ASSESSMENT OF HONEY PRODUCTION AS A MEANS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD IN IBADAN METROPOLIS

Honey is a sweetfood made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey bees form nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation, and store it as a primary food source in wax honeycombs inside the beehive. Because of its unique composition and chemical properties, honey is suitable for long-term storage, and is easily assimilated even after long preservation. Honey, and objects immersed in honey, has been preserved for decades and even centuries. The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, as a spread on bread, and as an addition to various beverages, such as tea, and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages. The importance of honey cannot be over emphasized and as a result, this paper therefore sought to determine the level of participation in the honey production, cost and benefit in relation to the livelihood of people in Ibadan metropolis. The methodology adopted for data collection for this study includes purposive random sampling of four (4) selected rural areas in Ibadan metropolis. A total of sixty structured questionnaires were administered and retrieved from the honey producers. Simple descriptive statistics tools such as frequency and percentage were used to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. Gross margin analysis was used to determine the cost and return while Chi square was employed to determine the level of participation and profitability of honey production in the study area. Honey production business is a profitable enterprise that meets the nutritional requirement and diet need of people depending on them. It is therefore recommended that more awareness activities on the importance of honey should be encouraged by both private and public sectors concerned such as Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), NGOs among others KEYWORDS: Honey production, Bees, Participation, Profitability, and Livelihood.