Potential of Honey production enterprise for improved livelihood among honey producers in Nigeria

A REVIEW STUDIES ON POTENTIAL OF HONEY PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE FOR IMPROVED LIVELIHOOD AMONG HONEY PRODUCERS IN NIGERIA.

* Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development University of Ibadan, Nigeria.                

ABSTRACT

The study assessed the potential of honey production among the beekeepers in Saki rural zone of Oyo State. The population of the study consisted of all honey entrepreneurs or producers. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 114 respondents out of 293 registered honey producers for the study. Data collected with interview scheduled were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, pie and bar chart, while inferential statistics such as (chi square and PPMC) at p=0.05 were used to test the variables in the hypotheses of the study.

Result of the data analysis reveals that 56% were males, 59.6% were below 40years of age, 84.2% were married, 53.5% were Christians, and 51.8% had tertiary education. Most (57.0%) of the beekeepers entrepreneur earned between N30,000 and N59,000 monthly, 86.0% of them were secondarily honey entrepreneur or producers. The 51.8% had 4-6 years of experience in honey production enterprise and 36.0% were civil servant venturing into honey production enterprise while 7.0% were traders. The mean of mostly involved activities in honey production enterprise are packaging of honey (1.62) followed by sieving (1.61) and extraction of honey (1.58). The major honey producer constraints include inadequate capital (1.78) and unauthorised harvesting/theft (1.49). Chi square result shows that there was a significant relationship between respondents’ incomes from honey production and age (χ2=12.792, p=0.046), sex (χ2=13.094, p=0.004), and educational level (χ2=14.520, p=0.024). However there was no significant relationship between income from honey production and honey producers’ religion (χ2=4.417, p=0.620), and marital status (χ2=7.391, p=0.597).

It is concluded that honey production enterprise is a profitable venture in the study area. The study recommended that efforts should be made on how to improve livelihood of the producers and entire beekeepers by giving them information that will enhance the enterprise productivity and marketing.