Urban dwellers and rural communities are starting apiaries on rooftops, in their back yards and as small-scale community enterprises.

John Nkosi, project coordinator at Inyosi Honey, a development project that trains rural communities how to be beekeepers, says: "Everyone is starting to recognise the significance of beekeeping. Life cannot exist without bees. In order for us to have fruit and vegetables we need pollination, and bees do this for us."

Bee pollination accounts for at least one-third of all the fresh produce we consume, directly and indirectly. The UK and US have reported a decline in their bee populations. This decline has been attributed to insecticides, parasites, the colony collapse disorder - when worker bees from a beehive and colony abruptly disappear - and a decrease in flowering plants and pollen.

"In South Africa the problem we have had is American Foulbrood (a highly infectious and deadly disease that affects bee larvae).

"This was reported in the Western Cape about two years ago. The disease came from imported honey that infected some of the bees locally," says Nkosi.

Besides the pollination benefits of bees, other benefits include the by-products like honey, bee venom and royal jelly, all of which have medicinal properties.

Nkosi says: "There are also hive products like bee's wax, used for making products such as polish and candles and for mixing paint."

In other parts of the world beekeeping as a trend has been dubbed the "latest environmental movement". Although increasingly popular, it hasn't yet become a mainstream job in South Africa.

Self-employed commercial beekeeper Brendan Ashley Cooper says: "I think beekeeping is an amazing hobby, but finding a place to keep hives is normally the problem."

If you're thinking of becoming a beekeeper, you will have to register with the South African Bee Industry Organisation. The organisation requires that you pay a membership fee and they will allocate you a unique number, after which you have to brand all your hives, says Nkosi.

"You are also expected to pay a levy if you have more than 250 hives and the bees must be kept 150m away from the community."

Beekeeping is a daunting task that also has its challenges, says Cooper, such as changing climate, fires, vandalism, honey badgers, ants, new diseases and finding areas to keep beehives.

"You need to love beekeeping. That's very important," says Nkosi.