The human impacts of flower farm development in the Ethiopian Rift Valley region

The flower industry has a reputation for heavy usage of toxic chemicals and polluting the environment, enormous consumption of water, and poor working condition and low wage level in various parts of the world. It is unfortunate that this industry is adamant to change and repeating the same mistakes in Ethiopia. Because of this, - there is a growing concern among the general public and the international community about sustainability of the Ethiopian flower industry. Consequently, working conditions in the flower industry, impacts of wage income on the livelihoods of employees, coping strategies of low wage flower farm workers, impacts of flower farms on the livelihoods of local people and environmental pollution and conflict, were analysed. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. Four quantitative data sets: labour practice, employees’ income and expenditure, displaced household, and flower grower views survey were collected between 2010 and 2012. Robust regression to identify the determinants of wage levels, and Multinomial logit to identify the determinants of coping strategies of flower farm workers and displaced households were employed. The findings show the working conditions in flower farms are characterized by low wages, job insecurity and frequent violation of employees’ rights, and poor safety measures. To ensure survival of their family, land dispossessed households adopt a wide range of strategies including reduction in food consumption, sharing oxen, renting land, share cropping, and shifting staple food crops. Most experienced scarcity of water resources, lack of grazing areas, death of herds and reduced numbers of livestock due to water source pollution. Despite the Ethiopian government investment in attracting and creating conducive environment for investors, not much was accomplished when it comes to enforcing labour laws and environmental policies. Flower farm expansion in Ethiopia, as it is now, can be viewed as part of the global land and water grab and is not all inclusive and sustainable. Several recommendations are made to improve working conditions, maximize the benefits of flower industry to the society, and to the country at large.

Biomethane production from grass silage: laboratory assessment to maximise yields

On-farm biogas production is typically associated with forage maize as the biomass source. Digesters are designed and operated with the focus of optimising the conditions for this feedstock. Thus, such systems may not be ideally suited to the digestion of grass. Ireland has ca. 3.85 million ha of grassland. Annual excess grass, surplus to livestock requirements, could potentially fuel an anaerobic digestion industry. Biomethane associated with biomass from 1.1 % of grassland in Ireland, could potentially generate over 10 % renewable energy supply in transport. This study aims to identify and optimise technologies for the production of biomethane from grass silage. Mono-digestion of grass silage and co-digestion with slurry, as would occur on Irish farms, is investigated in laboratory trials. Grass silage was shown to have 7 times greater methane potential than dairy slurry on a fresh weight basis (107 m3 t-1 v 16 m3 t-1). However, comprehensive trace element profiles indicated that cobalt, iron and nickel are deficient in mono-digestion of grass silage at a high organic loading rate (OLR) of 4.0 kg VS m-3 d-1. The addition of a slurry co-substrate was beneficial due to its wealth of essential trace elements. To stimulate hydrolysis of high lignocellulose grass silage, particle size reduction (physical) and rumen fluid addition (biological) were investigated. In a continuous trial, digestion of grass silage of <1 cm particle size achieved a specific methane yield of 371 L CH4 kg-1 VS when coupled with rumen fluid addition. The concept of demand driven biogas was also examined in a two-phase digestion system (leaching with UASB). When demand for electricity is low it is recommended to disconnect the UASB from the system and recirculate rumen fluid to increase volatile fatty acid (VFA) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) production whilst minimising volatile solids (VS) destruction. At times of high demand for electricity, connection of the UASB increases the destruction of volatiles and associated biogas production. The above experiments are intended to assess a range of biogas production options from grass silage with a specific focus on maximising methane yields and provide a guideline for feasible design and operation of on-farm digesters in Ireland.