Apis mellifera beekeeping in Indonesia has been practiced mainly in Java since 1970's; nevertheless, the honey productivity is considerably low in both quantity and quality. To identify problems of beekeeping from beekeeper perspectives, we conducted a case study in Pati Regency, Central Java Province, by interviewing respondents selected based on the method of purposive sampling from several villages in Gembong subdistrict. There were six main problems in A. mellifera beekeeping. The decreasing of bee forages and the unavailability of funding were the major problems faced by beekeepers, each stated by 78.13% and 59.38% respondent opinions, followed by the lack of extension services concerning beekeeping value (50.%) and technical advisory (37.50%), the decreasing queen quality (25%), and the honeybee pest (18.75%). There have been seven solutions to solve the problems proposed by beekeepers, i.e. developing bee forage plantation in forest areas (87.50%), subsidizing sugar (50.%), subsidizing equipment (37.50%), standardizing honey price (31.25%), arranging migratory schedules (25%), formulating the rules of felling randu trees (18.75%), and subsidizing honeybee queen (18.75%). All the solutions basically connected merely to problems of bee forages and funding. It can be concluded that the decrease of bee forage availability and problem of funding are two major obstacles for the development of A. mellifera beekeeping in Indonesia.

i ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to investigate the most suitable formula of soybean powder as an artificial food to substitute pollen for development of Apis mellifera L. colony. The study was conducted at Sari Bunga apiary, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. Three forms of soybean-based foods: fermented, fried without oil, and boiled soybean were fed to the honeybee colonies inside hives that were previously installed with or without pollen trap. Completely randomized block design was applied to analyze colony palatability to certain form of soybean and to understand the effect of artificial food on colony development. Results showed that palatability of honeybee to fried soybean was lower than the other two (P<0.01). There was no significant different (P>0.05) of colony development among treatments, observed as percentage of mortality, body weight and protein content of workers, development of colony population. The result further revealed that development of colony populations in hives installed with pollen trap was lower than those without pollen trap (P<0.01). ABSTRAKPenelitian bertujuan mengetahui formula tepung kedelai untuk pakan buatan pengganti serbuksari yang terbaik bagi perkembangan koloni. Penelitian dilakukan di apiari Sari Bunga, Sukabumi, Jawa Barat, Indonesia. Tiga jenis pakan buatan masing-masing terbuat dari tepung tempe (kedelai fermentasi), kedelai sangrai, dan kedelai rebus diberikan pada koloni lebah madu Apis mellifera L. yang ada di dalam kotak pemeliharaan yang dipasangi dan tidak dipasangi penangkap serbuksari. Tingkat kesukaan lebah pada jenis pakan tertentu dan efek pakan terhadap perkembangan koloni dianalisis dalam sebuah percobaan menggunakan rancangan acak kelompok. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tingkat konsumsi koloni pada jenis pakan kedelai sangrai lebih rendah dari dua jenis pakan lainnya (P<0,01). Tidak ada perbedaan perkembangan koloni antar perlakuan pada pengamatan tingkat kematian anakan, bobot badan dan kandungan protein lebah pekerja muda, dan perkembangan populasi koloni (P>0,05). Penelitian juga menemukan bahwa perkembangan populasi lebah pada kelompok koloni yang dipasangi penangkap serbuksari lebih rendah dari pada kelompok koloni yang tidak dipasang penangkap serbuksari (P<0,01).Kata kunci: Penangkap serbuksari, populasi, bobot badan, lebah pekerja, kematian