Production, practices and attitudes of beekeepers in Croatia

We conducted a survey on the beekeeping production, practices and attitudes of 117 beekeepers in Croatia, via a questionnaire. The beekeepers were divided into three groups: full-time (professionals), part-time (side-liners) and hobby (hobbyists) beekeepers. The questions covered the purpose and size of their beekeeping production, the production interests of the beekeepers, treatment of the economically most important honeybee diseases, and the possibilities of the growth of their operation. Professional beekeepers were the youngest (39 years of age on average), with the largest average number of beehives per beekeeper (135 beehives), the largest proportion of LR hives and migratory apiaries, and the largest yearly per hive production of 17.04 kg of honey. The results show that the most marketable beekeeping product was honey, and that professional beekeepers also value propolis as equally interesting for production. They all inherited their beekeeping operations from their predecessors. Varroosis is perceived as the largest cause of honeybee colony death, followed by bad beekeeping practices. About 56% of the beekeepers are prepared to switch to organic/ecological beekeeping. Almost all the beekeepers (96.46%) support the introduction of the early diagnostics of American foulbrood. We found that professional beekeepers prefer the conservative economic model of growth based on their own equity, while hobbyists prefer a more expansive but riskier model of growth based on financial leverage (debt). Professional beekeepers are not inclined to create a mutual beekeepers' fund to cover losses. On the other hand, they strongly support the idea of creating an alliance for the purpose of joint market penetration. Key words: beekeeping economics; honey production; treatment of honeybee diseases; organic beekeeping, Croatia