Income Sustainability and Poverty Reduction Among Beekeeping Value Chain Actors in the Berekum Municipality, Ghana
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International Journal of Development and Sustainability ISSN: 2186-8662 – www.isdsnet.com/ijds Volume 6 Number 8 (2017): 667-684 ISDS Article ID: IJDS17061401 Income sustainability and poverty reduction among beekeeping value chain actors in the Berekum Municipality, Ghana Hans Kwaku Duah 1*, Alexander Yao Segbefia 1, Michael Kodwo Adjaloo 2, David Fokuo 1 1 Department of Geography and Rural Development, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 2 Technology Consultancy Centre, College of Engineering, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana Abstract Increased level of poverty in many communities around the globe as a result of rapid population growth has led to some consideration of major livelihood activities where potentials of reducing poverty are enormous. This study examined the prospects of sustaining bee-keepers’ income to enhance poverty reduction and improve livelihoods in the Berekum Municipality in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. Questionnaires and interview schedule were the main research instruments used in gathering data. These were supplemented with personal observation. Questionnaires were administered to 51 bee-keepers, 11 honey traders and 4 inputs providers who are the major Beekeeping value chain actors in the Berekum Municipality. Cross tabulation, Mean, Line graphs, and Frequency tables were employed in the analysis of quantitative data using the Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS version 18) software and excel. A narrative analysis was adopted for the qualitative data collected. Descriptions and quotations were also used in analyzing qualitative data. A cost and benefit analysis was carried out to determine the profit obtained from honey trade, honey production, and provision of Beekeeping tools over a five year period in order to establish income sustainability. The results indicated that Beekeeping has contributed enormously not only to the living conditions of the value chain actors, but also increased their income levels as a result of favorable honey market environment in the Berekum Municipality. Beekeeping activity in the study area has a lot of potentials in reducing poverty and improving livelihoods through employment creation. Keywords: Beekeeping; Poverty, Livelihood; Income Sustainability Published by ISDS LLC, Japan | Copyright © 2017 by the Author(s) | This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite this article as: Duah, H.K., Segbefia, A.Y., Adjaloo, M.K. and Fokuo, D. (2017), “Income sustainability and poverty reduction among beekeeping value chain actors in the Berekum Municipality, Ghana”, International Journal of Development and Sustainability, Vol. 6 No. 8, pp. 667-684. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.6 No.8 (2017): 667-684 1. Introduction Beekeeping has been identified as one of the greatest non-farm activity globally and in Africa, as it is capable of reducing extreme poverty and improving rural livelihoods (Campbell et al., 2012). It is a promising non- farm activity for rural households and contributes substantially to the incomes of the bee actors and the economy of many countries in Africa like Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Angola and Cameroon (EARO, 2000; Gezahegn, 2001). Ethiopia`s total contribution of honey to the international market stands at approximately 54,700 tons per year, the largest in Africa, and around two million people are involved in the beekeeping value chain (Hilmi et al., 2011). This has resulted in high international recognition for beekeeping as a viable economic activity in Africa. According to Noah and Peter (2013), all the municipalities and districts in the Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana show increasing trend of honey production. The region has a total number of 5,748 bee-keepers comprising 3,536 males and 2,212 females (Subbey, 2009). The average annual production of honey for 2010 was 74,088kg. A significant percentage (48.9%) of the income of bee-keepers is derived from honey production, followed by crop production. Thus, it is could be inferred that Beekeeping is capable of generating income through employment creation and improving livelihoods, and hence, reduce poverty. However, the income sustainability and poverty reduction of Beekeeping value chain actors’ in the Berekum municipality remain largely unexamined. This is imperative if we are to measure the contribution and the potential of Beekeeping as a poverty reduction tool or strategy. The study was therefore carried out to examine the prospects of sustaining income of bee-keepers in the Berekum Municipality, Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. The aim is to enhance poverty reduction and improve livelihoods in the area. