The Impact of Biogas Plants on Rural Community in Nepal/*

Dr.Soorya Lal Amatya

Introduction :

The biogas plant as an alternative source of energy was introduced in Nepal only three decades back and the first biogas plant was installed in 1974 with two fold objectives of saving the forest by increasing in use of the biogas as a fuel and promoting "slurry" as organic manure to supplement the imported costly chemical fertilizers. Since then,there has been rapid increase in the number of installation of biogas plants in the country.In the beginning,in average, about 400 biogas plants were installed each year.By the end of 1990/91 there were 6615 biogas plants in the country .Most of these biogas plants were owned by big landlords and were mainly confined in the Terai region.A baseline survey was done in 1990 and about 90 per cent of the total biogas plants were found in good operation and only about 22 per cent of the total biogas plant households had toilet attached to biogas plants.

The cattle dung was mixed with water and in some cases mixed with water and night soil before these are fed to the biogas plants.The biogas plants can be used for a number of purposes that include cooking in preparation of food items for consumption;

limited lighting in the evening; in running engines; in operating refrigeration; in generating electricity; and in producing organic manures .According to the baseline survey, the biogas plants were mainly used for cooking and lighting purposes in Nepal.The by-products of biogas plants " slurry " are generally considered as very good manures if these are decomposed and properly treated.The final report on the Biogas Support Programme ( BSP ) in 1997 has indicated that about 97 per cent of the total households used the gas mainly for cooking purpose and 42 per cent used the gas for lighting purpose.

In 1992 HMG /Nepal launched the Biogas Support Programme ( BSP ) with the financial and technical assistance of the Netherlands Development Organization ( SNV / Nepal ).The BSP had the long term objectives of reducing the rate of deforestation & environmental deterioration; of improving health and sanitation condition of the rural population,particularly of women; and of enhancing of agricultural production.This project contributed in the installment of 7000 biogas plants in the first phase (July 1992 to July 1994) and 13,000 biogas plants in the second phase (July 1994 to July 1997).The project strongly recommended for privatization of the biogas sector and supported the establishment of an apex body for co-ordination of several agencies involved in biogas sector.An apex body of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre ( AEPC) was constituted _______________________________________________________________________

*/ The paper was presented at the International Conference on "Environment, Energy,Technology,Development and the Society’s Response", held on December 1 to 3,2001 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1996.The BSP phase III has been a joint programme of HMG /Nepal,the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Netherlands

Development Assistance (NEDA). The BSP III will cover a period from1997 to

December 2002 and will be jointly implemented by SNV / BSP and Alternative Energy Promotion Centre in cooperation with the commercial banks.The target has been to install additional 100,000 biogas plants in different parts of the country by the end of December,2002.

Gradually more biogas plants were installed in the Hill districts and now Hill districts together accounts for about 56 per cent of the total installed biogas plants in the country.Due to the attractive subsidy,increasing number of smaller farmers are attracted to construct biogas plants.The Brahmans and Chhetries communities are dominating regarding installation of biogas plants in Nepal and these communities accounted for 59 per cent and 23 per cent of the total biogas plants respectively in 1998.The other communities together accounted for about 18 per cent.

A field study has indicated that about 86 per cent of the biogas plants owners were fully satisfied with the operation of their plants. They did not experience major problems. However, there were minor problems arising out of the leakage of gas from tap,cracks in rubber hose pipe,cracks in drain pit cover,damage of lamp and others.The study has indicated that about 88 per cent of biogas plants were reported in good and satisfactory physical condition and the remaining were in poor physical condition.

Initially BSP provided subsidy of NRs. 7,000 per biogas plant in the Terai districts and NRs.10,000 per biogas plant in the Hill districts.The additional subsidy of NRs.3,000 has been provided mainly to meeting the transport cost of construction materials in the Hills.The main agencies involved in dissemination of biogas technology are Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, SNV / Nepal,Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau

( KfW), Nepal Bank Ltd.,Agricultural Development Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank.

