Ethiopia is one of the countries in the continent, with huge honey production potential owing to its varied ecological and climatic conditions. Ethiopia is home to some of the most diverse flora and fauna in Africa (Nuru Adgaba, 2002). Its forests and woodlands contain diverse plant species that provide surplus nectar and pollen to foraging bees. The ideal climatic conditions and diversity of floral resources allow the country to sustain around 10 million honeybee colonies, of which 7 million are kept in local beehives by farmers and the remaining, exist in the forests as wild colonies making the country to have the highest bee density in Africa (Nuru Adgaba, 2002). Ethiopia, having the highest number of bee colonies and surplus honey sources of flora, is the leading producer of honey and beeswax in Africa.
Beekeeping is economically important activity that generates income for millions of people in Ethiopia and the world at large. Bee keepers earn income from direct sale of hive products such as bee colony, honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly and from products made up of honey and beeswax like honey beer, candle waxes, polish and cakes (Arse Gebeyehu et al., 2010). In developed countries, beekeepers also earn considerable income from the pollination service that honeybees provide (Arse Gebeyehu et al., 2010). Beekeeping remains to be one of the most profitable areas in the agricultural sector which has not been exploited yet to its full potential (Arse Gebeyehu et al., 2010).
Rachna and Kaushik (2004) reported that wax moths and wasps cause heavy losses to beekeepers throughout the world. In addition to these pests, bee lice, hive beetles, mites, ants, birds, rodents and mammals occasionally attain the status of serious pests in a particular situation. Virtually, honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is susceptible to infection with viral, fungal, bacterial and protozoan pathogenic organisms (Hailegebriel Tesfay, 2014).
Ethiopia with different agro ecologies, as one of the sub-tropical countries in Africa, is not only favorable to bees, but also for different kinds of honey bee pests and predators that affect honey bees (Desalegn Begna, 2001). Pests and predators cause a serious devastating damage on honeybee colonies within a short period of time. The major bee pests and predators detected in beekeeping practice in Ethiopia are mites, spider, bee-eater birds, and lizards are the most serious problems to beekeeping development in the country (Sisay Fikadu et al., 2015).
Adeday Gidey et al. (2012), Dabessa Jatema and Belay Abebe (2015) reported that the existence of pests and predators were a major challenge to the honeybees and beekeepers in Tigray and Oromiya Regions respectively. The major pests and predators are ants, wax moth (Galleria mellonella), bee lice (Braula coecal), beetles (Aethina tumida), spiders, wasps, praying mantids, lizards, snakes, birds and honey badger (Mellivora capensis).
Hailegebriel Tesfay (2014) also reported Chalkbrood diseases caused by pathogenic fungi, Ascosphaera aphis, Nosematosis caused by Nosema apis and amoeba caused by a single protozoa Malpighamoeba mellificae and a number of invertebrate pests belonging to Arthropods such as ants, beetle, moths, lice, termites, mites, and large vertebrate animals such as amphibians, reptile, lizards, birds, mammals like honey badgers and mice as a major honey bee enemies in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian environment is not only favorable to bees, but also for different kinds of honeybee pests and predators that are interacting with the life of honeybees.
Diseases and the recent honeybee pests phenomenon in Ethiopia, like: Chalk brood, small hive beetle, and Varroa mite have strongly pronounced the importance of assessing the honeybee health and health risks (Desalegn Begna, 2000 and 2006) in the country.
Apparently, identification, distributions and infestation levels of economically important honeybee diseases, varroa mites, pests and predators have not been well documented in the study area. To maximize the production and productivity of apiculture and to fully exploit the opportunities well planned intervention strategies are needed to address the constraints and detecting the occurrence and mapping out the distributions of honeybee health problems was key step to start with. Some research findings support this research idea of which Desalegn Begna (2015), reported that immediate research should be launched to determine disease free and infested areas for instance for varroa mites and other honeybee pathogens. Hence the current research result have been done with the objective of determine the prevalence and distribution of honeybee diseases, parasites and pests and predators within seasonal variation in the study area.