Acknowledgement

Introduction

Table of Contents

Appendices

 
2.5.1 INTRODUCTION

The Lebanese topography is such that only about one-third of land area is arable, and cultivation is confined to around 22% (1). The agricultural sector employs about 11% (1) of the active population and contributes only in an estimated 10 %(1) of national income.

A. CROPS

The Bekaa valley is the dominant agricultural region where a wide range of crops mainly potatoes, tomatoes and sugar beet are grown . South Lebanon is a wheat growing region while the coastal zone from the north to the south supports an intensive agriculture, primarily citrus, fruits, bananas and vegetables. Cereals are largely produced in the north of Lebanon especially in Akkar .

B. LIVESTOCK

Livestock is particularly concentrated in Akkar and in the Bekaa area. Livestock production contributes only an estimated 15% (1) of the domestic market. Cattle and dairy farming are of minor importance; bovines of all kinds are vastly outnumbered by sheep and goats. Poultry farming is in increasing development. In summary, Lebanon has become a large-scale exporter of fruits, vegetables and poultry, but remains a net importer of animals, dairy products, cereals and poultry foodstuff.

2.5.2 DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK

This section deals with methane and nitrous oxide emission from two sources:

- Enteric fermentation
- Manure management

Enteric fermentation contributes to methane emission as a by-product of the digestive process.

Manure management leads, under different conditions, to the emission of methane and nitrous oxide.

For estimation purposes, the revised default methodology developed by the IPCC (2) was followed.

The data needed to estimate methane and nitrous oxide emissions are provided from the FAO production year book -1994 (3). The table 4-1 summarizes these data.

Table 2.29 Livestock Population
 

In the last column of table 2.29 each number is a three year average except that of
dairy cattle which is a two year average. The number of non-dairy cattle is obtained
by subtracting the two year average of the dairy cattle from the average of the total
number of cattle.

A. METHANE EMISSION FROM DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK

To estimate the emission of methane from domestic livestock, emission factors are needed. These factors are not available, therefore default values of the emission factors presented in the IPCC Reference Manual (2) for enteric fermentation and manure management are used

B. NITROUS OXIDE EMISSIONS FROM DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK

- The default value (18%) presented in the IPCC- workbook (4), in the used fuel system for dairy and non-dairy cattle is not appropriate for Lebanon
- The default value (77%) presented in the IPCC workbook (4) , in Pasture Range and Paddock system for dairy and non- dairy cattle seems to be high for Lebanese cattle farming.

This can be justified by considering the following:

- Personal field survey and interviews with farmers showed that animal waste is not used as fuel in the Hariri farm for cattle and poultry, where there are about 1000 cattle and 4 million poultry. The supervisor (5) of the farm confirmed the following:

1- Animal waste is not used as fuel. This confirmation comes from small, and large farms.
2- Animal waste is stored in the form of dry lots in a small area.
3- Successively half of the cattle go daily to pasture.

- A great number of cattle stay near the farmhouses and therefore animal waste is treated in the drylot system.
- Information from the president of the south farmers congregation (6) indicate the following:

1- Animal waste burning as fuel is no more a Lebanese farmer's practice.
2- On the farms, animal waste is managed in solid storage and drylot system.

- There are no natural pastures in Lebanon except for some farms where we found a small area used as pasture (5,6).

From this we can conclude that, for Lebanon, the default value 77% (4) for cattle in pasture range and paddock system is high and that the default values 3 and zero presented in solid storage and drylot system (4) for dairy and non-dairy cattle respectively are very low. Instead of these default values we estimate the following values:

- 50% of animal waste for dairy and non-dairy cattle are deposited in pasture range and paddock system. This value is used in the worksheet 4-1 (supplemental) Pasture Range and Paddock.
- 48% of animal waste for dairy cattle and 46% for non-dairy cattle are managed in solid storage and drylot system. These two values are used in the worksheet 4-1(supplemental) solid storage and drylot system.
- 0% of animal waste is used as fuel. This value is used in the worksheet 4-1(supplemental) used fuel.

2.5.3 FIELD BURNING OF AGRICULTURE RESIDUES

Important quantities of residues are produced from agricultural crops. Several broad categories of crop residues can be distinguished:

- Cereal residues like wheat straw and maize stalks
- Residues from pulse
- Residues from tuber and root
- Residues from legumes

Burning of crop residues in the fields can lead to the emission of the following gases:

CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and NOx .

This section accounts for emission of the non-CO2 gases. The data required for the estimation of the emission of the above mentioned gases from crop residues are provided from FAO production yearbook (3)-1994. This data is presented in table 2.30.

Table 2.30 Annual Production of Crops from which Some Residues are Burned
 

We have selected only these crops for the following reasons:

Field survey (7) in the Bekaa, information from the south farmers congregation (6) and interviews with experts (8) showed that in the Bekaa, south-Lebanon and Akkar, the most important agricultural centers, large quantities of crop residues provide an important source of animal feed and at least are collected for this purpose by farmers and stored for the animals.

The fraction of residues remaining in fields after harvest is also used as feed in the case of some cereals like wheat, barley and oats. Sometimes it is partly burned because of agricultural disease (8).

The residues of all other crops are collected and thrown as waste or left on fields.

From this we can conclude that field burning of agricultural residues is not a common practice in Lebanon therefore the fraction burned in fields is estimated to be 1%. This value is used in the worksheet 4-4 sheet 1 of 3 step 3. In work sheet 4-4 sheet 1 of 3 the residue to crop ratio used for oat is 1.3, the same as for wheat, because of similarity of oat to the wheat .

