Location of the area

The state of Aguascalientes is located at the following coordinates: 22°27'35" N, 21°37'20" S, north latitude, and 101°50'07" E, 102°52'27" W, west longitude, and is bordered to the north, northeast and west by Zacatecas, and to the southeast and south, by Jalisco. It represents 0.3 % of the country's surface area¹².

Sampling

The sample was calculated based on the population of beekeepers that are members of the beekeeping product system of the state of Aguascalientes. According to data from 2018, the register consisted of 230 beekeepers⁵. Field information was collected through questionnaires; these were applied directly to the producers in the study area. The data presented come from the 11 municipalities of the state of Aguascalientes. It was used the stratification criteria provided by Vélez¹³ and Fachini¹⁴, where the beekeepers were classified into three categories according to the number of their hives: Small (10 to 50), Medium (51 to 200) and Large (more than 200). The stratified random sampling technique was used. The variable that was associated with the sampling procedure for variance estimation was the number of hives per beekeeper, and the error limit was 5%.

The final sample size was estimated based on the following formula:

Where: n= final sample size; Z=1.96 (confidence level); p= expected ratio (0.05); q= 1-p; N= total number of producers (230); d= accuracy (0.05).

The sample consisted of 56 beekeepers included in the State Beekeeping Product System. The first stratum accounted for 11 % (7) of the final sample; the second stratum, for 40 % (22), and the third stratum, for 49 % (27). The information was processed using an Excel spreadsheet.

Content of the survey

The questions included in the questionnaire were divided into the following aspects:

Technical handling: 1) Level of the beekeepers' knowledge of production activities; 2) Level of technical expertise; 3) Control of the percentage of Africanization in the zone; 4) Genotype; 5) Queen bee change frequency; 6) Frequency of hive replacement; 7) Feeding of the apiaries; 8) Disease and pest control; 9) Time invested in beekeeping.

Costs: 1) Feed costs, 2) Pests and diseases, 3) Change of queen, 4) Labor, 5) Transfer, and 6) Other costs.

Production: 1) Number of producers; 2) Number of hives; 3) Total production; 4) Location of the hives.

Income: 1) Price of honey and by-products; 2) Production; 3) Sale.

Method

For the description and analysis of the social aspects related to beekeeping production, the following variables were considered: the importance of the genetic factor, technical management and the environment, organization for production and technical assistance. The elements considered for the processing and analysis of the technical coefficients were as follows: labor, number of apiaries, number of hives, food implements, disease control, number of harvests, among others. Labor and input costs were calculated considering the following variables: the number of day laborers used for the various activities and the expenses incurred to purchase sugar, vitamins, varroa control, among others.

A cost analysis was performed as by Sagarnaga et al¹¹ with the methodology used by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), whose theoretical and methodological bases conform to the standards recommended by the Working Group on Costs and Returns of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA).

Within this context, the USDA classifies costs into two types: operating costs and allocated overhead. Washington State University classifies the costs into fixed and variable costs and disaggregates them into economic, financial, and disbursed costs. Financial costs include only fixed and variable costs; disbursed costs include, in addition to fixed and variable costs, the cash required to pay down the principal on long-term loans and to cover the producer's household expenses. Economic costs include financial costs and the opportunity cost of production factors¹¹.

Opportunity costs were calculated: land, labor, capital and business management. The value of all resources in the production process was used, regardless of whether they represented disbursed or undisbursed expenses. Once the production costs were quantified, the target price was determined for each of the strata, where the minimum price was identified to ensure profitability¹⁵.

Investments in hives and equipment

The beekeeping production units in Mexico are classic standard beehives. In Aguascalientes, the beekeepers build the hive with a support (mostly made of bricks), a floor, a brood chamber (langstroth type), and a roof, with two elevations. Table 1 shows the investment by each producer stratum. Regarding the investment in field equipment, its total value increases as the producer increases the number of hives; this is due to the need for greater installation capacity (core holders, brood chambers, and supers, mainly). The second and third strata increase considerably in work equipment, due to their greater capacity; some of the necessary components are the extractor, sedimentation tank, and uncapping bench. Producers of the first stratum (80 %) do not have the necessary technology; therefore, they opt to rent these services mainly during the harvest.

The difference between the strata was the investment in field and warehouse equipment and the quality of the equipment; i.e. an extractor for 80 frames is almost five times the value of one for 32 frames, or 10 times the value of one for galvanized sheets. The high costs cause beekeepers in stratum I to resort to renting equipment (cellars) for harvesting.

