Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science., Vol. LVI
Written by Ion PÎRVUTOIU, Agatha POPESCU
The paper aimed to identify beekeepers’ opinion on the development of apiculture in the Southern Romania based on a structured questionnaire based survey. In this purpose, a sample of 60 beekeepers from Calarasi, Ialomitza and Prahova counties answered 34 questions logically listed. The answers were statistically processed according to the specific marketing research methods and the following results were obtained: average apiary size was 67.4 bee families, a number of 4,044 bee families are kept in the 60 apiaries considered in the study and their honey production accounted for 105,161 kg, meaning 26 kg per bee family in 2011. About 55% beekeepers own between 50 and 100 bee families per apiary, 38 % less than 50 and 7 % over 100 bee families. Honey production depends on the number of bee families but also on bee feeding, pickings opportunities, climate conditions, maintenance during winter season. In 2011, the 60 beekeepers earned Lei 20,142,760, meaning Lei 298.75 per bee family from honey sold on the domestic market. As a conclusion, despite that apiary size and honey yield are still very small specific to subsistence farms compared to other countries, beekeeping is continuously developing in Romania being a profitable sector of agriculture. The unbalanced demand/offer ratio on the Western European market is a chance to increase honey production, to intensify export and to improve beekeepers’ income.
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