The third RCG meeting was held in
Bangkok, Thailand on 8 December 2007, co-hosted by the Department of
Livestock Development. Regional Coordination Group (RCG) members from
Guangdong Province of China, Thailand, Vietnam, FAO, and the task team
leader of the World Bank, Mr. Weiguo Zhou, attended the meeting.
Progress reports of the participating countries and the RFO were
presented in the meeting. The concern of the delayed civil works was
raised by FAO and the World Bank. The countries confirmed to speed up
the administrative procedure and to commence the construction of waste
treatment facilities in the demonstration farms soonest as
possible.
The meeting discussed on CDM project and
requested Thai RCG members to share their experience on the CDM
project. China and Vietnam were interested and would consider applying
this project.
The Policy Development Workshop arranged
during 6-7 December 2007. The workshop was useful for countries in
developing its replication strategy. Experts from Denmark, the
Netherlands and the U.S. reported on the policy changes which were
necessary to address the problem of animal waste in the countries and
whether the livestock density was or is beyond the carrying capacity of
the agriculture land. Of particular interest were the regulatory
frameworks which were established. The countries need FAO assistance on
1) EIA setting for the new farms, licensing and capacity building, 2)
data collecting, environmental monitoring to guide the policy decision
makers, 3) economics of waste management, cost-benefit analysis. Two
other areas that need support are capacity building of the PMO and
spatial distribution of livestock production. The countries were
appreciated for the arrangement made by FAO particularly in providing
simultaneous translation.
Field trip of the RCG members to visit the farms in Rachaburi on 9
December 2007
The RFO with the collaboration of the
Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Thailand arranged the field
trip for RCG and PMO members from China, Thailand and Vietnam to visit
two large pig farms in Rachaburi on 9 December 2007.
The first farm was SMP Farm (number 3).
With total area of 120 rai (1 Rai = 1,600 square meter), the farm keeps
21,000 pig heads in 21 units of evaporative houses. The farm is under
the Thai project of Biogas Production from Livestock Farm which
initiated in 1999. The owner use biogas technology to reduce pollution
and to obtain renewable energy for electricity use in the farm and for
sale to the grid. The biogas produced in the farm generated electricity
of 2,000 kw-hr/day which is valued at 2,190,000 baht/year (about US $
70 000). About 1,500 tons per year of digested and dried sludge (drying
beds and with 15% moisture) is sold to orchard farms in South Thailand
with the revenues covering the cost of the workers and giving a modest
profit. The waste water is further treated and reaches a quality that
can be re-used on the farm for flushing the pig houses and cleaning.
More details of this farm are in www.lwmea.org , under news.
The second farm was Udomdej farm. The
area of the farm is 200 Rai. The farm keeps 25,000 pig heads in 25
units of evaporated pig houses. The farm has installed two sets of
electricity generating system: 400 kw-hr and 800 kw-hr. The 400 kw
generator is used in the times of low demand to supply the electricity
necessary to run the farm. During the peak hours the 800 kw generator
provides electricity for the farm and feeds into the grid. Slurry
passes in a three lagoon system with biogas generation in the first two
lagoons. Molasses is added to generate more biogas. Details of the farm
can be found in www.lwmea.org, under news.
Progress of Decision Support Tools (DST) Development
RFO aims to develop four Decision
Support Tools (DST) on: 1) Manure Management, 2) Monitoring and
Evaluation , 3) Spatial Planning, and 4) Policy Development. National
counterparts for Manure Management DST in Vietnam, Thailand and China
have been identified to support the preparation of the DST. On 10
December, the first coordinating meeting with Mr. Harald Menzi, Mr.
Colin Burton, the programmer and FAO officers was held in FAO, Rome. By
June 2008, FAO will come up with pilot DST for demonstration and
testing. For Monitoring and Evaluation DST, the countries were asked to
send their comment on the reports of Mr Hong Lim Choi and Mr Harald
Menzi. The mission for spatial planning DST will be in April 2008
conducted Mr. Gerrit Carsjen. A Policy Development Workshop was
arranged by FAO during 6-7 December 2007 and is part of Policy DST
development.
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project launched in Thailand, August
2007
A Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project was launched in Thailand
as a part of replication strategy for Livestock Waste Management in
East Asia Project. The orientation meetings for all participating farms
were arranged in early August 2007. The project will be implemented in
ten farms (8 in Rachaburi and one each in Cholburi and Chachongsao)
with total around 130,000 standing pig population. These farms are
large or medium sized farms ranging from 8,000 to 30,000 pigs on each
farm.
The proposed CDM project will install covered lagoons in the
participating farms to capture and utilize the biogas generated. The
biogas will be used as fuel for electricity generation (approximately
100-200 kw units per farm). The project is targeted for an annual
carbon credit up to 60,000 to (up to 0.3 million tCO2e by 2012) with an
intension for the participating pig farms to benefit from both GEF
grant (LWMEA project) and carbon fund (CDM project).
Livestock’s Long Shadow
"Livestock’s long shadow - environmental
issues and options" a new publication from FAO by H. Steinfeld, P.
Gerber, T. Wassenaar, V. Castel, M. Rosales, and C. de Haan on the full
impact of the livestock sector on environmental problems, along with
potential technical and policy approaches to mitigation. You can
download the publication from LEAD website: http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/frame.htm
Korea Symposium
Arux Chaiakul, PMO Thailand, Pierre Gerber and Hans Wagner form FAO,
upon invitation by the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul and
the Gyeonggi Do Province in Korea, attended a Symposium on Renewable
Energy Development Project on the Korean Peninsula and beyond. Korea,
and the Province in particular, with relatively large livestock numbers
have a serious problem to manage the animal waste. The Symposium which
was attended by over 250 personalities from leading Korean industries
were briefed on the seriousness of the problem. Pierre Gerber gave a
general presentation on Climate change, water pollution and renewable
energy development. Hans Wagner presented WB-GEF project and Arux
Chaiakul reported on the experiences in Thailand. The importance of the
meeting was underlined by the fact that the UN Secretary General sent a
personal message to the meeting. In a field trip, the seriousness of
the problem was made very clear. We will now explore the possibility of
a GEF project which will include North and South Korea and the Chinese
Province of Heilongjiang.
Monteny report
With the demand pressure for fresh milk in large cities in India and
in Pakistan dairy colonies have established themselves in the vicinity
of these large cities. For these dairy colonies freshly lactating
buffaloes and cows are bought from rural areas and after lactation
slaughtered. Most of these enterprises have very little or no land.
Manure disposal as fertilizer is not applied anymore due to a
dis-proportion between livestock numbers and cropping surface.
Appropriate manure storage or treatment facilities do not exist. Under
such circumstances, the balance between nutrients in animal excreta and
nutrient demand of crops is disrupted. This result in an increasing
pressure on the environment: Increasing nutrient and organic substance
losses to ground and surface water by run-off and leaching
(eutrophication of watercourses and nitrate in groundwater) and to the
atmosphere by volatilisation (ammonia, methane, nitrous oxide) as well
as accumulation of heavy metals in the soil. Furthermore, there is a
rising risk of spreading pathogens that can endanger human and animal
health and that the population is harassed by odours. A consultant
visited the two countries to identify ways and means to address these
issues. The report and the findings can be found on the www.lwmea.org, under the environmental
reports.
Top
