Abbreviations - Equator Initiative · Web viewHevea brasiliensis ) is the second most important plantation crop in Sri, Lanka, in terms of export earnings and employment generation

Impact report of the project of Promotion of Bio Gas Technology & Efficient Rubber Drying Houses

Draft

Impact report of the project of

Promotion of Bio Gas Technology & Efficient Rubber Drying Houses to reduce Green House Gas emissions associated with the rubber industry in Kegalle district.

Conducted by: Human and Environment Development Organization (HEDO)

Prepared by: Sri Lanka Environmental Exploration Society (SLEES), Capacity building

and Knowledge Management, GEF/SGP/UNDP

January, 2017

Contents

1Sri Lanka Environment Exploration Society (SLEES)


01. Project snapshot....................................................................................................................3

02. Executive summary..............................................................................................................4

03. Introduction and background of the Project.........................................................................4

04. Project partners.....................................................................................................................5

05. Project Objectives.................................................................................................................5

06. Key Activities.......................................................................................................................6

07. Methodology.........................................................................................................................6

08. Project outcomes...................................................................................................................7

09. Multidisciplinary approach of the project.............................................................................9

10. Environmental impact of the project..................................................................................10

11. Economic impact................................................................................................................13

12. Sociological impacts...........................................................................................................14

13. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................16

14. References...........................................................................................................................17

Abbreviations



SRL - Sri Lanka

SGP - Small Grant Programme

GEF – Global Environment Facilities

OP - Operational Phase

HEDO - Human and Environment Development Organization

GPS - Global Positioning System

GN - Grama Niladhari

RRI- Rubber Research Institute

GHG - Green House Gases

COD - Chemical Oxygen Demand

BOD - Biochemical Oxygen Demand

LKR – Sri Lankan Rupees

SLEES – Sri Lanka Environment Exploration Society

01. Project snapshot



Project Number: SRL/SGP/OP5/STAR/CC/2014/15Grantee Organization: Human and Environment Development OrganizationOrganization Address:Contact person:Contact No:Email:Project Location:GPS Location:GN Division/s:Divisional Secretariat:District:Thematic area of work:

HEDO, No.825, Meepitiya, KegalleMr. Anura Premathilake071-8241311anura_premathilaka@yahoo.comKegalle7.158313,80.238881Nelundeniya, Galapitamada,Mampita, LenagalaWarakapolaKegalleClimate Change Adaptation

GEF/ SGP Grant Amount: US$.26,267.00Co-financing in kind : US$ 4,870.00 Co-financing in cash: 34722.00 (Sampath Bank, Sri Lanka)Total Project Amount: US$.17653.84Start Date: July 2014End Date: June 2016

Project participants

1. Beneficiaries of the project 75 families

2. Smoke house owners 15

3. Small scale plantation owners 54

4. Tappers 38

5. Self-working mall scale plantation owners 18

02. Executive summary



Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) is the second most important plantation crop in Sri, Lanka, in terms of export earnings and employment generation. In the Kegalle district of the wet zone, approximately 80% of the land cover is under rubber plantations. Rubber plantations make up about 12% of the forest cover of the island. As the report on National Red listing indicates that Kegalle district harbour a higher number of threatened taxa specially Bandula Barb (Puntius bandula) which is a critically endangered and point endemic species

Rubber industry is often associated with a number of environmental problems mainly GHG emissions, logging for firewood, and water pollution from effluents etc. Human and Environment Development Organization (HEDO) with the assistance of the community and UNDP GEF SGP funding addressed these environmental problems. They converted five smoke houses into energy efficient rubber drying houses operating from waste saw dust which would have otherwise been disposed along river banks or open burning resulting in environmental degradation. As a result, the vast amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the production process is drastically reduced. Further these efficient drying houses enabled the beneficiaries to reach highest quality in rubber sheets which resulted in higher incomes. This will ensure the existence of the forest cover made up of rubber plantations. The NGO introduced biogas technology using the rubber waste water converting this environment hazard into profits. Two bio gas plants were built as models which generate biogas from effluents discharged in the processing of rubber sheets (200 - 350 L/day) as well as household waste.

