Biogas plants slash power bills for farmers

Energy bills incurred at Mrs Elizabeth Gachuhi’s home in Bahati, Nakuru County, have dropped drastically following the installation of a biogas plant.

“My electricity bill dropped from an average Sh1,000 a month to Sh300. In addition, I no longer buy cooking gas at Sh1,500 and which lasted for about a month,” she said.

Besides, a bag of charcoal going for Sh800 and lasting about one and half weeks is no longer on her budget. “The time I spent looking for these sources of energy is nowadays dedicated to farm work,” said Mrs Gachuhi.

Milk production from cows has doubled since introduction of zero grazing in a bid to collect enough raw material for use.

Women and children, who spent a lot of time searching for firewood, will now dedicate that time to other income generating activities, as well as studies.

“We used to rely on firewood from Rugongo forest but felling of trees was banned six years ago. Since then, the majority of people buy it,” said one of the beneficiaries of the project, Mrs Leah Mwangi.

With a four-cubic metre project, she gets enough energy to cook as well as light her home. “My children have sufficient light to do their private studies.”

The biogas programme has 20 projects, largely targeting coffee growing areas in the country. The sites will also be used for demonstration.

The initiative is undertaken in partnership with Kenya Coffee Producers Association (KCPA), Ufadhili Trust and other stakeholders, with 20 pilot biogas plants in different parts of the country for both estate and smallholder coffee farmers underway.

Ms Sarah Nyaga, project officer with KCPA, says the plants are meant to cushion farmers from the effects of climate change.

“We want to reduce the amount of methane that goes into the ozone layer, which adversely affects climate.”

Through construction and use of biogas, methane and other dangerous gases are trapped in the biogas system and after combustion the end products are non-toxic gases that do not affect the environment.

With climate change, rainfall becomes unpredictable leading to a drop in crop production, hence losses to farmers.

Biogas plants that use cow dung as the primary raw material would be supplemented by coffee pulp as a secondary raw material for generating methane that would then be used for cooking and lighting.

Mr David Kang’ethe, a biogas technician, says a family with three cows can construct a three cubic metre biogas system.

“One is able to get enough energy from this formation to cook for about four and half hours,” he says.

Mr Kang’ethe says that though the initial cost of constructing the plant looks expensive, long-term benefits are enormous.

“With the dwindling tree cover and erratic power supply, turning to this form of energy is a sure way of making use of the available resources,” he said.

Use of biogas will consequently reduce farmers’ expenses and help in conserving the environment through replacing firewood, charcoal, and paraffin, among others, as an alternative source of energy.

Besides providing energy, biogas plants will also solve the problem of the stink that is normally generated from decomposing coffee pulp.

It will be decomposed in biogas plants and the by-product — bio-slurry — used as manure.

When cow dung and other materials are left to decompose naturally, the gas is released into the environment which contributes to depletion of the ozone layer.