Journal of Agriculture
and Environmental Sciences

Commercial Flower Farms and the Resulting Environmental Pollution Consequences in Uganda
Natamba Leo, Zhang Weihua, Founemakan Sissoko

Abstract
Commercial flower growing in Uganda started picking in 1990s when the traditional cash crops like coffee and tea declined both in value and in volumes. The government encouraged this shift from traditional to nontraditional but high value crops. Flower farming is heavily dependent on fertilisers and pesticides. The objective of this article is to find out the fertilizers and pesticides used by commercial flower farms and how they affect the surface water and the general environment. Nitrogenous fertilisers and pesticides are commonly used. These contaminate soils and pollute surface water and cause eutrophication leading to anoxia hence food insecurity. They also cause human health problems including death. Many flower farms in Uganda have not followed environmental guidelines strictly in mitigating the dangers that result from their activities. Some banned chemicals like dursban, folio gold, impulse, and meltatox are still used on farms .Information from articles, bulletins, newspapers, and reports has shown that a number of chemicals and fertilisers are used on flower farms. In conclusion, there is need for government to strictly ensure that commercial flower farms adhere to environmental regulations, policies, and laws and if they cannot comply, heavy punishments, being forced to close, then law should be invoked.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jaes.v5n1a22