Biogas to increase farmers' income #Tanzania

SERENGETI District agricultural team has set up a bio-gas
plant which is expected to be exemplary of modern farming
and productivity .
In an interview with the 'Daily News' at the just ended Nane
Nane exhibitions at Nyamhongolo Grounds in Mwanza, the
Serengeti District Agriculture Irrigation Officer, Mr Simion
Waryuba said the plant could be built at home. Biogas
refers to gas produced from organic matters.
It can be useful at home as a school project, institution and
even at the hospital. "While agriculture remains the
backbone of our economy, still, a number of farmers are not
aware of the functions of agricultural resources surrounding
them.
We are bringing this technology to them to have sustainable
agro-business, which is interactive as well as integrated,"
Mr Waryuba says.
Biogas can also be produced by anaerobic digestion or
fermentation of biodegradable materials such as biomass,
manure, sewerage, municipal waste, green waste and
energy crops.
Agro business can be used to increase production for both
food security and income generation to farmers. "For
example, the integration of livestock keeping and the use of
biogas plant can help farmers improve horticultural crops
by using drip irrigation system to raise crops through out
the year.
The farmer will have an assurance of food security at
household level," Mr Waryuba said. The plant can be built
from waste from two cows and above depending on the
purpose of the farmer.
"A farmer can use the plant as a source of energy for
cooking, lighting, ironing where a biodigestor of 30 to 50
cubic meters can be used," he said.
Mr Waryuba said the energy produced by the system can be
used to run an already motorised generator for electricity
generation, following an ignition by petrol engine.
He named the products of the bio-digestor as bio slurry and
gas (methane). He said the technology which varies in size
and capacity is installed in the district where the farmers
are supposed to pay for equipment.
He said a biogas plant at household level of 6 cubic meters
may require four cows at a cost ranging from 900,000/- to
1.2m/- while a 9 cubic meter may need seven cows at a
cost of 1.5m/- .
A 13 cubic meter plant requires ten cows and 1.7m/- to
2m/- depending on the size and requirements of a farmer.
"And for an institution and hospital the requirement is
twenty cows and 30 cubic meter, with the cost ranging from
30m/- to 50m/-", he said.
Another technology is the adoption of cassava 'Mkombozi'
variety which withstands viruses. As for tomatoes, Mr
Waryuba says production per plant increased from I kg to
3kgs in the same season.
On the environment, he said biogas controls environment
degradation and can also be used for bee keeping "In bee
keeping we get honey and its all products such as beeswax,
bee polis, royal jelly and pollination," he said. Despite its
economic potential and efforts made by the district, farmers
are still facing a lot of challenges.
He mentioned them as inadequate supply of water at
household level and low response of farmers to adopt
technology. "The government has not yet located enough
funds to support farmers in order to adopt improved farming
technology," he said.
Population increase in the district, against the size of land
is affecting both crop and livestock production and is
another challenge.
He said in order to slow population growth so as to suit the
size of land, people have to adopt the land use plan for
sustainable development of the district and countrywide
before long.
"By not doing so, the minority rich will misappropriate a
large area of land and thus cause the majority to suffer land
conflicts and disputes," he said.