NGO puts communities to biogas, solar tours

Tanzania Grassroots Oriented Development (TAGRODE), an Iringa Region based NGO that deals with environmental preservation country-wide is set to start installation of biogas plants tomorrow for rural dwellers of Kisarawe District dwellers in Coast Region, mainly to small livestock keepers.

Initially, the pilot stage will cover about 20 households which confirmed readiness for technology adoption, according to the Tanzania Grassroots Oriented Development (TAGRODE), an Iringa-based non-governmental organization (NGO) concerned with environmental preservation countrywide.

  Before installation mid this week, TAGRODE organized a pastoralist study visit from Kisarawe to Makambako Ward, Njombe Region, where the technology is as well developed.

TAGRODE coordinator Dickson Mwalubandu told this paper that a series of tours on renewable energy from Kisarawe to different areas were organized in line with group needs and resources available around their residential areas.

  “Some have already benefited from traditional stoves which consume minimal fuelwood, some with solar energy, and this is the last one to benefit with biogas, having manure easily available in their areas,” he said.

With nearly Sh75million, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF), has been setting the stage for renewable energy take up in the district, a project that should be completed before the end of this month.

The general focus of the renewable project, the coordinator went on, is rescuing forests from mass destruction and making communities continue harvesting other authorized forest outputs.

To make forests dependence over forever, participants have also been encouraged to take upn tree planting in their respective areas since the available seedlings, again offered by the NGO in the district, are friends of other farm outputs.

For his part, the senior biogas technician for the south-west zone, Rich Daniel, who was the tour’s host, said that those who are not pastoralists should adopt the technology as it is not necessary for biogas to rely on manure as other wastes can do.

For dwellers in towns and cities the technology should be developed from latrines in their homes since the derived vapour is better than any other waste to an extent that even manure has less potential, he said.

“The steam derived from latrine in a single household can produce the power to serve all family needs,” he declared, noting that the same should be applied in schools and hospitals, among others. 

In Makambako about 100 households are benefitting from the technology made possible by different sponsors, he added.