196 International Journal of Agriculture and Biosciences www.ijagbio.com P-ISSN: 2305-6622 E-ISSN: 2306-3599 editor@ijagbio.com RESEARCH ARTICLE Assessment of Current Beekeeping Management Practice and Honey Bee Floras of Western Amhara, Ethiopia *Assemu Tesfa, Kerealem Ejigu and Adebabay Kebede Andassa Livestock Research Center, P.O.Box 27, Andassa, West Gojjam, Ethiopia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received: Revised: Accepted: July 23, 2013 August 13, 2013 September 04, 2013 The study was conducted in 2010 with the objective of characterizing the current honeybee production system and identifying major and minor honeybee flora species with their corresponding floral calendar in Western Amhara. In this study, 27 representative kebeles from nine zones were purposively selected based on their honeybee production potential and floral coverage. Semi- structured questionnaire, checklists and field observation were used to collect the required data. A total of 56 beekeeper farmers were selected purposively for the interview purpose. SPSS (version 16) was used to analyze the data. According to this study there are three main honeybee production systems based on the type of bee hives used, namely the traditional, transitional and modern beekeeping. Within these production systems, 28.6% of the respondents emphasized that colony transferring was practiced during August and September while 20.25 of them transfer their colony in June. In the study areas there are two honey harvesting seasons, the main and the first seasons are October to December (52.6%) and the second are April to June (30.8%). From the total respondents used for the survey, 75% indicated that they plant different pollen and nectar source honeybee forages around their homesteads. According to the respondents the peak months in which feed shortage occurs are April (17.3%), March (16.2%) and February (16.2%). During these dearth periods 62.5% of beekeepers give additional feed like sugar syrup, honey syrup and, hot pepper to keep the strength of their colony and to get additional honey yield. Beekeepers also indicate January, December (23.1%) and April (15.4%) were the main months which colony migration occurs. Respondents (30.4%) indicates that September, October (28.1%) and November (42.1%) were the main seasons on which colony swarming occurs. April (17.8%), July (13.3%), and January (11.1%) take the first three main colony absconding months in the surveyed area. In western Amhara more than 249 major honey bee floras including trees, shrubs, bushes, crops, spices, flowering weeds, and grasses were also reported as a source of pollen and nectar. In general, from this study it was noted that beekeeping in the study are have practiced for getting additional income with its challenges. Therefore it is wise to invest on the sector for improving the income through integrating with natural conservations and further research activities on identification and characterization of poisonous plants indicated by beekeepers were recommended. Key words: Absconding Beekeepers Germ plasms Statistics Western Amhara *Corresponding Address: Assemu Tesfa assemu.tesfa@yahoo.com Cite This Article as: Tesfa A, K Ejigu and A Kebede, 2013. Assessment of current beekeeping management practice and honey bee floras of Western Amhara, Ethiopia. Inter J Agri Biosci, 2(5): 196-101. www.ijagbio.com INTRODUCTION Beekeeping is a very long-standing and deep-rooted household activity for the rural communities of Ethiopia that stretches back into the millennia of the country's early history. It seems as old as the history of the country and it is an integral part of the life style of the farming communities (Adebabay et al., 2008). The contrasting geomorphic landscapes of Ethiopia create favorable environment for the existence of a large and unique biodiversity both in plants and animals including honeybee subspecies (Kerealem, 2005). Under Ethiopian context in general and Western Amhara in particular, beekeeping is practiced in backyards by keeping beehives under separate shelters or around the house wall or even inside the house with domestic animals