Economic analysis of honey production in Edo State, Nigeria.

This research work was carried out to analyze the economics of honey production in Edo State. The objectives of the study were to examine the demographic characteristics of honey production, assess the profitability of honey bee and the problems facing honey production .The list of honey farmers in the state was compiled and 50% of them were randomly sampled. Questionnaire was administered on them to elicit information socio- economic and cost tracing variables. The data were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages while gross margin was used to analyze the profitability. The findings showed that the majority (98%) of the respondents were male, all (100%) of the respondents are married and were literate. The study further revealed that 76% of the respondents had less than 5 years of experience. And that there is inadequate link between the extension workers and the honey bee producers as only 6% were visited. The study further revealed that high cost of hive/lack of fund, absconding of bees, effects of weather, ants infestation and lack of flowering plants were the major problems encountered in the honey production. The regression analysis revealed that the level of education, years of experience, the visit of extension worker and number of flowing season in honey production are all positively related to profitability of honey production. It was therefore recommended that government assists interested bee farmers with loan and provide the necessary inputs at subsidize rates.