Asian Research Journal of Agriculture

Background: Apiculture may complement agricultural livelihoods while supporting crop pollination. Understanding beekeeper characteristics and perceived constraints is important for identifying locally relevant production and marketing priorities.

Objective: To describe the socio-economic profile of surveyed beekeepers across selected districts of Kerala and prioritise constraints associated with honey production and marketing.

Methods: A purposive sample of 120 beekeepers (20 from each district) was selected from Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod. Structured interviews were used to collect socio-economic information and rankings of nine production and nine marketing constraints. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe respondent characteristics; production constraints were summarised using the reported Garrett scores, whereas marketing constraints were described using an ordinal ranking.

Results: Of the 120 respondents, 113 (94.2%) were men, 54 (45.0%) were older than 60 years, and 70 (58.3%) reported landholdings below one acre. Perceived climate- and weather-related changes ranked first among production constraints (mean Garrett score 74.13), followed by processing and infrastructure limitations (63.14) and inadequate extension services and training (60.92). In the reported marketing order, fluctuating prices, perceived competition from adulterated honey, and limited value addition and branding were the three leading concerns.

Conclusions: The sample highlights an experienced, predominantly male group of beekeepers who reported both climatic and value-chain-related constraints. The findings support further investigation of extension, processing, product authentication and collective marketing options, but the purposive design and perception-based measures do not establish state-wide prevalence or intervention effectiveness.