institution undertaking applied and adaptive apicultural research that would support development. The research work mainly focuses on improving the quality of hive products, identification and development of productive honeybee races, study and evaluation of honey plants, improvement of traditional bee culture and beekeeping equipment, and investigation of honeybee diseases.

Beekeeping equipment

Frame hives and top-bar hives are produced in the rural Technology Promotion Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture. Accessories like smokers, bee veils and bee gloves are produced at Holeta Centre. A centrifugal honey extractor is currently under production. Wax moulds and frame wires are imported from abroad.

Our thanks to Gezahegne Tadesse who contributed the information for this article

Beekeeping projects

Further information is available in the following references:

B&D7, page 10,

BRDI2, page 8;

B&D14, page 13;

B&D22, page 8;

B&D24, page 10,

B&D29, page 8;

B&D30, page 8

Publications

FICHTL,R Chikka Hive: beekeeping handbook. German Development Service, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1994) 45 pages.

FICHTL,R; ADDLI A Honeybee flora of Ethiopia. Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim, Germany (1994) 550 pages