Study On Valuation Of The Honey Production From Forest In Sudan Based On The Social And Economical Assessment Of The Forest Ecosystem Goods

The beekeeping activity in Sudan plays a significant role in the social,economic and environmental aspects.The activity has suffered from the lack of economic evaluation due to the lack of interest officially and from the local communities.This research was conducted in eight Sudanese states(Blue Nile,White Nile,South Kordofan,West Kordofan,South Darfur,West Darfur,El-Gadarif and Sennar),which they are well-known of the high production of honey,and they have a large percentage of the forests cover for the fact that beekeeping activity is practiced widely in them.The application of forest ecosystem economic assessment provides forests manager,beekeepers and decision makers with the current information and helpful data for the purpose of efficient management for the beekeeping activity and its associated forest tree species.This research identified the most forest tree species for the beekeeping activity,estimation and evaluation of the economic value of these species from apicultural point of view.Also,a net present value(NPV)was applied for the fuelwood and honey production of acacia nilotica plantations.Additionally,the study highlighted integration of the beekeeping activity within the forest management applications.The study used purposive sampling technique to determine the target population in our study areas.During the production season of the year(2016-2017),we conducted an interview with(N=105)beekeepers in the selected eight Sudanese states using a structured questionnaire to collect the required data.Furthermore,field measurements and practical experiment were conducted to estimate woodfuel production and honey yield in El Ain Forest Reserve,which located in Shiekan locality,North Kordofan State,Sudan.Percentages were used to determine the most important forest tree species for the beekeeping activity and to estimate honey production and number of beehives per hectare for each tree species.An economic evaluation was carried out by using Return on Investment(RIO)to estimate forest tree species economic value based on the honey production.Also,a comparative analysis was conducted for the honey yield and fuelwood production of acacia nilotica to estimate their financial profitability by using Net Present Value(NPV)as decision criterion.Statistically,the analysis of variance has carried for the demographic characteristics of the beekeepers to determine their effect on the honey production process.The results indicated that none of the beekeeper's demographic characteristics had a significant effect on owning of the beehive's number hence on the honey production process as whole.Moreover,regression analysis was used to investigate on type of the relationship between beehive productivity and the number of hives.It appears that from correlation form there is a none linear relation indicating that the overall average of this relation is significant and positive with a moderate trend.According to the response of the interviewed beekeepers there are seven forest tree species more important in the production of honey which are Ziziphus spp followed by Acacia seyal,Acacia nilotica,Eucalyptus spp,Cordia spp,Azadirachta indica and Anogeissus leiocarpus respectively.The results indicated that the average annual yield of honey/bee hive is 13 kilogram and Acacia seyal showed the highest productivity.Also,the results revealed that 15 bee colony/hectare is more suitable with a return rate of 780 US$/hectare annual income.Furthermore,the results show that fuelwood production in Acacia nilotica plantations generates a negative financial net present value(NPV),while the honey production of El Ain Forest Reserve is associated with a positive mean financial NPV.These valuable findings suggest that beekeeping could act as an incentive and play a significant role for running of businesses and forest investment,creation and strengthening opportunities of participatory,integration and sustainable forest management with the surrounding communities,since there are many positive indicators for the continuous growth and development of this activity.