03. Introduction and background of the Project

The natural rubber industry in Sri Lanka is one of the enduring colonial legacies that is providing sustained socio- economic benefits to the country. Sri Lankan natural rubber has since acquired the status of an industrial raw material with a global significance. The rubber industry links the traditional tree crop agriculture with sophisticated industrial manufacturing in a strongly interdependent manner that has made both the sectors more stable and competitive in the global market place. The traditional rubber growing areas of Sri Lanka is located mainly in the wet zone in a land extent of 127,500 hectares. These areas include Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy, Matale, Galle, Matara, Kurunegala, Rathnapura, and Kegalle. In the Kegalle district, the rubber industry is one of the main income sources, where approximately 80% of the land cover is under rubber plantations. Of these plantations, more than 90% are small holders with less than 10 acres of rubber land under their possession. The three main grades of natural rubber produced in Sri Lanka are Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS), Crepe rubber and centrifuged latex. The effluent generated by such production contains 30-40% of rubber and 60-70% of serum substances. These serum substances contain amino acids, carbohydrates and plant growth substances with lactic acid which is formed in the latex. During the rubber sheet production process, the latex collected from rubber plants in the field is diluted and screened before the addition of formic acid for coagulation process. The wet sheet is sheeted off to a thickness of about 3 mm and are dried initially by air and then inside a smoke house for 4 days at temperatures ranging between 50-650C. This drying is associated with seasoning by the



resins and other compounds in the fumes of firewood. The sheets produced are finally classified and sold as a raw material for various rubber products such as tires and gloves.

Except for a handful of renowned large holder plantation companies engaged in rubber production, the small holders do not consider the environmental factors important in the plantation maintenance or during the production process, mainly due to financial constraints and lack of technical knowledge. For example, in Warakapola Local Authority area of Kegalle district, where the project activities were undertaken, around 97% of the small holders use small centralized low energy efficient, smoke houses for producing the ribbed smoked sheets (RSS), which are darker and graded as grade 4 or 5. These conventional smoke houses emit a considerable amount of greenhouse gases during the operation. They burn firewood and the effluent consists of large percentage of organic matter which is then released to the environment.

Further the waste water released from the rubber latex cleaning and coagulation process (Serum), which is slightly acidic (pH < 4) are directly discharged without any cleaning and gets accumulated in the open land or in nearby streams and produce gases with extreme odors. This is a great threat to the biodiversity in the area. As the report on National Red List indicates Kegalle district harbours a high number of threatened taxa specially Bandula Barb (Puntius bandula) which is a critically endangered and point endemic species threatened by the water pollution due to rubber effluent.

04. Project partners

1. Human and Environment Development Organization (HEDO) conducted the initiative.2. The project received the assistance and support from Rubber Department of Kegalle

district and Rubber Research Institute to introduce the latest technology related to the industry.

3. The Global Environment Facilities (GEF) Small grants program (SGP) of the UNDP provided financial support as well as instructions and international exposure for the initiative.

4. Sri Lanka Environmental Exploration Society (SLEES), Capacity building and Knowledge Management, GEF/SGP/UNDP provided capacity building and knowledge management solutions throughout the project.

5. The community was organized into CBOs and are enforced to bring forward the common issues related to the of rubber industry.

6. Mushroom cultivation was introduced as an alternative source of income to the small holder rubber planters. A revolving fund was established and small loans were provided to obtain raw materials start the livelihood. Further financial support was obtained from the Sampath Bank, a major financial institute of Sri Lanka.



05. Project Objectives

1. Minimizing CO2 emission through the reduction of firewood usage by promoting energy efficient rubber drying houses in midland forests.

2. Decreasing water pollution in the area by controlling the release of effluent from processing of rubber sheets and producing of biogas in midland forests.

3. Reducing the pollution of water sources in the area through maintenance rubber plantations in eco-friendly manner.

4. Expanding project activities to the national level.

5. Uplifting the economy of the beneficiaries.

06. Key Activities 1. Conducting 10 training programmes to small scale rubber planters and sheet producers of

the project area

2. Construction of 5 energy efficient drying houses.

3. Construction of 2 model bio gas plants as a solution for environmental problems caused by rubber waste water

4. Distribution of rain guards to improve the collection of rubber yield during the rainy season.

5. Motivating farmers to increase their income from their rubber lands through other methods together with organic rubber cultivation.

6. Conducting a National level workshop for sharing experience with the policy makers and implementers of the agencies of the government, private sector and the NGOs.

