Smart apiculture management services for developing countries—the case of SAMS project in Ethiopia and Indonesia

Abstract

The European Union funded project SAMS (Smart Apiculture Management Services) enhances international cooperation of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and sustainable agriculture between EU and developing countries in pursuit of the EU commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goal “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The project consortium comprises four partners from Europe (two from Germany, Austria, and Latvia) and two partners each from Ethiopia and Indonesia. Beekeeping with small-scale operations provides suitable innovation labs for the demonstration and dissemination of cost-effective and easy-to-use open source ICT applications in developing countries. SAMS allows active monitoring and remote sensing of bee colonies and beekeeping by developing an ICT solution supporting the management of bee health and bee productivity as well as a role model for effective international cooperation. By following the user centered design (UCD) approach, SAMS addresses requirements of end-user communities on beekeeping in developing countries, and includes findings in its technological improvements and adaptation as well as in innovative services and business creation based on advanced ICT and remote sensing technologies. SAMS enhances the production of bee products, creates jobs (particularly youths/women), triggers investments, and establishes knowledge exchange through networks and initiated partnerships.

Challenges and perspectives for beekeeping in Ethiopia. A review

“…Local (Alebachew and Eshetie 2019), as well as international, programs (Wakjira et al 2021) have committed themselves to provide help in the transition from traditional to transitional and modern beekeeping. In the SAMS project presented in Wakjira et al (2021), attention was given to female/young beekeepers, honey value chain and new technologies for beekeeping in marginalized countries. Another result of this project was an online wiki including scientific and other references on bees and beekeeping in Ethiopia.…”

Adoption of Modern Hive Beekeeping Technology: Evidence from Ethiopia

“…The improved hive has an advantage over the others in that it produces a high quality and quantity of honey. Another advantage of upgraded hives is their ability to prevent swarming by transporting bees from one location to another in search of honeybee flowers and pollination services [43,44]. On the other hand, its downsides are that the equipment is somewhat expensive, that professional labor is required, and that the equipment requires extremely precise precautions.…”

“…Beekeeping does not compete for resources with other agricultural operations and can be managed along with them. In the absence of bees, man cannot harvest and use nectar and pollen [53].…”

Approaches, challenges and recent advances in automated bee counting devices: A review

“…The benefits of remote prediction of swarm events include inspecting hives only when needed rather than regularly (Aumann et al, 2021). Furthermore, the data collected can indicate when honey flow stops and colonies need to be relocated or fed to maintain health or being able to find sites with higher honey yields (Wakjira et al, 2021). Doing so minimises the beekeeper's resource use and maximises hive productivity (Catania & Vallone, 2020).…”