An Estimation of Honey Supply Response in Malawi

The Government of Malawi has earmarked honey production as one of the potential income generating activities in the rural areas and this has been stipulated in government policy documents specifically the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. This study was, therefore, undertaken to evaluate the supply responsiveness of honey farmers to price and non-price factors by employing an Error Correction Model (ECM) that used annual time series data for the 1980 - 2010 period. The results of the study indicate that supply of honey in Malawi is positively influenced by its own price, amount of rainfall, beekeeping extension services and trend; and negatively by the cost of beehives. The study therefore recommended that the government should restrict honey imports, construct dams and promote irrigation in relatively dry areas, further increase its monetary allocation towards beekeeping activities, improve technologies in the honey sub-sector and subsidise the cost of beehives to make them affordable to honey producers thereby boosting honey production.