07. MethodologyThe community was using conventional technology and they could not obtain the maximum output from the resources. The rubber sheets they produced were of inferior quality. The quality could be drastically improved by following standard methods such as filtering the latex to remove unwanted particles and stirring the latex properly and removing foam. These simple practises would give the rubber sheets a more appealing colour, better transparency and a proper finish. These measures are very cheap and takes a small time to apply. But the community is reluctant to use them due to the lack of knowledge and due to attitudinal problems. Therefore Human and Environment Development Organization (HEDO) had to make an attitudinal change. They organized 10 training programmes for the beneficiary small scale rubber planters and sheet producers to train them on using the modern technology to increase their production and value addition. Moreover, the community was used to stop latex tapping during the rainy season. The



RRI had introduced a polythene rain guard to cover the latex collecting shells to prevent seeping of rain water into the latex. The smallholders were reluctant to use them because the polythene covers needed to be unveiled each and every time before tapping. This procedure takes a little more time to complete the tapping process. However the project promoted a rigid cap like rain guard which was introduced by the RRI. This method does not make delays as it doesn’t need to be unveiled the fixed cap like structure. Several field excursions were organized to introduce the modern rain guards.

The smoke houses need a lot of firewood for their operation. Generally a smoke house act as a store house and keeps smoking the rubber sheets for a long time. One smoke house functions as a centre for drying wet sheets of about 10 small holder plantations.4Kg to 5 Kg of firewood is consumed per rubber sheet. These numbers depend on the area of the smoke house. The sources of firewood is generally the forest patches in the area and from the rubber plantations. Less often firewood is obtained from saw mills as well. To prevent the deforestation for logging, HEDO introduced energy efficient smoke houses operated by waste saw dust. They constructed five model smoke houses operating from waste saw dust which would have otherwise been disposed along river banks or open burning resulting in environmental degradation. As a result, the vast amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the production process by the combustion of firewood is drastically reduced. Further these efficient drying houses enabled the beneficiaries to reach highest quality in rubber sheets which resulted in higher incomes. This will ensure the existence of the forest cover made up of rubber plantations.

In the processing of rubber sheets after coagulation process, generally 200-350 litres of acidic effluent is released per day. This contains solids and suspended solids, Sulphides, Nitrogen and has a pH around 4.5. This effluent has a very bad odour and it is the reason for the inherent unpleasant smell associated with rubber estates. Usual practise is that the effluent is drained using PVC tubes to some distance away and then released to the environment to reduce the bad smell. If the smell is too high, the smoke house owner changes the direction of the tube to direct the effluent to another place. This effluent often pollutes streams in the area. When it is on the ground it gets fermented and emit greenhouse gases such as Methane. HEDO provided an innovative solution to this environmental problem. They used bio gas plants to cure this effluent. Many previous attempts of using biogas plants to cure acidic effluents has been proved unsuccessful. However the model of biogas plants constructed by HEDO with the consultancy of experts in the Biogas field were successful. The bio gas plant has a special mechanism to increase the pH value and make it easy to digest the organic matter. A small amount of coir is placed in the digester to retain the bacteria inside. Thus bio gas is generated and waste water and sludge is used as fertilizer.



08. Project outcomes

1. Emission of GHG from selected conventional smoke houses within the project area has been reduced.The energy efficient rubber drying houses have many advantages over the conventional smoke houses. Most important of them is shortening the production time into one day from four to five days. As a result, the vast amount of CO2 emitted in the production process is drastically reduced. Further these drying houses enabled the beneficiaries to reach highest quality in rubber sheets which resulted in higher incomes. There also has been health improvements for the community as the new smoke house has been made in such a manner that the rubber trays can be taken out so that individuals do not have to go inside a smoke filled room an inhale toxic fumes. The innovative model of efficient rubber drying houses was developed from a basic model introduced by the Rubber Research Department of Sri Lanka. This model is widely accepted by the community due to its increased savings from energy requirements and the high quality of the produced rubber sheets. The price difference between RSS1 grade and RSS3 or RSS 4 grades has been reduced and therefore, the small holders were in the view that investing money for modifying the smoke houses to produce RSS 1 grade rubber is not profitable. Therefore HEDO had to make them aware of advantages such as fuel efficiency and health benefits. Continuous awareness programs with visits to obtain hands-on information motivated the community to adopt new technologies. The NGO organized several workshops and field excursions to introduce the initiative to the community. HEDO established five drying houses following this model.



