Research Regarding Apiaries Structure and its Relationship with Honey Production
Abstract
The apiaries structure has been analysed in the year 2011 using a sample of 37 bee farms from Ialomitza County. The following criteria have been used in order to characterize apiaries structure: beekeepers age, distribution of apiaries in the territory, number of bee families, honey yield, honey production and income from marketed honey. About 51 % apiaries have between 50 and 100 bee families, the average size at sample level being 65.24 bee families. The average honey production was 1.760.54 kg/apiary. About 40.54 % apiaries obtained 11-20 kg/bee family and only 5.4% that means 50-60 kg/bee family. The total honey production at sample level was 65,140 kg and the beekeepers income totalised Lei 477,020.50. The average income per apiary counted for Lei 12,892.44, meaning Lei 197.60/bee family coming only from marketed honey. As a conclusion, this study showed that apiary size is still small in Ialomitza County and the actual apiaries structure does not allow a high production performance. Beekeepers have to increase the number of bee families in order to produce more honey and increase farm profitability and competitiveness.
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