Honey bee colony population annual dynamics in northern Ethiopia’s semi-arid region, Tigray

Beekeepers around the world have been experiencing seasonal colony losses which differ with the scale of beekeeping operations and countries. This survey provides a glimpse of annual colony dynamics among smallholder beekeepers in three areas of northern Ethiopia. Data were collected using an interview questionnaire regarding annual colony in-(out)flow through swarming, splitting, purchasing, selling and losses. In total, 120 beekeepers were included, managing 266 colonies at the time of the interview. The beekeepers stocked their colonies through artificial splitting, natural swarming and buying, and de-stocked due to selling and losses. The overall percentage of total annual managed colonies lost was 15.7%, and the loss rates significantly differed from 9% to 19.5% between areas. Swarm production positively correlated with the number of colonies managed in fixed-comb hives and the number of colonies sold, which is consistent with traditional beekeepers in this area using swarm production and marketing as an income source. On the other hand, the number of colonies lost was also related to colonies produced through swarming and splitting, which may indicate the production of weak colonies. Although the lowland area showed the highest mean annual loss, the number of colonies lost and colony loss rates per household did not differ significantly between areas. Future studies should identify the causes of colony losses and sustainable management strategies.