Determination of the Socio-Economic Structure of Beekeeping Enterprises in the Western Black Sea Region

This study was conducted to determine the socio-economic structures, demographic profiles, production management practices, and sectoral challenges of beekeeping enterprises operating in the Western Black Sea Region, to develop sustainable development strategies at both regional and national levels. The primary research material consists of field data obtained from 98 beekeeping enterprises, selected from the target population across seven provinces in the region using Neyman's stratified random sampling method. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency distributions. The findings revealed that the mean age of the enterprise owners was 54.43 ± 10.73 years, with 90.82% aged 41 years and older. Among the beekeepers, 55.10% held a high school diploma or higher level of education, and the average beekeeping experience was 20.12 ± 10.63 years. Beekeeping activities were initiated with an average of 9.73 ± 12.05 hives, and the current mean hive count was 119.56 hives, with 59.18% of enterprises managing 100 or fewer hives. Furthermore, 44.90% of the beekeepers practiced beekeeping as a supplementary non-agricultural source of income, and 41.84% as a source of retirement support. The annual colony loss rate was determined to be 13.83% (an average of 16.54 hives), and 53.06% of the beekeepers replaced their queen bees every 2 years (mean: 2.24 ± 0.81 years). Regarding financial parameters, 56.12% of beekeepers deemed the per-hive government subsidies insufficient, while the rate of agricultural insurance adoption remained low at 29.59%, with 65.50% of insured beekeepers purchasing insurance solely as a mandatory requirement linked to credit use. In conclusion, to ensure generational renewal within the sector, incentive mechanisms that encourage young entrepreneurs should be designed, extension activities that address agricultural insurance and financial literacy should be enhanced, and public support mechanisms should be updated to account for regional production dynamics.