2.6.4 AGRICULTURAL SOIL

Agricultural soils emit N2O from three sources:

- Direct emission from agricultural soils that results from the nitrification and denitrification processes. This is particularly observed in organic soils.
- Direct soil emissions from animal waste management systems. This type of N2O emission results from dung and urine deposited by free-range grazing animals.
- Indirect N2O emission from nitrogen used in agriculture and resulting from the use of fertilizer.

In order to estimate N2O emission from agricultural soils, the following data is needed:

- Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer consumption. This is available from FAO fertilizer year book (9) - 1996. This data is presented in table 2.31.
- Crop production which is available from FAO production yearbook (3) -1994. Table 4-4 summarizes this data.
- Livestock population in table 2.31 section 2.32.

Table 2.31 Annual Consumption of N-Fertilizer
 

Table 2.32 Annual Production of Crops
 

a) Includes: wheat, coarse grain, barley, maize oats and sorghum.
b) Includes: dry beans, broad beans, peas, chick peas, lentils, green beans and green peas.
The FAO data of green beans and green peas are multiplied by (1-0.15) to account for crop water content.
(c) Includes: Potatoes, sugar beet and carrots.
(d) Includes: Taro, groundnut, cottonseed, cabbage, artichoke, cauliflower, tomatoes, pumpkin,
cucumbers, onion, garlic, watermelon, cantaloupe, sugar cane, and tobacco leaves.

A. In the worksheet 4-5 A (supplemental ) sheet 1 of 1:

Faw is calculated by considering Frac GRAZ = 0.6 . This value is obtained from the following :

Frac GRAZ = Nex GRAZ

Nex

Frac GRAZ = 25421.1x103 =0.6

42106.7x103

FCR is calculated by considering

Frac BURN = fraction burned in fields for all crops

crop BF+ crop 0

Frac BURN = 0.717 Gg = 5 x10-4

(64.5 +12770.8) Gg



This formula can be explained as follow:

The total quantity of crop residues results by subtracting the FAO crop production from total crop biomass production.

The total crop biomass is obtained by multiplying the FAO crop production by the factor 2 [ 4].


FAO crop production = Production of pulses + soy beans in country (crop BF) + production of non-N fixing crops in country( crop 0)


FAO crop production = crop BF + crop 0

From the above mentioned explanation it can be concluded that:

Total quantity of crop residues = FAO crop production = crop BF + crop 0

In Lebanon, some fraction only of wheat, barley and oats is burned in field. The estimated fraction burned, 1%, belongs specifically to wheat, barley and oats. From this value and the annual production of wheat, barley and oats, the quantity of crop residues burned in field can be obtained.

Fraction burned for all crop residues results from the following:

Frac BURN= quantity of residue burned in field

Total quantity of crop residues


Frac BURN= quantity of residue burned in field

Crop BF + crop 0

Where:

Crop BF= production of pulses + soybeans in country (kg dry biomass / yr)

Crop 0 = production of non- N- fixing crops in country (kg dry biomass / yr)


Quantity of residue burned in field=71.7x 0.01=0.717 Gg (worksheet 4-4, sheet 1 of 3)

Crop BF = 64.5 Gg ( table 4-4 Annual production of crops)

Crop 0 = 12770.8 Gg ( table 4-4 Annual production of crops)

The value 12770.8 results from the sum of the annual production of cereals, tubers and roots and other ( table 4-4 Annual production of crops)

Frac BURN = 0.717 = 5 x 10-4

12770.8 + 64.5


B. In the worksheet 4-5 sheet 2 of 5:

The value of Fos is estimated to be null. Information from experts (10) confirmed that there is no organic soil in Lebanon.

Faw = manure nitrogen used as fertilizer in country, corrected for NH3 and

NOx emissions and excluding manure produced during grazing (kg N/yr)

Frac GRAZ = fraction of livestock nitrogen excreted and deposited onto soil

during grazing (kg N / kg N excreted).

Nex GRAZ = nitrogen excretion during grazing (worksheet 4-1)

(supplemental), Pasture Range and Paddock system (kg N/yr).

Nex = total nitrogen excretion by animals in country (kg N/yr).

Frac BURN = fraction of crop residue that is burned rather than left on field.


Click here to view Table 2.33


References

- J . Hayek, K. Abou Alfa, R. Aboud, The Contemporary Geography, Lebanon and the Arabic countries, (schoolbook ), 3rd secondary class, 1993, (in Arabic).
- Revised 1996 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories: Reference Manual, Volume 3
- FAO (1994), yearbook-production volume 48, United Nations, Italy.
- Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories: workbook volume 2.
- Akle Yaghi, Engineer Agronom, supervisor of the Hariri farm, Bablieh-south Lebanon.
- Waddah Fakhri, President of the south farmers congregation, Saida-Lebanon.
- Nasser Chreif, Plant-expert, Yammouneh-Lebanon.
- Mohamad Rifai, Professor at the Lebanese University, Faculty of sciences , Beirut-Lebanon.
- Khaled Zahraman , Researcher in the NCSR, Beirut-Lebanon
- Samih Hajj, Professor at the Lebanese University, Faculty of Agronomy, Beirut-Lebanon
- FAO (1996) , yearbook - Fertilizer, United Nations Italy.
- Talal Darwich, Researcher in the NCSR, Beirut-Lebanon

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