LUX MONTIS Vol. 5 No. 2 July 2017 ENHANCING THE COMPETENCIES OF HONEY BEE FARMERS IN ANAMBRA STATE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION Nwankwo Clara Ukamaka (Ph.D) Faculty of Education, Department of Technology and Vocational Education Enugu State University f Science and Techology, Enugu e-mail: [email protected] Phone No: 08035527504,08111363319 ABSTRACT Enhancing the competences of honey bee farmers in Anambra State for poverty reduction is an alert toencourage the honey bee farmers to go into bee production (apiculture) as a lucrative business that will reduce poverty. The study was carried out in Anambra State. The population for the study was 108 respondents comprising 83 extension officer and 25 bee farmers in Anambra State. No sampling was made because the population was manageable. A 29 item structured questionnaire on competencies needed was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.73. Mean with standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test analysis was used for the test of the hypothesis formulated. It was found that the bee farmers possess fourteen (14) competencies examined in this study at low extent. The study also showed that the fifteen (15) ways of enhancing the competencies identified in the study were reliable enough to enhance bee farmers competencies investigated. More so, the finding regarding the null hypothesis revealed that the null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance was not rejected. Therefore, bee farmers enhancement depend on the relevant and appropriate extension education adopted by extension officers in delivering the extension packages. Based on the findings some recommendations were made, which include that: bee farmers should be encouraged to develop their competencies in bee farming by involving them in learning by doing not utilizing casual workers and that extension officers should be given opportunity to upgrade their knowledge, skills and attitude from time to time through in-service training and seminar/workshops Key words: Enhancing, competency, honey bee farmers, poverty reduction INTRODUCTION The present state of the world economic recession with its concomitant increase in youth unemployment and poverty level leaves much to be desired. Nigeria as a developing nation is worst hit in this regard. The general unemployment level and the poverty state of its citizenry are 1 LUX MONTIS Vol. 5 No. 2 July 2017 so alarming that the various stakeholders are clamoring for diversification of the economy with a lot of emphasis on Agriculture. Agriculture as indicated in Robert (2009) was historically the Nigeria’s economic base and above 70% of the work force still engages in subsistence farming. There is therefore the need for the agricultural sector to be revitalized especially such areas as apiculture (bee farming) which is a neglected area of agriculture.Adesiji andAdegoke(2008) have observed that bee keeping is a neglected area of agriculture in a developing country like Nigeria. This neglect has no doubt contributed to the level of incompetence demonstrated by the bee farmers who engage in it. Hence, the recognition of bee farming and the improvement of the sector will encourage and motivate farmers that are already in the business to improve their competences and will also attract interested individuals and farmers to enter into rearing of these unique insects known as bees for poverty reduction. Bees are of inestimable value as agent of pollination and many plants are entirely dependent on them. Kevin (2004) states that for fruits and nut crops, pollination can be a grower’s real chance to increase yield. The extent of pollination dictates the level of fruits yield. According to Yogi (2012), bees play a critical role in agriculture because four out of the five foods that people eat (fruit, vegetable, oil seeds and pulses) depend on bees for their reproduction through pollination. As a result their impact on agricultural productivity is significant and people need to be encouraged to enter into bee farming.Furthermore, Akachukwu (2008) pointed out that bees are good producers of propolis, royal jelly, pollen and honey which are valuable in producing food supplements. Bee hive products are nutrient-rich foods and have also medicinal properties. Because of these importance, it becomes necessary to enhance the bee farmers competencies in order to have good supply of bee products from bee farming. Bee farming involves manipulation of bee colony by man based on the scientific knowledge of taping the economic aspectsof bee for the purpose of increasing bee rearing for producing honey and other bee products. Bee farming can be done by all and sundry. Improving the competencies of bee farmers will attract more people into bee farming and will also make those who are already in the business to be more efficient in profit maximization. Bee farming is not difficult to embark on,because it requires little capital and the skills can easily be acquired when bee farmers are exposed to the skills through workshops/seminars by the experts (extension officers). According to Oluwatoni (2011) successful bee farming means knowing and understanding bees and what intervention they will and will not tolerate from the bee farmers. Bee farming is much like any other kind of animal husbandry, demanding regular care, maintenance and time.The only essential difference is that bees are wild creatures. Adesiji and Adegoke (2008) stated that bee farming is an occupation that combines knowledge of habit and behaviour of bees under carrying environmental condition with the efficient manipulation of special equipment by the operator. Bee faming can be practiced as an additional source of income for the farmer in rural areas and has been successfully implemented in poverty alleviation project (FAO, 2009). Since bee farming can be practiced by all and sundry, and requires little finance and space, low income earners can easily embark on it for poverty reduction if their competency is improved. Poverty is a state of being deficient in social and economic needs that make for good 2 LUX MONTIS Vol. 5 No. 2 July 2017 living. Akubueze (2002) expressed poverty as lack of resources for reasonable comfortable living. In other words, poverty is when one cannot cater for the important basic needs of life that will better his economic and social life, the person is said to be poor, unless he makes available sources to alleviate poverty. Poverty reduction was expressed by Olaitan, Asogwa and Omeh (2009) as ways of raising the standard of living of people. Bee production can be a good source of reducing poverty, if the competencies are enhanced. Enhancement in the view of Aneke (2010) is improving an individual knowledge, skills and attitude from a lower level to a higher level. Enhancement in this study means to overcome the current limitations of bee productions. Bee productions, if enhanced, will not only reduce the poverty among the bee farmers but also among other people in the society. Galesbury (2007) also explained enhancement as an activity undertaken based on meeting the targeted objective and satisfaction from lower achievement. This study viewed enhancement as improving from the low level of bee production (incompetence) to a higher level of production (competence). For bee farming to be lucrative, bee farmers need to be trained to be competent. Competency according to Olaitan (2003) implies that an individual has the required knowledge, skills and attitude in order to perform successfully at work. Grove (2003) noted that competency is a quality or state of being functionally adequate or having knowledge, skill or strength (as for a particular duty or respect). Olaitan stresses that competency is a set of defined behaviours that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation and development of the behaviours in individual employees. In the context of this study, competencies are the ability of bee farmers to perform successfully in bee farming using the required skills, knowledge and attitudes required by the occupation. Harbor and Harvis (2007) identified the following as competencies in bee farming: knowing annual bee cycle, apiary hygiene, assembling equipment, location of hive, differentiating bees from similar insects, bee development cycle, beehives and their parts, bee inspections, brood examination, cell types, feeding, finding and making the queen, keeping hive records, the honey bees as pollinators, the sources of nectar or pollen, the manipulative techniques, use of protective materials, reading brood partners, setting up apiary, swarm control, locating the flowering zone, treatment of stings, identification of unwelcome visitors, etc. When these competencies in bee farming are enhanced through training given by extension officers, there will be increase in bee production, hence they become more enterprising, thereby reduce poverty and enhance standard of living. The opinions of extension officers are pertinent in determining ways of enhancing production, competencies of bee farmers. This is because they possess expert knowledge to demonstrate the required competencies in bee farming and most appropriate methods of imparting these competencies (Idenyi, 2013).Extension officers are Agriculturalists who have bee exposed to training and retraining programme and are competent in designing and implementing