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The purpose of the study was to identify potential challenges and opportunities facing beekeepers in commercializing of bee products in Tanzania, the evidence of Mvomero district. With a qualitative approach the study was conducted as a case study design. 52 beekeepers from five selected wards were interviewed on specific research questions about potential beekeepers, potential opportunities for beekeeping in Mvomero District; potential challenges facing beekeepers in commercializing bee products and measures to be taken to overcome the challenges facing beekeepers in commercializing bee products in Mvomero District. The findings show that most of beekeepers in Mvomero district practice small scale traditional bee keeping. More recently than before, few beekeepers were transforming from subsistence to commercial bee keeping. The involvement of non-government organizations in beekeeping activities motivates beekeepers to shift from small traditional beekeeping to large modern bee keeping. Although the area is endowed with potential beekeeping natural resources like good forestry coverage there serious challenges still facing beekeepers in commercializing bee products. The challenges include lack of extension officers, expensiveness of the modern bee hives, poor social infrastructures to organize bee keepers, lack of package materials and market instability.
It is therefore recommended that measures suggested by beekeepers should be considered in order for commercial beekeeping to be realized in Mvomero district. These measures include: Market stabilization through special agents to encourage bee keepers, contract bee keeping to guarantee for market, capacity building to equip bee keepers with relevant bee keeping business knowledge, allocation of resident extension officers nearby the beekeeping zones to assure their availability, facilities like bee hives and storage facilities should be supplied to help beekeepers get them easily, harmonizing the social infrastructures to facilitate organized bee keeping |
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