Determinants of beekeeping adoption by smallholder rural households in Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

There is an enormous potential for beekeeping practices to generate income, create jobs, and alleviate poverty. However, in Ethiopia, there are many constraints that hinder rural households to expand and adopt beekeeping practices. The objective of this study was to analyze the determinants of beekeeping adoption in Northwest Ethiopia. To achieve the objective, cross-sectional data were collected from 369 rural households and analyzed using a nonlinear econometric (binary logistic regression) model. The maximum likelihood estimation results revealed that sex, marital status, household size, and the educational status of the household head, number of extension visits, membership in a farmers’ association, and access to credit were the statistically significant variables determining beekeeping adoption in the study area. The beekeeping constraints that had statistically significant influence on beekeeping adoption were grouped as marketing, natural, and financial. To reap the benefits from the huge potential of honeybee colonies, the government of Ethiopia and other associated actors and stakeholders should work together to solve the constraints faced by rural households in adopting beekeeping practices that could result in improving their livelihoods.

Keywords

• beekeeping adoption
• rural households
• logit model
• constraints
• honeybee