Comparison of conventional smoke houses with energy efficient drying houses.

Conventional Smoke houses Energy efficient drying housesHigh levels of GHG emissions Low level of GHG emissionsFirewood is used. Sawdust is used which is usually dumped to

rivers Operational time is about 4 days Operational time is 24 hoursProduce grade 4-5 rubber sheets Produce 1st grade rubber sheetsTemperature can’t be controlled Constant temperature (50-55 C)Operation has to be done inside the smoke house. Health risks arise due to the inhaling of smoke as a person has to go inside the smoke house

Outside operation is possible because the rubber sheet racks can be taken outside.

Has a lot of hard work such as preparation of firewood.

Simple operation. Saw dust can be easily fed to the burner.

More time is consumed to prepare firewood and to start combustion from cold start

Takes less time to initiate combustion.

Difficult to operate by women. Easier to operate by womenRejected by new generation Attractive for new generationPartial combustion of firewood which releases toxic gases

Complete combustion

2. Rain guards has been introduced to the beneficiary community.HEDO introduced rain guards for rubber trees of 10 selected smalls scale rubber plantations. These guards cover the latex cut from rain. This is helpful in maintaining the rubber latex collection during the rainy season and thereby considerably contribute to the production. A field visit was made to Pandeniya Thuru Samithiya (CBO) to provide the beneficiaries an exposure of the latest technology in the rubber industry. Moreover, the beneficiaries were taken to a rubber estate where rain guards were fixed to give them a proper understanding about the rain guard system.



3. Chemical contamination of water sources in the project area has been minimized.Two bio gas plants were built as models with capacities of 10m3 and 8m3 which generate biogas by the digestion of effluents discharged in the processing of rubber sheets (200 - 350 L/day) as well as household waste. This technology was believed to be not practical due to the acidity of the effluent. However the project proved that bio gas can be successfully produced using acidic effluents. The gas is used for cooking and to boil water. Biogas generation from acidic rubber effluent was an innovative concept. Many other models of this kind has been failed earlier. However two model biogas plants built through this project as a long term research, proved successful and the results are satisfactory. Biogas is used for household purposes while the effluent and sludge is treated and used as fertilizers for home gardens.

4. Project activities has been expanded to the national level.National level workshops were conducted for sharing experiences with policy makers and government and private sector institutions. Regional small scale rubber planters and tappers are strengthened through this project to produce high quality rubber sheets with ecofriendly technologies. As demonstration models efficient smoke houses and bio gas plants were established with community participation. The NGO had to overcome issues such as market monopoly, price dropping and reluctance by trappers to use rain guard system.



5. Community is practicing alternative livelihoods.Introduction of alternative livelihoods such as mushroom cultivation to empower the community to overcome financial difficulties during market fluctuations as well as in the rainy season, when the rubber trapping is not taking place. A revolving fund was established and small loans were provided to obtain raw materials start the livelihood.

6. Conservation of critically endangered speciesThe point endemic fish species Bandula Barb (Puntius bandula) is in this vicinity this project. Their habitat is endangered due to the release of toxic rubber effluent. The project contributes in making the streams a conducive habitat by diverting the waste water to a biogas plant and purifying the effluent.



09. Multidisciplinary approach of the project

This project in cooperates a multidisciplinary approach in that it focuses on all main areas such as climate change, bio diversity and chemical focal areas.

From a climate change approach the main aim is reduce GHG emissions by using less fuel wood and using saw dust so that CO2 is minimized and the toxic gasses are converted to bio gas minimizing harmful chemicals emitted to the atmosphere.

Forest degradation is reduced as logging is less as waste saw dust is used as a substitute which contribute to the increase of bio diversity in the area. Most importantly this site is the home ground for point endemic species Puntius bandula. The project contributes in ensuring that the toxic water waste in minimized in this waterway. The sludge is used in the organic home gardens to promote agro bio diversity.

The project has both long term and short term impacts. Environmental impacts were measured by testing soil and water samples for BOD, COD levels and other contaminants in the effluent prior to the project activities and comparing the results after the establishment of biogas plants.

The energy savings and GHG emission (CO and CO2 levels) were measured by the comparison of firewood usage over sawdust usage for a constant time period.

