Harnessing Potentials and Optimization of Apicultural Education as Pathway for Alleviating Poverty in Southern Nigeria

The role of apicultural education as a catalyst for reducing rural poverty among bee farmers was investigated in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The survey research design was used in achieving this. To adequately and appropriately execute the project, some objectives were formulated. From these objectives, research questions were generated and hypotheses formulated accordingly to guide data gathering and analysis. The instrument for data gathering was a four point close ended questionnaire from which 150 bee farmers and 50 extension agents were selected to respond to items in the questionnaire using the census approach. Data collected from their responses were subjected to two forms of descriptive analysis. The first was percentage descriptive analysis which was used to x-ray the biodata. Second, mean and standard deviation were used to treat the research questions. The third method used is the independent t-test on the three man hypothesis of the study. The result of the analysis warranted the rejection of the three null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance with 198 degrees of freedom using 1.96 as the critical f value. The results showed that 98 percent of bee farmers who had received apicultural education through extension services produced had more honey yield due to increase awareness on modern bee keeping techniques, adequate processing information and marketing strategies which invariably increased their income. Based on the findings made in this research, it was concluded by that giving the farmers and rural dwellers apicultural education such as training them on how to construct apicultural equipment, producing of honey, producing and processing of bee wax into other products such as polish, candles etc. will enhance their performance in bee farming and thus alleviate their poverty.