The Benefits Of Biodigesters For Kenyan Homes And Farmers
Fueling Prosperity: The Benefits of Biodigesters for Kenyan Homes and Farmers
Photo courtesy: Sistema.bio Photo courtesy– © GIZ
Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the European Union (EU), the African Biodigester Component (ABC) in Kenya aims at facilitating a shift of the biodigester market from its current pioneering to the expansion phase where 20,017 small and 250 medium-sized biodigesters will be installed. A biodigester is a device used for converting organic waste into biogas and bioslurry in the absence of oxygen. The organic waste is called feedstock.
Biogas has a huge potential for development in Kenya as the technology is known especially among dairy and pig farmers. We can identify small scale (0 to 50m3), medium scale (50 to 500m3) and large scale (more than 500m3) biodigesters in Kenya. According to biodigester companies, potential clients for small scale biodigesters can qualify if they have at least 2 cows, 15 pigs or 500 chicken. The potential for small scale biodigester has been further divided between the dairy, the pig and the poultry sub-sectors, as these animals are generally kept in stables and generate enough manure to feed the biodigesters and produce biogas as well as bioslurry.
Farmers who own large herds of livestock in zero grazing units or feed lots (20 cows), pig stables (100 pigs) and chicken pens (2,000 birds in cages) would need a biodigester to treat manure, produce biogas for their energy needs and bioslurry for their crops. They are the potential clients of medium scale biodigesters. Other clients include institutions producing wastewater (e.g., sewage from schools, hospitals, slaughter houses, industries, prisons and municipalities), agro-processers (e.g., fruit processing, coffee wet mills, flower, sisal) and food markets.
One of the key parameters that influence the volume of biogas production is the total feedstock volume. This is the average amount of bio-material added to the biodigester each day.
The feedstock for small scale and medium scale biodigesters is mostly agricultural solid wastes produced from farming activities. Every stage and phase of the agricultural-food chain can generate significant solid and liquid biowastes. To determine the potential for biogas production, for a specific site, a production sector or a county, information is required on the type and quantity of feedstock available. A practical example of this can be seen in the heart of Murang’a county, where Peris Wanjiku's quality of life and business have seen a major transformation since installing an 8m³ biodigester fed from her three cows at her home in Kiang’atia village.
As a secretary of the Kiang’atia Dairy Farmers group, Peris previously faced tremendous challenges at home to meet her cooking and farming needs while at the same time balancing this off with her commitment to her chama. Several times a week, she would need to brace herself for the sloppy hills in search or firewood to cook for her family. A risky affair that would see her in heated hide and seek with the forest guards since firewood collection was banned. Once, she broke her leg and another time she risked being arrested. As though this was not enough, an exhausted Peris would return home late and find her children waiting for her to prepare their last meal of the day and assist with their homework. Unfortunately, this is the story of many Kenyan women and children who must rely on wood fuel as their primary source of cooking fuel.
Peris’ turning point came when one day in her chama meeting they received a visitor from a biogas company who talked to them about the biodigester technology, its uses and benefits. As a cherry on the cake, they were informed that their payments could be staggered in installments to make it easier for them to own the life transforming technology they so much needed in their homes! This was the moment she had unknowingly been waiting for. “As an owner of 3 cows and a small-scale farmer, everything the biodigester had to offer was exactly what I needed to meet my cooking and farming needs. I took a loan from our chama’s table banking that very day and planned with the biogas company to install for me in a week’s time. We also agreed that I would spread my payments over 12 months, to ease the upfront cost. And indeed, in a week’s time the biogas installation works began at my home.” said Peris.
Peris Wanjiku walks happily around her farm, anticipating a bumper harvest thanks to the bioslurry from her biodigester – © GIZ
As Peris narrates her biodigester journey, she cannot help but smile at how easier life has now become for her at home and as a small-scale farmer: “Each morning, I clean my cow shed to collect cow dung, which I mix 1 part of cow dung to 2 parts of water, forming a thin porridge-like consistency which I then pour into the mixing chamber of my biodigester. This is then converted into biogas which I use for cooking. My cooking time has significantly reduced, I no longer have to risk injuries and clashing with the forest guards during firewood collection. Cooking is now an enjoyable experience as I no longer inhale or get headaches from the smoke that my fireplace would cause.” She adds, “I also get bioslurry which I use on my crops in place of agro-chemical fertilizers. My harvest has tremendously increased over the seasons. It has in turn increased my income due to larger harvests. I have also reduced my costs from the purchase of fertilizers. “
From the brink of desperation to an encouraging transformation, Peris has become a biogas champion in Kiang’atia village, to women who identify with challenges that molded her decision and to farmers at large by boldly urging farmers embrace this life transforming technology: “I call upon all African farmers who have 2 cows or more at home to invest in a biodigester. It has very minimal maintenance costs and the benefits you reap out of it are invaluable. Biogas companies are willing to discuss different payment options with you to ease affordability. Give them a chance and become a happier mother and farmer just like me”.