Economic impacts were measured by the comparison of baseline data while sociological impacts by short term and long term observations.



10. Environmental impact of the project.

1. Minimizing the deforestation

At the colonial era, most of the natural forest cover in rubber growing areas have been cleared and rubber was introduced. Therefore at the present rubber plantations make up around 80% of the forest cover in those areas. (Distribution of vegetation in Kegalle District) Conventional rubber drying houses need firewood for their operation. Generally 4-5Kg of firewood is necessary to dry 1 sheet of rubber. Small forest patches surrounding the rubber plantations are usually cleared for logging. A small percentage of fire wood requirement is sourced from the rubber plantations itself. This project promoted a firewood free model of energy efficient drying house and funded for the establishment of 5 model drying houses. These have saved 43Tonns of firewood from October to the end of November 2016. The saw dust which is the burning media of these drying houses comes from the saw mills. The saw dust is also an environment pollutant because most of the time saw mills dump saw dust to rivers.

March April May June July August0

100020003000400050006000

Firewood usage in small holder rubber industry in 2015

Kg

2. Reduction of GHG emissions

Firewood logs are burnt continuously for 4 to 5 days inside the smoke house combustion chamber. This burning is not controlled and therefore a vast GHG emission takes place for days. Proper ventilation is not available in those smoke houses due to their primitive designs. Therefore fumes are spread all over the surrounding. The energy efficient drying house is designed to retain the inside temperature at the optimum level and the drying process completes within 24 hours. Therefore due to the short duration of combustion, relatively less amount of GHG is emitted. Moreover, the saw dust requirement for the energy efficient drying houses is approximately half of that of the conventional ones. Therefore it needs only 2Kg of saw dust per one sheet of rubber. This helps to cut down a large portion of the GHG emissions. The rubber effluent contains a large percentage of organic matter. When it is released to the environment it gets fermented and gases like methane is produced as result. Bio gas technology was used to treat the effluent. The



effluents released from the bio gas plants are further purified and used as liquid fertilizer along with the sludge.

3. Promoting a solution to the releasing of rubber effluent to the environment from conventional rubber processing centers.

The waste water emitted from conventional small scale rubber smoke pollutes nearby water bodies while the waste water is directed to streams, wells and to the open land. The project focuses on utilizing this waste water for producing bio gas. Two model bio gas plants were constructed on two locations. Rubber effluent is directly fed along with the kitchen waste into the biogas plant .According to the reports of the biogas consultant Mr. N.M.J. Nissanka, these plants digest the organic matter in the effluent and reduces the COD level to 63% and BOD level to 44% while the pH levels rises to 6.4. Further the waste water discharged by the plant is purified in a purification chamber consisting of several layers filtration media. This purified waste water and the sludge are both used as fertilizers in the homesteads. This measure reduces hazards to aquatic bio diversity due to releasing of waste water to natural streams. Since the point endemic critically endangered fish species Puntius bandula is in this vicinity this project contributes in making the streams a conducive habitat by reducing the water pollution due to the rubber effluent. The bio gas is used for general purposes in the kitchens.

Tested reports of treated effluent’s characteristics.



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Variation of BOD levels in the treated effluent in 3

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Inlet BOD (mg/L) Outlet BOD (mg/L)standard BOD (mg/L)

4.

Energy savings by replacing firewood with saw dust


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Variation of COD levels in the treated effluent in 3 months

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Variation of the pH levels of the treated effluent in 3

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Inlet pH Outlet pHStandard pH (min) Standard pH (max)

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Variation of TSS levels in the treated effluent in 3 months

Inlet TSS (mg/L)Outlet TSS (mg/L)standard TSS (mg/L)


The energy efficient rubber drying houses provide a significant energy saving due to the usage of saw dust replacing the firewood. The sophisticated design of the drying houses is basically engineered for energy saving. The burner is placed below the drying house in a locked chamber to minimize the heat loss due to convention. A sieve plate is used to regulate the heat and to disperse it regularly throughout the drying chamber. On the floor of the drying house stones are dispersed to retain the heat. A chimney is used to remove the smoke. Therefore these drying houses are capable of providing a substantial energy saving while minimizing the GHG emissions.

