General structure of beekeepi̇ng i̇n erzi̇ncan andbeekeepi̇n gacti̇vi̇tes

This study was conducted to determine the socio-economic structure of the beekeeping, administrations in colony management, procedures of struggling with diseases and insects, loss of colonies and problems in beekeeping in Erzincan. Study population was represented by 81 beekeeping businesses selected by random stratification from a total of 504 beekeeping corporations located in the centre and eight districts of Erzincan province. The sample size was calculated by taking proportional sampling method with 95% confidence level and population confidence interval of 10% into consideration. A question naire was applied to the participants in order to collected data about beekeeping. Of the beekeepers who participated in the study by responding the questionnaire, 30% were at the ages ranging from 46 to 55 and 43% were primary school graduates. It was determined that 80% of the participants had a yearly income between 10000 and 40000 TL, 42% were dealing with beekeeping since more than 20 years and 60% were doing beekeeping as an additional work. In the analyses of the question naire data, it was also found out that 58% of the beekeepers started beekeeping business with beehives ranging from 1 to 10. Honey returnper a colony was determined to vary between 11 and 20 kilograms. 65% of the beekeepers did not replace their beehives before 5 years, whereas 55% replaced their bees in every 2 years. In the spring, it was determined that 65% of the participants used syrup on the other hand 60% used cakes. While increases in support amounts took the first place among the demands of beekeepers, marketing the honey below its worth and disorganized structure of beekeeping profession took place at the top among the complaints of the participants. In conclusionit was established that the beekeepers were not well educated and thus the production amount was affected badly. Also beekeepers had serious problems on marketing and the amount of supports was not found at acceptable levels. Therefore, new measures should be taken to encourage beekeeping in addition to making loans more attractable and marketing channels more efficient. KeyWords :Beekeeping, Socio-Economic Structure, Technical Problems, Erzincan