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Site description The Berekum Municipality is located between Latitude 7’15oS and 8’00oN and Longitude 2’25o E and 2’50oW. It shares boundaries with Domaa East District to the South-West, North-West by Tain and Jaman District, South – East is Sunyani West District as shown in figure 1. The Municipality has a total land area of 1,653 Km2. It lies within Semi–Equatorial Climate Zone, and therefore has fairly uniform temperature, ranging between 260C in August and 300C in March each year. Sunshine duration for most part of the year averages 7 hours per day. Relative humidity is generally high throughout the year between 70 to 80 per cent in the dry season and 75 to 80 per cent in the wet season. The Municipality experiences one of the highest rainfall patterns in Ghana with a mean annual rainfall ranging between 1,275mm-1,544mm. The rainfall follows a double maximum rainfall pattern which occurs in May to June and September to October each year. The vegetation is described as a transition forest which has the right floristic composition and environment for honey bees and beekeeping (Adjare, 1984). 668 ISDS www.isdsnet.com International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.6 No.8 (2017): 667-684 Figure 1. The map of Berekum municipality showing the selected study communities The Municipality is strategically located as roads from Sunyani, Dormaa, Jaman and Seikwa meet(Figure 1) enabling business transactions with all the four (4) other districts which share boundaries. The location makes transportation of goods and services to and from the Municipality easy encouraging inter-districts trade. ISDS www.isdsnet.com 669 International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.6 No.8 (2017): 667-684 2.2. Sampling design, data collection and tools for data analysis The study used a mixed method approach in collecting both qualitative and quantitative data concurrently (Creswell and Clark, 2007). The primary data were collected from honey traders, bee-keepers and input providers using questionnaires. The secondary information was obtained from theses, journals, internet and other authoritative sources. A cross-sectional survey design which offers information about a population at a given point in time (Bless and Higson-Smith, 2000) was employed. The design was intended to gain enough information for greater understanding of Beekeeping activities and income sustainability, and hence help provide an overall picture of the bee industry in the municipality. Furthermore, the approach assisted in getting different data from different actors in the beekeeping value chain. Data were collected using questionnaire, interview schedule, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The questionnaire was used as the potential respondents were scattered over the municipality. Also, it was an efficient way to collect data quantifiably and statistically; and enable large respondents to be reached within a short time period. The interview schedule was employed because is flexibility made it possible to obtain in-depth information about the economic impact of Beekeeping activities on the respondents on a one-on-one basis, as more information was provided by the respondents. This interview schedule was basically used to elicit information from the Beekeeping value chain actors about how the income from the Beekeeping had impacted on their livelihoods. Quantity of honey traded within five years in the study area was analysed. The respondents were allowed to demonstrate their perceived rate of either decrease or increase in honey trading through focus group discussions. The respondents were randomly selected from the study area i.e. Berekum. The biophysical and socio economic characteristics of the study area made the selection of Berekum for the collection of pertinent data to address the research problem. A sample size (n) = 11 of respondents was determined by n = N/1+N (a2), where n = sample size, N = total population of honey traders, a = 5% is the margin of error (Slovin, 1960). Table 1. The Sample Size for the Study Berekum Municipality Communities Actors Honey Traders Input Bee-keepers providers Total Berekum 41 11 4 56 Fetenta 2 0 0 2 Ayimom 2 0 0 2 Amomaso 1 0 0 1 Domfite 2 0 0 2 Kutire 1 0 0 1 Mpatase 1 0 0 1 Biadan 1 0 0 1 Total 51 11 4 66 Source: Authors own construct (2015) The quantitative data gathered were subjected to factor analysis to identify and examine direct and indirect drivers for both high or low honey production and trading in Berekum. Factor analysis aided to reduce many variables to a more meaningful number of variables and also assist in analyzing 670 ISDS www.isdsnet.com International Journal of Development and Sustainability Vol.6 No.8 (2017): 667-684 interrelationship among variables (Chala et al., 2009).The figures or frequency tables generated in the SPSS version 18 were also exported to excel for editing for enriched visual representation. Content analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data by drawing inferences from the views of the respondents (Gemechis et al., 2012). 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents Out of the 51 beekeepers (i.e. those who actually managed the honeybees in a bee farm) forty-nine (49) were males while the remaining two (2) were females.