A study has estimated that the potential number of biogas plants is approximately 1.3 million. The Terai region is relatively more important with 62 per cent of the total estimated potentiality; the Hill region has about 37 per cent of the potentiality; and the remaining 1 per cent in the Himalayan region. With the establishement of 80,000 units of biogas plants by the end of March 2001,the country have already achieved about 6.15 per cent of the total potentiality.

Impacts of Biogas Plants :

Several biogas users’ survey have been done by different institutions to assess the impact of biogas plants by interviewing biogas owners with questionnaire and field

observation of the condition of biogas plants.In the earlier field studies 100 households

were randomly selected from the sampled districts.The recent biogas users survey of 2000/2001 was based on 200 randomly selected households from ten sampled districts of three major geographical regions of Terai,Hills and Mountains.When an agreement was signed in November 1992 between HMG /Nepal and SNV /Nepal, the Biogas Support Programme had incorporated the following long term objectives.

- Reduction of the rate of deforestation and environmental deterioration.

- Improvement of health and sanitation condition of the rural population,particularly of women.

- Enhancement of agricultural production.

A series of biogas users survey has been conducted to assess the impact of biogas on users; to find out the effect of biogas on workload of women; and other aspects. The recent biogas users survey of 2000/ 2001 had the main objectives of assessing the impact of biogas on users and to find out the effect of biogas on workload of women.

According to the recent biogas survey about 73 .8 per cent of the total respondents reiterated that they installed biogas plants mainly for conservation of forest.The other important reasons for the installation of biogas plants were for cooking purpose ( 45.6 per cent ),saving of time ( 37.4 per cent),saving of money (29.7 per cent) and better health ( 27.6 ).The following are the major positive impacts of biogas plants.

- The biogas plant installation has substantially helped on the improvement of the general health condition of the family members. It is generally believed that ,it has contributed in reduction of eye illness,respiration problems,headache and diarrhoea.It has helped considerably in saving time particularly of women members of the family. In average,they have saved about 2.38 hours per day.

- Reduction of the rate of deforestation and environmental deterioration.

Now the family members could devote the saved time on farming,child care,kitchen gardening and other household activities.

- There has been reduction on average of about 40 per cent in firewood demand and reduction of about 56 per cent in kerosene demand of the biogas users. According to a recent users survey,a biogas household saves 990 kg of firewood and 6 litres of kerosene per annum in the rural areas. The household can save Rs.3084 per annum due to installation of biogas plant.

- The by-product of biogas plant slurry has been very good organic manure. Some respondents have stated that it is better than other manure . It may contribute to some extent in raising the productivity of the land.

- However,there has been minor problems arising out of the leakage of gas from tap,cracks in rubber hose pipe and cracks in drainage pit cover.

Concluding Remarks :

The Biogas Support Programme (BSP ) has been one of the successful rural development programmes. Increasing number of installed biogas plants even exceeding the targeted number obviously indicates its popularity among rural community. By the end of March 2001,there has already been 80,000 biogas plants installed under the BSP and it has been planned to install an additional 40,000 biogas plants in the country at the end of the third phase of the BSP ( December, 2002 ).

There has been good impact of biogas plants in rural community.It has substantially contributed in saving time of the household members of biogas users. They could devote more time on farming,child care and other activties. There has been improvement of the health of biogas users’ household members.There has been reduction of eye illness,headache and other health problems.It has helped in saving forest to a considerable extent by the use of gas for cooking purpose.

It may help considerably in enhancing the productivity of agricultural land if the by-product of biogas plant " slurry " could be properly decomposed and treated prior to the application of slurry in the cultivated land.In fact,the farmers need to be encouraged in linking toilet with biogas plants.Of course,the number of biogas plant owners linking toilet with the biogas plant are increasing gradually in the recent years.Nepal is an agricultural country where more than 86 per cent of the total population still live in the rural areas.There is an immense importance of biogas plants and with installation of large number of biogas plants, it will bring improvement in the life of the rural community in Nepal.

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