Nowadays, the number of honey processors and exporters and those involved in apicultural development and the transformation and promotion of bee products, including farmers, individuals, and investors working as part-time business and others as full-time actors, are increasing in leaps and bounds. Over ten million bee-colonies in the countries exist in the forest and crevices. Two million small holder beekeepers and over seven thousand Melliferous plants are identified for honey bee forages. Ethiopia’s potential for honey and beeswax production is expected to be 500,000 and 50,000 tons per year for honey and beeswax, respectively. Still, only approximately about 10% of the honey and wax potential have been tapped. The commercialization of other high-value bee products such as pollen, propolis, and bee venom is not yet practiced at a marketable volume, even not yet recognized. By placing increasing attention on the promotion of modern technologies in the apiculture subsector, the policy environment together with an evolving institutional framework, will create opportunities for promotion and development of the honey and beeswax value chains.

Apiculture is a promising off-farm enterprise that directly and indirectly contributes to smallholder’s income, particularly the nation’s economy in general. Ethiopia is known for its tremendous variety of agro-climatic conditions and biodiversity, which favored the existence of diversified honeybee flora and a huge number of honeybee colonies playing a significant role in generating and diversifying the income of subsistence. While the diversity of its agro-ecological religion has endowed the country to have five different types of honeybees with millions of honeybees’ colonies, Beekeeping practice in the country is undertaken by three types of beehives: traditional, intermediate, and modern hives. Establishing the beekeeping market network and developing its information delivery system for the producers will bring a socio-economic impact and encouragement via enhancing their benefit from Honey Production, Crop Pollination, and the Source of immediate cash income. Therefore, strengthening the apiculture practices through research and consolidating the extension system solves the challenges, exploits the available opportunities, and improves the marketing linkage playing a significant role in developing the country’s GDP. Basically, the country’s agricultural and rural development policy is the first prospect to improve any agricultural sub-sectors.