5. Minimizing environmental pollution from ash and remains after the burning process.

Residual ash is dampened and used as a fertilizer in home gardening to enrich soil nutrition. It helps to minimize usage of chemical fertilizers. When compare the releasing amounts of ash as remains from both burning processes wood ash amount is highest than saw dust ash amount. Due to partial combustion of woods it more charcoal remains with ash. But complete combustion of saw dust, produce very small amount of ash minimizing the environment pollution.

6. Prevention of land degradation by mechanical weed removal.

Due to the heavy application of weedicides, the under growth of rubber estates diminishes. This causes soil erosion and land degradation in the rubber estates. The community was informed about the negative outcomes of weedicide usage. As a result most of the weed removal is carried out by the grass cutters. This consumes more time than the application of weedicides but on the long run it is beneficial to the soil and helpful to achieve FCC organic certifications in the future.

If the rubber producer use man power for weed control throughout one acres of rubber land area, it takes minimum 04 days. If he use grass cutter for same task throughout same land area there is a possibility to complete above task from one day. Therefore the cost for weed control can be cut down up to 50%.

Weed control by labors Weed control by grass cutter Weed control by weedicidesCost is high ( Rs.4000/day) Moderately

costly( Rs.2000/day)Moderately costly ( Rs.2200/day)

Eco friendly Eco friendly Environment pollution is high

Removed weeds can use to composting process

Removed weeds can use to composting process

Removed weeds can’t use due to contact of weedicides.

Cost per labor per day: Rs.1000Fuel cost per acre for grass cutter: Rs.1000Weedicides cost per acre: Rs.1200

7. Environmental pollution from the non- degradable rain guards



There is a possibility of environmental pollution from rain guards after their life span as it is non-bio degradable. A large number of rain guards has been destroyed by monkeys. This was not expected and it negatively affects the perception of the community about the rain guards. The bright green color of the rain guards may have been the reason for the unnecessary attention of monkeys and it should be further investigated to find a solution.

11. Economic impact1. Income increase through the value addition

Rubber sheets are graded as RSS 1 to RSS 5 by characteristics such as the color, transparency, dimensions etc. The conventional smoke houses produce RSS 4 or RSS 5 grades rubber sheets. However, by following the right techniques and using energy efficient rubber drying houses RSS1 grade can be easily achieved. One of the main objective of the project was to uplift the economy if the beneficiaries by leading them to produce RSS1 graded rubber sheets. When consider grade 01 rubber with grade 4,5 rubber sheets, normally producer can increase the income by 20%. Unfortunately, due to the market fluctuations and the black market practices of the intermediate buyers, there is no significant difference between the prices of RSS 1 and RSS 4. Due to this reason most of the rubber growers have temporarily halted production. But it is expected that the rubber sheets would receive a better price in the future. HEDO is already working towards receiving the due price by organizing the communities to CBOs and mobilizing them to raise a voice.

2. Savings from the energy efficient rubber drying houses

The energy efficient drying houses provide significant savings by replacing the costly firewood with the freely available saw dust. The cost for 1kg of firewood is USD 0.03, it can cut down by using freely available saw dust. Therefore the community is able to receive a better income even the rubber prices are low.

3. Ensuring a constant income throughout the year.

The rain guards enable the latex tapping in the rainy season. Therefore the community is able to receive a constant income throughout the year. The latex tapping process has 180 tapping days per year. Generally, it takes 15 days per month. But the rainy season is prevalent for 50-60 days per year. Within this periods it is not possible to tap latex. But with the distribution of rain guards it is possible to tap latex in the rainy seasons as well. Therefore the community is able to receive a constant income throughout the year.

4. Increasing the income due to the increase of the production rate.

Production time has been reduced while the rate of production has been increased as a result of the energy efficient rubber drying houses. This is helpful for the smallholders as they use a smoke houses on rotational basis. Due to the increment of production rate the beneficiaries



have an increased monthly income. Introduced method is very efficient and effective therefore it has more ability to save human labor and time.

5. Reducing the space occupied for rubber drying processEnergy efficient drying houses are relatively small compared to conventional ones. The capacity of a conventional drying house can be achieved due to the short duration of drying time. Generally 100 sheets can be dried at a time using energy efficient drying houses. Due to the less space occupation for the drying house and firewood stocks, the land can be used for other tasks. Most of the beneficiaries have removed the old smoke houses and extended their homes in that space. Although the new smoke house has small space when comparing the conventional one. The new smoke house which, has ability to completely dry 100 sheets per day normally. Even though conventional one’s space is sufficient for 400 sheets at one time it takes 4 days for complete drying process. Within 04 days the new one also has the capability to provide completely dried 400 sheets to producer. Then the quantity has become equal for both drying houses.

