The honey bee is an important fruit and vegetable pollinator and a producer of honey and other hive products. Beekeeping is a sustainable and high-potential activity for local communities and especially for the rural poor to gain additional income through non-timber forest products, does not require much land or high starting costs, maintains biodiversity and increases crop yields. Ethiopia is one of the top ten honey and beeswax producers in the world, but plays only a minor role in the international honey trade. Unlike large-scale beekeepers using modern techniques found in most leading honey-producing countries, the majority of Ethiopian beekeepers are small-scale producers practicing traditional beekeeping. In this article, we summarize the knowledge on Ethiopian beekeeping, honey bees, honey bee pests, marketing strategies, cultural aspects and major challenges of beekeeping. Furthermore, we used FAOSTAT data to calculate a pollination gap in order to draw the attention of stakeholders and decision-makers to bees and their importance in pollination and sustainable rural development. In regard to forage, we compiled 590 bee forage plants and their flowering times as a supplement to the article. This review outlines the following major points: (1) Ethiopia is a top honey and beeswax producer mainly for the domestic market; (2) Equipment for traditional beekeeping is easily accessible but brings disadvantages (gender gap, limitations in hive management and lower honey yield), while transitional and modern systems require certain beekeeping skills and higher starting costs; (3) Colony numbers increased by 72% from 1993 to 2018 and crop areas needing pollination by 150%; (4) Honey yield per hive and number of beehives managed per area of bee-pollinated crops increased by 20% and 28%, respectively; (5) Pesticide use has been increasing and there is a lack in pesticide use education. Recommendations to realize Ethiopia’s tremendous apicultural potential are discussed.

Austrian beekeepers participated in the “C.S.I. Pollen” study as citizen scientists and collected pollen from honey bee colonies in hive mounted traps every three weeks from April to September in 2014 and 2015 to uncover the seasonal availability of pollen sources for bees. 1622 pollen samples were collected and analysed using palynological light microscopy to the lowest taxonomic level possible. For 2014 and 2015 combined, 239 pollen types from more than 85 families were detected. ‘Various unknown’ species, Taraxacum-form and Plantago spp. were the pollen types collected by the majority of colonies (occurrence), whereas the most pollen grains collected were from Trifolium repens-form, Plantago spp. and Salix spp. (abundance). In spring, trees were found to be the most abundant pollen source, whereas in summer herbs dominated. On average, a colony collected pollen from 16.8 ± 4.7 (2014) and 15.0 ± 4.4 (2015) pollen types per sampling. Those numbers, however, vary between sampling dates and indicate a seasonal pattern. This is also supported by Simpson’s diversity index, which was on median 0.668. In both years, 50.0% of analysed pollen samples were partially (>50%) and 4.2% were highly monofloral (i.e. containing >90% of one pollen type). Prevalence of monofloral pollen samples peaked at the beginning and the end of the season, when pollen diversity was the lowest.

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The European Union funded project SAMS (Smart Apiculture Management Services) enhances international cooperation of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and sustainable agriculture between EU and developing countries in pursuit of the EU commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goal “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The project consortium comprises four partners from Europe (two from Germany, Austria, and Latvia) and two partners each from Ethiopia and Indonesia. Beekeeping with small-scale operations provides suitable innovation labs for the demonstration and dissemination of cost-effective and easy-to-use open source ICT applications in developing countries. SAMS allows active monitoring and remote sensing of bee colonies and beekeeping by developing an ICT solution supporting the management of bee health and bee productivity as well as a role model for effective international cooperation. By following the user centered design (UCD) approach, SAMS addresses requirements of end-user communities on beekeeping in developing countries, and includes findings in its technological improvements and adaptation as well as in innovative services and business creation based on advanced ICT and remote sensing technologies. SAMS enhances the production of bee products, creates jobs (particularly youths/women), triggers investments, and establishes knowledge exchange through networks and initiated partnerships.

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