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Ethiopia has substantial potential in beekeeping with rich flora, proper ecological conditions and existence of large bee colonies. However, modern beekeeping in study area is still faced with challenges in respect to lack of bee management skill, colony absconding and low honey production. The study was conducted in Jimma Zone where modern beekeeping has been practiced since 40 years. For the study three districts (Kersa, Goma and Gera) were purposively selected depending upon the existence of large number of modern beekeeping. A total of 75 beekeepers engaged in modern beekeeping were contacted and interviewed. Visual assessment of apiaries and internal inspection of suspected colonies were carried out to harmonize the relevant information noted by respondents. Interview on beekeepers characteristics, seasonal bee management practices of modern beekeeping, bee forage flowering seasons, bee management constraints and honey production were collected and analyzed. The result revealed that 62.7% modern beekeeping in the study area is based on inappropriate colony management practices and characterised predominately by high absconding and low honey yield despite the abundant bee forage potential in the study areas. Inappropriate skill bee management practices, colony absconding, poor design of modern beehives, low honey yield and bee pests are the main problems that impede the full use of apiculture resources in the study area. Interventions in modern beekeeping should be focused on empowering beekeepers with skills through ensuring availability of improved beekeeping technologies with standard seasonal bee management practices should be strengthened.

In Ethiopia, agrobiodiversity is managed through indigenous knowledge of rural communities, where the selection of plant species varies depending on the sociocultural practices and local economic needs. Traditional beekeeping has been practiced by millions of households in rural Ethiopia over a long historical period. However, the contribution of beekeeping in maintaining agrobiodiversity has not been systematically assessed in the country. This study was conducted in Central and Western Ethiopia to assess and compare traditional conservation practices, as well as the diversity and abundance of vegetation found within home-garden maintained by beekeepers and non-beekeepers. The results of the study showed that beekeepers raditionally retain more remnants of trees and shrubs in their home-garden to favor sustainable beekeeping, compared to non-beekeepers who instead are more likely to expand crop production. The mean number of floral species in beekeeper and non-beekeeper home-gardens was 22.8 ±3.2 and 14.2 ± 2.1, respectively. The higher species richness of bee visited plants in beekeepers’ home-gardens may be associated with traditional ecological knowledge accumulated by beekeepers over the years to maximize harvests of bee products. We therefore recommend the integration of ekeeping to other conservation interventions, such as community forestry, watersheds and protected areas as sustainable conservation practices. We suggest that necessary financial, technological, and extensional support should be enhanced to align improved v to any conservation efforts.

SUMMARYA monitoring study was carried out in Gumara watershed, upper Blue Nile basin, with the objective of evaluating livestock water productivity (LWP) using a life cycle assessment method. Sixty two smallholder farmers were selected for the study implemented between November 2006 and February 2008. Data on crop and livestock production were collected to allow assessment of livestock water productivity. Study sites were situated in three different rainfed mixed crop/livestock farming systems; barley/potato based system (BPS), tef/finger-millet based system (TMS), and rice/noug based system (RNS). LWP was found to be significantly lower (p < 0.01) in RNS (0.057 USD m−3 water) than in TMS (0.066 USD m−3 water) or in BPS (0.066 USD m−3 water). Notably, water requirement per kg live weight of cattle increased towards the lower altitude area (in RNS) mainly because of increased evapo-transpiration. As a result, 20% more water was required per kg live weight of cattle in the low ground RNS compared to BPS situated in the upstream parts of the study area. Cattle herd management that involved early offtake increased LWP by 28% over the practice of late offtake. Crop water productivity expressed in monetary units (0.39 USD m−3 water) was higher than LWP (0.063 USD m−3 water) across the mixed farming systems of Gumara watershed. Strategies for improving LWP, from its present low level, could include keeping only the more productive animals, increasing pasture productivity and linking production to marketing. These strategies would also ease the imbalance between the existing high livestock population and the declining carrying capacity of natural pasture.

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