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Beeswax Production and Marketing in Ethiopia: Challenges in Value Chain

Received: 24 November 2014     Accepted: 5 December 2014     Published: 16 December 2014
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Abstract

Beeswax is one of the most valuable and oldest bee products to be used by mankind and still being used in the development of new products in various fields such as cosmetics, foods, pharmaceuticals, engineering and industry. Ethiopia has huge apicultural resources that made it the leading beeswax producer in Africa, and one of the important beeswax exporter to the world market. In Ethiopia apicultural research is being conducted in a coordinated manner under the national agricultural research system. Hence, a lot of information have been gathered on different aspects of the beekeeping. This work is a review of various research results from published and unpublished data over a long period of time in the area of beeswax production, chemical analysis, marketing and value chain studies in Ethiopia. Despite the country’s huge potential for production of high quality beeswax, only less than 10% of the beeswax produced is exported. The beeswax production and processing practices use traditional and inefficient techniques that leave significant amount of beeswax resource unutilized. The marketing channel for beeswax in the country is also entangled with challenges related to uneasy traceability and adulteration that are affecting both the local and international trade.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12
Page(s) 447-451
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Beekeeping, Beeswax, Ethiopia, Marketing, Production

References
[1] Tulloch, A.P. 1980. Beeswax – composition and analysis. Bee Wor 61: 47-62.
[2] Crane, E. 1990. Bees and beekeeping: science, practice and world resources. Heinnmann Newness, London. pp. 614.
[3] Kameda, T. 2004. Molecular structure of crude beeswax studied by solid-state 13C NMR. J. Insect Sci. 4:29
[4] Brown, R.H. 1988. Honey bees: a Guide to management: The Crowood press Ltd London. pp. 128.
[5] Brwon, R.H. 1981. Beeswax. Butler and Tanner, LTD, Frome. pp. 74.
[6] Hepburn, H.R. 1986. Honeybees and wax. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. pp. 205.
[7] Hepburn, H.R., Hugo, J.J., Mitchell, D., Nijland, M.J.M. and Scrimgeour, A.G. 1984. On the energetic costs of wax production by the African honeybee, Apis mellifera adansonii, S. Afr. J. Sci. 80: 363– 368.
[8] Krell, R. 1996. Value added products from beekeeping. Agricultural Services Bulletin No 124. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Rome, Italy. http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e00.htm., accessed on 13/05/2010.
[9] Gemechis, L. 2014. Review of progresses in Ethiopian honey production and marketing. Lives. res. for rur. dev. 26(1)
[10] Nuru, A. 2007. Atlas of pollen grains of major honeybee flora of Ethiopia. Holeta Bee Research Centre. Commercial Printing Enterprise. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. pp 152.
[11] FAO, 2005. Statistical yearbook, FAOSAT.
[12] CSA, 2006. Statistical Abstracts. Central Statistical Agency. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[13] CSA, 2012. Statistical Abstracts. Central Statistical Agency. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[14] Nuru, A. 2000. Physical and chemical properties of Ethiopian beeswax and detection its adulteration. E. J. Ani. Prod. 7: 39-48.
[15] Anam, O.O. and Gathuru, E.M. 1985. Melting point and saponification cloud point of adulterated beeswax. pp. 222-223. Proceedings of 3rd International conference on apiculture in tropical climate, 1984, Nairobi, Kenya.
[16] EEPA, 2010. Ethiopian Export Promotion Agency. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[17] EEPA, 2012. Ethiopian Export Promotion Agency. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[18] Nuru, A. and Eddessa, N. 2006. Profitability of processing crude honey. Pp79-84. Proceedings of 13th Annual Conference of Ethiopian Society of Animal production (ESAP). August 25-27, 2004. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 244pp.
[19] MoARD, 2003. Honey and beeswax marketing and development. IN DEVELOPMENT, M. O. A. A. R. (Ed.) Plan 2003. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[20] Mengistu, A. 2011. Pro-poor value chains to make market more inclusive for the rural poor: Lessons from the Ethiopian honey value chain. pp. 35- 50. Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark.
[21] FAO, 2011. Statistical yearbook, FAOSAT.
[22] CBI, 2009. CBI market survey: the honey and other bee products market in the EU.
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  • APA Style

    Gemechis Legesse Yadeta. (2014). Beeswax Production and Marketing in Ethiopia: Challenges in Value Chain. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(6), 447-451. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12

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    ACS Style

    Gemechis Legesse Yadeta. Beeswax Production and Marketing in Ethiopia: Challenges in Value Chain. Agric. For. Fish. 2014, 3(6), 447-451. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12

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    AMA Style

    Gemechis Legesse Yadeta. Beeswax Production and Marketing in Ethiopia: Challenges in Value Chain. Agric For Fish. 2014;3(6):447-451. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12,
      author = {Gemechis Legesse Yadeta},
      title = {Beeswax Production and Marketing in Ethiopia: Challenges in Value Chain},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {447-451},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140306.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20140306.12},
      abstract = {Beeswax is one of the most valuable and oldest bee products to be used by mankind and still being used in the development of new products in various fields such as cosmetics, foods, pharmaceuticals, engineering and industry. Ethiopia has huge apicultural resources that made it the leading beeswax producer in Africa, and one of the important beeswax exporter to the world market. In Ethiopia apicultural research is being conducted in a coordinated manner under the national agricultural research system. Hence, a lot of information have been gathered on different aspects of the beekeeping. This work is a review of various research results from published and unpublished data over a long period of time in the area of beeswax production, chemical analysis, marketing and value chain studies in Ethiopia. Despite the country’s huge potential for production of high quality beeswax, only less than 10% of the beeswax produced is exported. The beeswax production and processing practices use traditional and inefficient techniques that leave significant amount of beeswax resource unutilized. The marketing channel for beeswax in the country is also entangled with challenges related to uneasy traceability and adulteration that are affecting both the local and international trade.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AB  - Beeswax is one of the most valuable and oldest bee products to be used by mankind and still being used in the development of new products in various fields such as cosmetics, foods, pharmaceuticals, engineering and industry. Ethiopia has huge apicultural resources that made it the leading beeswax producer in Africa, and one of the important beeswax exporter to the world market. In Ethiopia apicultural research is being conducted in a coordinated manner under the national agricultural research system. Hence, a lot of information have been gathered on different aspects of the beekeeping. This work is a review of various research results from published and unpublished data over a long period of time in the area of beeswax production, chemical analysis, marketing and value chain studies in Ethiopia. Despite the country’s huge potential for production of high quality beeswax, only less than 10% of the beeswax produced is exported. The beeswax production and processing practices use traditional and inefficient techniques that leave significant amount of beeswax resource unutilized. The marketing channel for beeswax in the country is also entangled with challenges related to uneasy traceability and adulteration that are affecting both the local and international trade.
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Author Information
  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Holeta Bee Research Center (HBRC), Holeta, P. O. Box 22, Ethiopia

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