JIMMA– Jimma Zone Agriculture Office said that efforts are well underway to export 10,000 tons of honey this budget year.
Office Head Mohammed Teha told the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) that the Zone has been striving to harvest 54,000 tons of honey of which the 10,000 tonis intended for foreign market.
“The productivity of honey in the zone is showing an exponential increment over the past three years and in this budget year, the zone has planned to harvest 54 thousand tons of honey in which the 10,000 ton will be exported,” he added.
The Zone has signed an agreement with a local company to facilitate exportinghoney, Mohammedsaid, adding that the company directly receive the honey from the farmers and deliver it to the market.
The agreement benefits farmers as it eliminate manipulators for engaging only the producerand the exporter, he indicated.
The Zone has been undertaking various works to realize the ‘Jima Declaration’ which was launched three years ago by the Oromia Regional State aimed at exploiting the apiculture potentialsand increase productivity, he recalled.
Following the declaration, Mohammed said, Jima Zone immediately started implementing the initiative through utilizinguntapped resources andresolving bottlenecks of the sector.
Accordingly, the Zone administrationhas contributed a lot to expand modern beekeeping equipmentthereby the number of modern beehives in the zone has reached 388,000 which is crucial to improve productivity both in volume and quality, he added.
“Over the past six months, the zone distributed 167,000 modern beehives and increased the number of modern hives from 62 thousand to 388 thousand within three years,” Mohammed added.
He stated that the modern beehive helps to produce 33 kilogramof honey on average while the traditional oneyields only seven kilogram perannum, the Head noted.
Jimma Zone is suitable for bee keeping having untapped resources of nice climate and huge forest coverage, according to Mohammed.
BY DARGIE KAHSAY
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 24 JANUARY 2024
