Impact of biogas digesters on wood utilisation and self-reported back pain for women living on rural Kenyan smallholder dairy farms

Abstract

Women living on rural Kenyan dairy farms spend significant amounts of time collecting wood for cooking. Biogas digesters, which generate biogas for cooking from the anaerobic decomposition of livestock manure, are an alternative fuel source. The objective of this study was to quantify the quality of life and health benefits of installing biogas digesters on rural Kenyan dairy farms with respect to wood utilisation. Women from 62 farms (31 biogas farms and 31 referent farms) participated in interviews to determine reliance on wood and the impact of biogas digesters on this reliance. Self-reported back pain, time spent collecting wood and money spent on wood were significantly lower (p < 0.01) for the biogas group, compared to referent farms. Multivariable linear regression showed that wood consumption increased by 2 lbs/day for each additional family member living on a farm. For an average family of three people, the addition of one cow was associated with increased wood consumption by 1.0 lb/day on biogas farms but by 4.4 lbs/day on referent farms (significant interaction variable - likely due to additional hot water for cleaning milk collection equipment). Biogas digesters represent a potentially important technology that can reduce reliance on wood fuel and improve health for Kenyan dairy farmers.

Mastitogenic bacteria isolated from dairy cows in Kenya and their antimicrobial sensitivity

“…In Mukurwe-ini, a convenient sampling method was used for logistical reasons, as the research was conducted alongside another project (Dohoo et al 2012(Dohoo et al , 2013. The other project included 32 farms with biogas digesters recently constructed on the farm by a non-governmental organisation and a reference group of 32 randomly selected farms without biogas digesters in the region, matched on age of the participant, family size, and number of cows.…”

Impact of biogas digesters on cookhouse volatile organic compound exposure for rural Kenyan farmwomen

“…This large number of hours cooking with biogas was expected because a related study showed that two cows fueling a digester reduced wood consumption for a family of four by approximately 44%. 9 When comparing the seasonal variation in time spent cooking with wood (Figure 2), the women spent similar amounts of total time cooking with wood, however, cooking with biogas increased by about 147% from February to June/July. There are at least two possible reasons for this increase in biogas cooking time.…”

“…[8][9][10][11][12] Biogas digesters represent an alternative renewable energy technology that has been identified as one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally beneficial technologies for bioenergy production. 13 Biogas digesters anaerobically decompose organic material, such as livestock waste, to produce high methane (CH 4 )-content combustible gas that burns cleanly and at high temperatures, which can be used for cooking.…”

Impact and effectiveness of Rwanda’s National Domestic Biogas programme

“…Adopting biogas technology has been shown to help improve rural livelihoods by: reducing costs associated with the purchase of firewood and chemical fertilizers; improving air quality [28] and health outcomes [29] and by reducing smoke from cooking and minimizing emissions from burning biomass; reducing the workload of women who no longer need to collect firewood, tend fires and clean the soot from cooking utensils; and diminishing manure smells where animal housing is located [30].…”