Participatory Demonstration and Evaluation of 'Chefeka' Hive Technology in Abaya and Yabello Districts of West Guji and Borana Zones of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The active role of pastoralists in developing beekeeping technologies has been largely underestimated and underutilized. In view of this the study was conducted during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 at Abaya and Yabello Districts of West Guji and Borana Zones to evaluate the productivity and profitability of Chefeka hive made from locally available materials under pastoralists’ and farmers’  circumstances, to create awareness on Chefeka hive made from locally available materials for pastoralist beekeepers, and to improve farmers’ and patoralists' knowledge and skill of application/use of the Chefeka hive technology. Generally one demonstration site have been selected from each districts based on the potentiality of the area and participation of pastoralists in beekeeping activities. For evaluation and demonstration of the technology various participatory approaches were employed namely, Pastoralists Research Groups Formation, Training, Client-oriented research approach workshop and exchange visit. At each site three chefeka hives have been constructed and yield comparison was made with traditional beehives and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result of the demonstration showed that the honey bees have accepted the chefeka hive made from locally available materials. The average honey yield obtained per annum from chefeka hive made from locally available materials and traditional hive is 11kg and 3kg, respectively. Even though chefeka hives’ cost of production is different from place to place, it is on average 62.00Birr. At all demonstration sites, the beekeepers have confirmed as the technology fits to their socio-economic situation(affordable & manageble). Hence, the technology is productive, affordable and  strongly recommended to be more popularized for maximizing honey production and alleviating  the existing problems of traditional beehives.

Keywords: Chefeka hive, Participatory demonstration, Beekeeping

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-18-03

Publication date:September 30^th 2020