6. Increased household income from the mushroom cultivation.

Mushroom cultivation was introduced as an alternative source of income to the small holder rubber planters. A revolving fund was established and small loans were provided with the financial support from Sampath Bank of Sri Lanka, a major financial institute of Sri Lanka to obtain raw materials and for construction of sheds. As a result of this activity 10 beneficiaries of this project receive an average additional monthly income of Rs.12533.00.

12. Sociological impacts1. Supporting gender equity and attraction of youths in the smallholder rubber industry.

The youth and female involvement in the rubber production is very low because of the hard

work associated with the conventional smoke houses. The energy efficient drying houses are

very easy to operate. Therefore both genders can take part in the industry as alike. Moreover,

a mini version of energy efficient drying house has been introduced specially for females.

This model has no moving racks. Its capacity is 40 rubber sheets at a time. This type of mini

drying house can be constructed for LKR35000. The energy efficient drying houses have an

attractive modern design and it is helpful in increasing the involvement of youth generation.



This is very important because the rubber plantations are in a danger of clearing due to the

consecutive low rubber prices and unprofitability. People tends to grow some other valuable

cash crop in the rubber plantations.

Some data regarding the Energy efficient rubber drying houses during (Nov 2015-

Sep 2016)

Description Unit Amount

Price of 1kg of 4th /5th grade rubber sheets time 2015-2016 Rs

Price of 1kg of 1st grade rubber sheets Rs

Weight of one rubber sheet kg 0.45

No. of rubber sheets produced during Nov 2015-Sep 2016 Sheet

s 10,700

Total weight of the rubber sheets produced by energy efficient drying

centers(Nov 2015 - Sep 2016) 2385 and 2430

Kg

4815

Income during Nov 2015 - Sep 2016 (Rs.240/Kg) Rs 1,155,600.0



Amount of acid water released [3L/sheet] during Nov 2015-Sep 2016 L 32,100

Amount of acid water treated by 2 bio gas (Oct 2015- Sep 2016) L 15,900

Savings from bio gas up to date (Oct 2015- Sep 2016)(no.of LP gas

cylinders Rs.1400)

Rs

2,800.00

Sawdust requirement Kg 9,630

Amount of firewood saved (Nov 2015 - Sep 2016) Kg 42,800

Cost for firewood ( Rs.4/Kg) Rs. 171,200.00

Cost for saw dust(Rs.1.50/Kg) Rs. 14,445.00

Total savings on energy up to date Rs. 159,555.00

Increase in household income by increased income or reduced costs

due to SGP project Rs. 207,705.00

13. Conclusion

The project has been able to reduce the factors directly leading to climate change due the small

holder rubber industry by reducing GHG emission and reducing the deforestation due to

firewood usage. In doing so, the community’s life standards has been developed as well. But to

achieve the goals of the project, rubber price levels must be reasonable. Then the economy of the

beneficiary communities will be developed and thereby the threats to the rubber plantations such

as clearing for palm tree cultivation would be diminished. The existence of the forest cover

depends on the existence of the rubber industry. HEDO is now working towards getting the

organic certification for beneficiary’s rubber plantations which will open new markets and bigger

incomes. The biogas plant models and energy efficient drying house models they introduced

have received a huge popularity within the plantation community and therefore HEDO expects to

expand the activities in a wider scale.



14. References

1. http://www.gefsgpsl.org2. http://www.srilankabusiness.com 3. IUCN Red List4. National Environmental Act, No. 47 of 1980.

5. Dr. A.J Mohotti,2016 Estimation of Pollutant Factors in Rubber Lands, Dedigama6. H.M.K.C.Herath, S.Malavipathirana, N.M.J. Nissanka, 2016 Lab Report of Testing

Rubber Wastewater in Nelundeniya-Udukumbura Ribbed smoke Rubber Processing unit


http://www.srilankabusiness.com/

http://www.gefsgpsl.org/

Documents

Abbreviations - Equator Initiative · Web viewHevea brasiliensis ) is the second most important plantation crop in Sri, Lanka, in terms of export earnings and employment generation