A $33 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has resulted in a successful project to increase the use of biogas from waste as a form of renewable energy which improves the environment and promotes local economic growth in China.
According to the ADB, thousands of villagers in China have benefited from the Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Wastes Project, which covers the rural areas of Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Shanxi provinces.
The bank said that the project aims to increase the use of biomass-based renewable systems. This is expected to improve the environment and promote local economic growth.
China disposes of large quantities of agricultural waste inappropriately, according to the ADB, with crop waste often burnt and animal waste is left to rot.
Such practices are not only harmful to the environment, but also constitute a loss of potential energy and nutrient resources, which the bank said could add value to an integrated farming system, reduce costs, provide opportunities for an integrated pest management approach, and help implement organic farming techniques.
Changing lives
In appraising the success of the project - which was approved back in 2002 - the bank cites the case of Zhang Jianfen, whose has improved dramatically since 2004. That was when the 38 year old from Xiying village in Shanxi Province switched from using a coal burning stove to a biogas fueled oven to cook for her family of seven.
According to the bank her cough disappeared, her eyes no longer burn and, she says, the efficient new oven meant she spent 10 hours less in the kitchen each week.
“Our project has made a tremendous difference to women. It is a custom in many of these areas for women to do all the cooking,” said Yue-Lang Feng, ADB’s lead natural resources specialist. “Switching from coal to biogas reduces the household drudgery of women.”
Another example given by the bank is the Xinxing Pig Breeding Company - a private business which operates an intensive pig farming business.
In 2007, with the support of an ADB financed project, the company built a large scale gasification plant with an annual capacity of 210,000 cubic meters and constructed distribution pipelines to the nearby Xiying village.
The company began supplying free biogas to 100 households as part of a trial run in 2008. Soon it will build a new biomass plant able to process waste from 9000 pigs, which the ADB said will allow the company to supply biogas to around 500 households.
Liu Koumei, 50, is said to be looking forward to the day when her house is connected to the gas supply. She also lives in Xiying village - on the opposite side of town from Zhang - but missed out on the initial trial.
According to the bank coal sits in a pile of one corner of her yard. Her stove is outside too, which keeps the coal dust out of the house, but makes cooking a challenge when it rains or the wind blows.
“It takes me more than an hour to cook a meal for six people,” said Liu, who lives with her husband, two children, and two grandchildren.
“Cooking for me is definitely not a joy.”
Best practice
Liu Wenyong, deputy director of the project management office, explained that the government has adopted some of the best practices gained from this project. The Ministry of Agriculture is now implementing the promotion of biogas in rural areas nationwide.
Zhang Weimin needed little convincing. According to the bank, when he heard of biogas plants in other villages he quit his ‘iron rice-bowl’ (a Chinese expression used to describe a secure occupation) job as director of Daying village and started a private pig farming business, Weimin Husbandry Cooperative, to supply biogas to his own village of around 500 households.
Meanwhile, 56 year old farmer Fan Sanshu from Shanxi Province is also said to be reaping the rewards of growing organic tomatoes in a greenhouse heated by methane in winter and early spring, and fertilised with the sludge and effluent deposits from a biogas digester.
The digester, built between a pigsty and the greenhouse, is fuelled by manure from just six pigs.
The biogas generated from this on farm digester is said to be sufficient for the Fan family to cook three meals a day and light the 200 square metre greenhouse with gas lamps.
The tomatoes are in demand in urban areas, and fetch a higher price than conventionally grown tomatoes. Fan estimates that his income has increased 50 per cent since the project began in 2006.
Education
The bank said that the project attracted a $6.4 million grant from the Global Environment Facility to finance training programs and technical services for farmers and households.
Under the project, experts and associations are invited to teach farmers new techniques for growing organic vegetables and fruit, as well as household plants and flowers. The project also helps the farmers develop by promoting organic food to urban dwellers nearby.
The ADB said that maintaining the project’s financial sustainability is key.
“We give the farmers the seed money for their business to grow and provide training and help so that the farmers have access to the market. We always believe that our job is to help the poor help themselves,” explained Feng.
Liu Wenyong added: “If you just build facilities for them and don’t teach them how to use them, they will soon lose interest and the intention to use them. Then the project will die. This is what we’ve learned from this project.”
