Economic Analysis of Honey Production in Chitwan District, Nepal

Apiculture is being practiced in Nepal from time immemorial. Economic analysis of honey production in Chitwan district was carried out to analyze profitability along with resource use efficiency in different enterprise system of beekeeping. The Categorization of beekeepers was done according to the number of beehives as small, medium and large. A total of 60 beekeepers were proportionately selected which included 25 small, 24 medium and 11 large scale beekeepers. Descriptive and other statistical tools were analyzed with the help of MS Excel and SPSS. Multiple regression analysis for production function was done using the Cobb-Douglas model in STATA. It was found that the average number of beehives owned by small, medium and large enterprises was 37.08, 69.71 and 171.55 respectively. The overall average productivity of honey was 23.71 kgs/hive. The average Production cost per hive was NRs.4746.62 with the average profit of NRs 3270.01. The average gross margin of the beekeeping was found in NRs.3642.97 with a significant scale effect. Similarly, the net margin per hive was found NRs 3270.17 on average. The overall benefit-cost ratio was found to be 1.65 which also reflected the economy of scale. The cost of comb foundation, marketing and labor showed a positive significant effect on gross return from honey production. The return to scale was found to be 0.63 which showed a decreasing return to scale. Similarly, the cost of migration was overutilized whereas cost on labor, feed, comb foundation and marketing were underutilized. Beekeeping is a minimal investment business with high returns if efficient inputs are used.