EXPANSION OF THE FLORICULTURE INDUSTRY AND ITS SOCIO ECONOMIC EFFECTS ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITY OF ZIWAY BATU TOWN, OROMIYA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPI

Abstract

The floriculture investment is among the other sectors such as textile industries, which are being practiced by the poor and developing nations throughout the world as a means of poverty alleviation strategy. Hence Ethiopia adopted the industrial development strategy in 2003 which is export-oriented and labor-intensive industries such as floriculture and textiles. Following the favorable conditions including the cheap labor and resource, the flower farm investors took part in the process. As a result of the establishment and the expansion of the floriculture industry in Ethiopia, the country’s foreign exchange earning has increased and the industry has created an employment opportunity for a significant amount of labor. Despite this, the local community and the employees of the flower farms suffered from different socio-economic and related problems such as lose of livelihood sources, lack of safety measures for workers, pollution and depletion of surface water are mentioned. Even if, the floriculture investment is causing multifaceted economic, social and environmental problem on the local community, much attention has not been given and researched from the anthropological perspective. Hence, in this study, the socio-economic impact, the challenges of the expansion of the floriculture, perception of the local community and the effect of the floriculture on the livelihood of the local community have been investigated through the mixed methods research approach. Household survey (384), key informant interview (16) and direct observation have been employed as an instrument of primary data collection. Besides the use of documents and empirical literature was made as secondary source of data. Through semi structured interview, questionnaire and observed field notes, wide range of data was collected from the local community in order to address the objectives of the research. The collected qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the frequency, mean, median and mode in the quantitative data using SPSS software. The research findings have been seen through the world systems and dependency theories and discussed with existing literature. The finding has shown the local community suffered from the chemical pollution, the loss of livelihood sources, scarcity of natural resources such as: land, surface water, fish species. Also, it resulted in health problems, loose social integrity, economic stagnation in the town, exploitation of labor, inaccessibility of social services, and scarcity in food and agricultural produce. Findings also have revealed that, the local community’s perception towards the floriculture investment is found to be negative as it was quite different from what they had during its commencement as a result of the challenges and the negative effects they encountered. In spite of the externalities due to chemical pollution, the flower farm company and the government as well, are not much concerned about the wellbeing of the local community and the environment as well. In conclusion, the flower farm investment is affecting the local community’s socio-economic aspects, resources and livelihood sources in a negative way and it resulted that the negative effects are found to be very serious. Therefore, the researcher recommended immediate reconsideration of the company’s plan on chemical use, environmental impact assessment plan, policies on public relation, wellbeing of the community and workers safety and wage rate. Also, the government should consider the involvement of social scientists in the process of policy design and continuous assessment and implementation of regulations on the floriculture investment, particularly, in Ziway town.