SOCIO-ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ASSESSMENT AND VASE LIFE MANAGEMENT OF ROSE (Rosa hybrida L.) CUT FLOWER IN BAHIR DAR, NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

he study on socio-economic opportunity and vase life management of rose cut flower was conducted in Bahir Dar, Northwest Ethiopia to assess the socio-economic opportunities of flower industry and to evaluate effects of pulsing solutions on vase life of rose cut flower. Data to assess the socio-economic opportunities of the rose flower farm were collected through semi-structured and key informant interview with an interview guideline to workers who are working in different sections of the rose cut flower farms, management representative and communities living around Tana Flora and Ethio Agri-CEFT PLC flower farms. The collected data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, Chi-square and percentage using SPSS software version 20. To evaluate the response of rose varieties to pulsing solutions, rose cut flower varieties (Moon Walk, Wham and Pink Tacazzi) and pulsing solutions (distilled water (control), AgNO , Aluminium sulphate and Ethanol) were combined factorially and laid down in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data on average flower bud diameter, days to bent neck, relative fresh weight, water uptake and petal water content of flower were recorded and the recorded data were subjected to the analysis of variance using SAS computer software version 9.4 in order to identify the variability among different pulsing solutions and varieties. Mean comparisons to identify significant difference between treatments means were performed using least significant difference tests at 5% probability level. The result showed that rose cut flower farms located around Bahir Dar city has significant role in improving the conditions of the community living around the farm through creating employment opportunity directly for workers employed in the sector and indirectly for local business owners. About 1118 workers are employed in the two flower farms and 26 local flower retailers and 9 small cafe and restaurants are developed after the establishment of the two flower farms in the area. Moreover, flower farms also serve the community through providing social services like water and electric power for the community living around the farms, sources of foreign currency for the country, knowledge transfer for university and college students and resource centre and area for researchers. The labor and employment conditions of flower farms have been improved through time with regard to salary, bonus, transportation availability, personal protective equipments and availability of health and safety facilities. The experiment result showed that different pulsing solution has significant effect on post harvest characteristics of rose cut flower varieties. The maximum vase lives of Moon Walk (13.33 days), Wham (16 days) and Pink Tacazzi (16.66 days) rose varieties were resulted from AgNO 3 pulsing solution. However, maximum vase life of Wham variety resulted fromAgNO 3 3 pulsing solution was not significantly different from the control. Based on this result, AgNO can be recommended for Moon Walk and Pink Tacazzi varieties and using of pulsing solutions for Wham variety is not recommended as the control results in best postharvest characteristics of the flower.