Biogas: solution for many problems

Lazarus Sauti

In Zimbabwe, just like other southern African countries, the lack of adequate supplies of cheap, convenient and reliable fuel is a major challenge.

Although urban areas are facing serious power cuts, remote communities in most parts of the country are mostly affected.

They rely heavily on solid fuels: wood and dung for their cooking as well as lighting needs.

In fact, 73.9 percent of households in the country, notes the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) 2014, still rely on such fuels as their primary cooking and heating energy sources.

“Overall, 73.9 percent of the household population in Zimbabwe used solid fuels for cooking, mainly wood (73.4 percent).

“Use of such fuels is low in urban areas (17.0 percent), but high in rural areas where 95.8 percent of the population lived in households that use solid fuels,” notes the MISC.

The MISC added that the use of solid fuels is dangerous to the well-being of citizens as it amplifies the risks of incurring acute respiratory illness.

Environmentalist Liberty Mushumba says the search for firewood also occupies a large part of the working day and has resulted in widespread deforestation.

“The search for firewood destructs other socio-economic activities as it takes up a large chunk of the working day. Sadly, women and girls bear this brunt,” he added.

As for dung, Mushumba notes, burning it not only contributes to pollution, but destroys its value as fertilizer, thus depriving the soil of a much needed source of humus and nitrogen.

“Burning dung catalyses air pollution, and in the process stimulate respiratory disease. More so, dung is good for its manure value and burning it destroys its fertiliser value,” he said.

Remote areas in the country are also plagued by a lack of adequate sanitation, hence exposed to diseases, says seasoned communicator, Michelle Hibler, in a paper titled “Biogas: A solution to many problems.”

In the paper, published by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian federal corporation that invests in knowledge, innovation and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in the developing world, she notes: “Improper waste disposal spreads disease, contaminates water sources and provides breeding grounds for disease carrying insects.”

Hibler significantly notes that biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the fermentation of organic matter, could solve several problems at once.

In most cities and towns, for instance, where a lot of biodegradable waste is thrown away, constructing bio-digesters in back yards and institutions could be the right code.

Like most rural farmers, biogas projects can also effectively work for backyard farmers only if the technology is applied correctly, says agricultural expert Ronald Chimunda.

“Biogas not only saves the environment, but it could provide fuel and fertiliser, thereby helping rural as well as backyard farmers to vastly improve their crop yields,” he said.

Isheunesu Mapuranga, a developmental practitioner, concurs.

“Biogas systems could also recycle waste, control pollution as well as improve sanitary conditions, but the government should first deal with socio-economic limitations to biogas adoption if the benefits are to be realised,” she said.

According to Hibler, these social and economic constraints to biogas adoption range from lack of resources – capital, land, time and water – to run the plants efficiently.

She also urged government in developing countries like Zimbabwe to invest heavily in biogas systems and/or technologies.

“Biogas could be a solution to many challenges; therefore, governments in developing countries must invest heavily in it.

“The main objective of biogas investment should be to improve the distribution of income by serving the needs of a wide range of social groups,” Hibler said.

In September, Hivos – a Dutch organisation for development that provides financial support to organisations in Africa, Latin America and Asia, in conjunction with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, a non-profit, international development organisation, established in the Netherlands in 1965, as well as relevant government ministries, celebrated Biogas Day by unveiling the Zimbabwe Domestic Biogas Programme (ZDPB) which aims to assist more than 67 000 households nationwide.

Citizens and relevant stakeholders in the agriculture, energy, environmental as well as development sectors must take advantage of this programme not only to lessen deforestation as well as pollution, but also to ensure that both urban and rural regions of the country meet their energy and fertiliser needs respectively.