The invention relates to a bee attracting and bee tranquilizing composition having a form of an oil/water emulsion in aqueous phase, wherein the oil phase contains citral (3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal), eugenol (4-aliyl-2-methoxyphenol) and an oil carrier in an amount of 10% to 50% by weight of the composition, the weight ratio of citral to eugenol is in a range from 1 to 10, and more preferably in a range from 1.7 to 5, and the aqueous phase contains a sweetener in an amount of 15% to 60% by weight based on the total weight of the aqueous phase. Said sweetener is preferably selected from the group including: sacharose, fructose, glucose, sugar, inverted sugar syrup, maltose syrup and mixtures thereof. The invention also relates to methods and uses of such a composition for increasing the productivity of a crop area requiring bee pollination in agricultural and/or horticultural environments, as well as methods and uses of such a composition for increasing the efficiency of introducing a replacement queen bee to a new bee colony, of joining bee colonies and for tranquilizing bees in apiculture applications.