Cost structure

The production, economic, financial and disbursement costs were estimated by stratum, according to the number of hives, based on the information gathered from the surveys. The percentage structure of total costs is mainly composed of variable costs. Considering opportunity costs, the variable cost for stratum I is 51.9% (Table 2); 54.1 % for the second stratum (Table 3), and 60.2 % for the third stratum (Table 4).

With respect to fixed costs, it was found that the participation is 13.8 %, 12.5 % and 15.8 %, respectively. Continuing with the fixed costs, a direct relationship was observed in the second and third strata. That is, by having more hives, the beekeeper chooses to acquire higher capacity technology. On the other hand, there is a need to increase the number of apiaries, which would entail higher land rental costs.

Within the variable costs, the item with the highest participation is feed, in the state of Aguascalientes beekeepers feed the bees sugar and fructose. Feed is provided when there is no flowering and is important for the survival of the bees; in this sense, this variable cost increases progressively as the producer increases the number of hives. The second item with the highest share is the cost of transportation, which basically refers to the fuel used to carry out the technical management of each apiary. The third item corresponds to the labor required to carry out beekeeping activities; the largest number of day laborers is required during the harvest season (March-April).

Fixed costs are mainly composed of the depreciation of field infrastructure, followed by the depreciation of work and protection equipment. In the case of the depreciation of working equipment (extractor, uncapping bench, stainless steel drum, etc.), it has an inverse relationship to the number of hives.

Opportunity costs represent 34.3 % for stratum I, 33.4 % for stratum II, and 24.0 % for stratum III, with the cost of working capital making the largest contribution. For the calculation of opportunity costs of the producer's labor, the daily wages were quoted at 200 as a reference of the price of a daily wage in the region. Respondents in the first stratum consider that they require 28 d of labor per year to operate their hives; those in the second stratum consider that it takes them 42 d of labor, and those of the third stratum reported requiring 51 d of labor. The beekeepers in the region consider that the land has an opportunity cost of $1,500, with the understanding that, if the land is not used, it can be rented to other beekeepers at the aforementioned cost.

In order to assess business management, producers in stratum I considered that they work one hour a week to manage the apiaries; those of stratum II work 3 h per week, and those of stratum III reported working 5 h a week to plan their activities. The estimated financial cost per kilogram of honey produced is $45.92, $31.54 and $25.49, respectively, for each stratum.

Revenues and profitability

When beekeepers depend mostly on beekeeping, they have more hives; on the contrary, when beekeepers have fewer hives, they tend to choose to engage in other income-generating activities. In order to estimate their income was estimated as follows, according to survey data: an average yield of 19.6 kg per hive at a price of $65 was considered for stratum I; 26.4 kg per hive at a price of $50.9, for stratum II, and 30.2 kg per hive at a price of $50.45, for stratum III.

As beekeepers acquire more hives, the income generated from beekeeping increases its share of the total income (Table 5). In this sense, it was noted that honey is the main product commercialized in the market.

In financial terms, beekeeping is viable in all three strata, i.e. it has the capacity to cover both fixed and variable costs (Table 6). On the other hand, in economic terms, the activity is not viable in stratum I; this indicates that the factors of production are not adequately remunerated. In strata two and three, the activity is viable in economic terms because it remunerates fixed costs, variable costs, the producer's labor, the cost of investment and business management, and the depreciation.

The prices of honey are differentiated by the type of nectar available in the region. In this case, the largest production comes from the mesquite flower¹⁶, which is among the best listed at the international level¹⁷. An inverse relationship was identified between the volume of production and the respective price, because the producer of stratum I sells his product to the local market, while strata II and III sell wholesale at a lower price in the national and international market (Table 7). Although small beekeepers achieve a higher price, they obtain lower profitability due to factors such as marketing channels, technical management, economy of scale, added value and limited governmental support.

Break-even price

The break-even point indicates the magnitude of production and the price at which the honey must be sold or produced in order to prevent a loss (Table 8).

In stratum I, $69.95 is the price necessary to cover the cost of all resources, including family labor of the production unit, business management and net invested capital costs. Prices above $69.95 generate a return to risk assumed by the producer; below this amount they imply a return to the producer's labor, business management and a return on net invested capital that is lower than what could be generated with the best alternative use of resources.

Also in the same stratum, the equilibrium price of $45.92, which the necessary price to cover the financial costs according to the accounting systems, implies zero retribution to the producer's labor. Prices below the break-even price imply a decrease in retained earnings. A price of $38.45 covers the cash costs of the production process. For strata II and III, the economic, financial and disbursed equilibrium prices are lower than that of the first stratum.