Social and Environmental Concerns of Flower Farms in Central Ethiopia
Abstract
The extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in the flower farming industries has been linked to negative environmental and social impacts. The cross-sectional study was conducted to assess social and environmental concerns of flower farms in Central Ethiopia using questionnaires, focus group discussion and field visits. This study revealed that 317 (52.75%) of respondents reported that flower farms have been disposing of their flower residue of in the open field. The findings of this study showed that 216(36%) of inhabitants buy or receive empty chemical bags and containers that had been disposed by the flower farms. Focus Group Discussion participants perceived the decrease in volume and quality of groundwater, a decrease in productivity, land degradation, and increased emerging diseases due to the existence of flower farms in the area.. In addition, they reported abuse of employee rights, displacement of farmers from fertile land, death of cattle and fish, loss of acceptance for their agricultural and fish products. In conclusion, this study revealed that there are a poor waste management and unsustainable activities by the flower farms. The government should closely monitor these farms and undergo a holistic study to quantify environmental and local inhabitant’sopportunity costs of flower farming activity.
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Introduction
Ethiopia started to enter the flower export market in the mid-1990s at the time when the European Union (EU) market was much more demand-driven, and as a result, increasingly stringent standards and regulations had been instituted. In less thana decade, the country became the fifth largest non-EUflower exporter to the EUmarket and the second-largest exporter from Africa, surpassing all early exporter countries except Kenya (Gebreeyesus & Sonobe, 2012; Gezmu, 2013). Ethiopia generated over 178 million USD from flower exports. Although the contribution of the sector to GDP growth is undeniable, many scholars are doubtful about the long-term impacts of this sector on the environment and welfare of the rural families, in areas where flower farms are developed (Gezmu, 2013).
Due to the rapid growth of the floriculture industry, flower farms in Ethiopia have imported 96 types of insecticides and nematicides, and 105 types of fungicides from 2007 to 2014 (Tilahun 2013; MoA, 2014). Most growers rank pesticides second on their list of expenditures, next to international (air) transport costs (Mengistie et al., 2017). As a result, many have become concerned about the potential adverse environmental impacts of flower farms. Fertilizers and pesticides used extensively in the industry have been linked to negative environmental and health impacts (Getu, 2009; Gadaa, 2010; Hatch & Wells, 2012).Pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.) can contaminate organisms, soil, water, turf, and other vegetation (Hatch & Wells, 2012). The adverse effect of pesticide use includes degrading water and soil quality, the effect on non-targeted lives like soil organisms, aquatic life, human beings, insects, cattle, etc, air pollution, and increase of pesticide resistance by targeted pests (Getu, 2009; Tilahun, 2013).
On other hand, the fact that they are often harmful to the environment, fertilizers are used in many different forms of agriculture to increase the level of crop production by adding nutrients to the soil that benefit the growth of plants (Getu, 2009). The residue of these fertilizers can cause water pollution, eutrophication of freshwaters, and increased nitrate concentrations in ground and surface waters (Hatch & Wells, 2012). The long-term use of inorganic fertilizers can also be detrimental to the soil because it can kill nitrogen-fixing bacteria and other beneficial organisms (Pimentel et al., 1995). As a result, more fertilizers are applied each year to makeup for the loss of natural microorganisms and micro-nutrients (Getu, 2009; Hatch & Wells, 2012).
Many studies were performed focusing on occupational health, employee’srights, water pollution, soil pollution, waste management, and so on. However, there are none or a few who collected data from the surrounding residents who can give better testimony regarding the health impacts, the local inhabitants' benefit, the solid waste management practice, and social complaints of flower farming industries. It is important to collect data from a different source to generate reliable information. The local inhabitants are the mosaic of the industry employee, the farmers, and other residents; they can betaken as watchdog that is following what is happening inside the compound as well as the surrounding environment. Therefore, in this study, the social and environmental concerns witnessed by nearby inhabitants of flower farms were tried to be assessed.
Conclusion
In this study it was tried to show the social and environmental issues such as waste management, empty chemical bag/container misuse, social grievance of the farm, residents benefit from the farm, and inhabitant’sdegree of satisfaction around flower farms. Accordingly, the main issues reported were high flood from the greenhouse, unfair compensation, uncontrolled water abstraction, unfair wage for the employee, chemical contamination of nearby land and water, loss of local vegetables and fish acceptability on the market, loss farmland, decrease of crop yield, occupational injury, abuse of employee rights, health problems, death of cattle and fish, and chemical odor problem.
In general, it was reported that there is a poor waste management and unacceptable activities by the flower farms. As a result, inhabitants around flower farms broadly manifest high social grievance and dissatisfaction. Every developmental activity has its own negative impact, which ranges from low to high, reversible to irreversible and short-term to long-term. The cost-benefit analysis of such a sector should be well examined and recognized. The fact that this study has tried to hear from the community, the government should strongly and closely monitor these farms if the firms are acting according to their environmental management plan. Also, detail and holistic study is still highly required to quantify environmental and social opportunity costs of flower farming activity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, we would like to acknowledge the Woredas’ Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Authority and Health office for assigning experts for data collection during the survey. Then, we would like to thank data collectors, the inhabitants around flower farms, and FGD participants of the study. In addition, we are glad to acknowledge the Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute for financial support.