Source: Biogas a pathway transforming rural communities –Newsday Zimbabwe
SHAMISO Mhuriro (70) looked energetic when she paced about in her oval kitchen in the Nyangahwe area under Chief Chundu, Hurungwe North constituency.
Situated about 60km from the farming town of Karoi, the Mhuriro family has found the going getting easier, having recently started using biogas for cooking, an experience that is making a huge difference in their lives.
Though married for nearly 52 years, they punctuate their communication with laughter like a newly-wed couple.
Confidently, she stepped over to the homemade “kitchen unit” to collect a silver pot before lighting the biogas stove.
Mhuriro has graduated from firewood collection experience, which was part of her rural upbringing.
“I am enjoying the best of clean energy here,” she said, her face betraying the deep happiness in her.
“It is one of the far-fetched dreams we longed for.
“It has become so easy with the use of biogas in this rural area.”
Mhuriro is among several villagers in this rural outpost enjoying easy life due to clean energy.
“It is a positive developmental approach on boosting our forests,” she said, her voice oozing with confidence as a climate change resilience champion.
She spoke with authority as one of the few beneficiaries in Hurungwe district, Mashonaland West province.
Biogas is a renewable source of cooking energy produced through the breakdown of animal and food waste and holds tremendous potential for Zimbabwe and parts of southern Africa.
Hurungwe Rural District Council chairperson Mary Mliswa-Chikoka said biogas projects were aimed at utilising organic waste to produce biogas for cooking, lighting and others things including tobacco curing, while promoting waste management and nutrient recycling.
“The key aspects of biogas projects in Hurungwe were mainly for domestic use, targeting biogas development per household level, particularly households with large herds of cattle and availability of organic waste,” she said.
Environment Africa built seven biogas digesters in wards 7, 8 and 9.
“We have others under the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) that built three biogas digesters in ward 8 of Hurungwe district,” Mliswa-Chikoka explained.
“We have village biogas projects in Charlie and Bravo villages, under Nyamakate, Ward 7.
“These initiatives have been implemented by UNDP GEF6 project.”
However, the Charlie village biogas project, which was supposed to benefit almost 11 households and a tobacco barn within 400 metres and below, has not been completed.
The Bravo village biogas is working well, benefiting almost 30 households within the village.
“These biogas projects have benefited communities and the environment through improved livelihoods at household and village level. There is sustainable waste management, reducing environmental pollution,” Mliswa-Chikoka said.
“Biogas provides a cleaner alternative energy to traditional cooking fuels like wood and charcoal. Nutrients recycling for example by-products of biogas production can be used as fertilizer, improving soil fertility and crop yields promoting sustainable agriculture.
“There is reduced deforestation by providing alternative energy source and have contributed to forest conservation.”
The village projects implemented by UNDP GEF6 (Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project) were initiated in 2021, but however, implementation faced some setbacks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The household biogas project implemented by Environment Africa under small grants projects of UNDP GEF6 were started in 2023 and completed in August 2024.
Most of the project beneficiaries’ households are led by men, but out of the 55 households, 17 were recorded to be led by women, contributing to 31% of the total households.
The project was part of climate change resilience, where deforestation, carbon emissions have contributed to climate change and global warming and resulting in high temperatures and low rainfalls resulting in poor harvests and yields.
According to Laura Mlambo, a monitoring and evaluation officer with Environment Africa, which implemented a project named Upscaling Sustainable Energy for Biodiversity Conservation under the greater Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project GEF 6, the objective of the project was to reduce use of firewood for the purpose of biodiversity conservation.
“We were promoting the use of biogas in the households, the use of wood saving stoves, and establishment of household woodlots,” she said.
Mlambo revealed that they established nine demonstration biogas digesters (6×6 cubic meter and 3×13 cubic meter digesters).
“These directly benefited 15 households in total in wards 7, 8 and 9 of Hurungwe (one female headed and 14 male headed) translating to 75 beneficiaries.
“The establishment of digesters in households saw the reduction of firewood use by 50% to 90% in a month,” Mlambo said.
For Mhuriro, biogas cooking experience is literally making everyday enjoyable experience for her five grandchildren without complaints at all.
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