Review of Ethiopia’s Global Position in Honey and Other Bee Products Production and Marketing: Analysisof Sectoral Opportunities and Limitations

Abstract

Among many macro-economic development pillars of Ethiopia, raising agricultural output and productivity, promoting industrialization, huge investment in infrastructure and export promotion and diversification are the major focus of Ethiopian government. Honey and wax being exportable food items have been contributing to the foreign export earnings of the nation since the beginning of honey processing. However, the share of honey and beeswax exported from the annual production is less than 2%. On the other hand, there are a number of other bee products that can be used in the lucrative market that exists in most parts of the world. In addition to honey and bee wax, propolis, royal jelly, pollen and bees’ venom, have got a very huge demand for their several health and nutritional benefits and economic importance. Therefore, this study is initiated first to review the opportunities and challenges of honey production and trade in Ethiopia and seeking strategic intervention options to unleash the potential. Data from national and international sources were used to meet the objectives of this review study. Based on the results, honey and other bee products, in addition to their economic importance, can contribute to microbial inhibition, wound healing, gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, gynecological, oral and dermatological problems and also help for cancer victims and others. However, due to knowledge gap, failure in meeting international requirements including food safety standards like ISO and HACCP, limited promotion done in marketing and poor linkage among stakeholders, limited access to packaging materials, small scale production (losing out on economies of scale), quality challenges including adulteration and fraud, the country is not benefiting from the huge resources. The revival in the private sector participation in the industry has not been accompanied either by a significant increase in volume nor in the diversification of export. Therefore, technical backups in the production and processing of other niche bee products are very important; policy support in terms of diverse incentive mechanisms; encouraging more research and development work so as to benefit smallholder farmers and processors and the need for traceability and residue monitoring exercise, new products lines including flavored honey has to be in place to be competent in the global market. Better business communication with potential buyers and back and forth linkage with stakeholders along the value chain are also very important for the transformation of the sector from the current staggering stage to globally competitive agribusiness.