Rays of Hope
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Accordingly these Bio Gas installation units are cheap and easy to install, simple to run and require no maintenance in the first few years after installation. The benefits came in two folds. “An almost free renewable green energy and a by product called Slurry –a very rich food crop fertilizer” Prof Ali Festus of HPI Cameroon said. Produced by action of bacteria on organic material like manure or food crop waste in airless tight conditions, the concept is simple. Through Heifer Cameroon and some development stakeholders in the country, Farmers have learned how to build and install the main parts of a basic under ground gas plant. (The Inlet, Digester, Gas Holder, and Out let). The inlet is where manure families deposit organic waste or manure. The digester is made of bricks or stone walls. It is an airtight chamber where bacteria decomposes the manure until it decomposes in to bio gas and slurry. This chamber is linked above to a gas holder where green energy is pipe to homes for cooking and lighting. Below the chamber there is an outlet through which the slurry flows and is collected as a rich food crop fertilizer for food crops cultivation. This easy to manage procedures explains why more than ten thousand farmers in the grass field of Cameroon have turned to domestic bio gas installations of recent. “Over time these bio gas installations which are constructed through micro finance programs generate the income with which these local farmers pay for the installation in their respective self help groups” Ali Festus this project coordinator for HPI said.
Farmers like Wih Linus a father of 7children in the depths of the Babanki community and along side some 21 farm families belonging to the “help the children’s future” common initiative group are now prizing the protection of their environment above all things in their community. “We are trimming utility bills and avoid cutting of trees for fuel wood thanks to the installation of these bio gas installations” Linus said. The fortunes trapped by these individual families from not paying electricity bills or buying paraffin for lighting has reverberated in to their communities. “Our children study well at home at night and we are enjoying being able to charge our cell phones” Akumbom Godlove a farmer in that community said. At the santa community some 15KM from the city of bamenda, barren soils had long frustrated the wishes of more than five thousand farmers in that community. “In agony most of our youth migrated to the cities in search of odd jobs” Chief Joe Akuforgwe in the community remarked. The introduction of bio gas slurry manure was a stitch in time that saved nine at the locality.
Farmers like Wih Linus a father of 7children in the depths of the Babanki community and along side some 21 farm families belonging to the “help the children’s future” common initiative group are now prizing the protection of their environment above all things in their community. “We are trimming utility bills and avoid cutting of trees for fuel wood thanks to the installation of these bio gas installations” Linus said. The fortunes trapped by these individual families from not paying electricity bills or buying paraffin for lighting has reverberated in to their communities. “Our children study well at home at night and we are enjoying being able to charge our cell phones” Akumbom Godlove a farmer in that community said. At the santa community some 15KM from the city of bamenda, barren soils had long frustrated the wishes of more than five thousand farmers in that community. “In agony most of our youth migrated to the cities in search of odd jobs” Chief Joe Akuforgwe in the community remarked. The introduction of bio gas slurry manure was a stitch in time that saved nine at the locality.
“Our achievement are more than what we expected after experimenting our farm work with this manure” Atanga Max a father of 12 children living at the edge of a farming slope told this reporter. Pointing to a green slope of Irish potato, maize, cocoyam and plantain, Max said intensive cultivation with slurry had spring surprises for farmers experimenting this technology. “I harvested 12000 bags of vegetable thanks to slurry manure from my bio gas unit as against 500 in the past and 3000tins of Irish of Potato as opposed to 20 in the past years” Ndifor George told us at his food crop ware house where he was loading food crops to the market. Income saved through farming with the slurry compost manure has helped farmers across the score board not only to secure full bellies in Cameroon but to pay for emergency expenses like the education of their children, new houses and the to afford hospital bills. At the Babanki , Akum, Santa , and some areas of north Cameroon women farmers who were once relegated to the back ground due to poverty are now taking up positions as community leaders and bread winners thanks to this latest farming technique which has brought them double dividends. “I’m able to pay my children ‘s school fee…… and I have what it takes for a widow to be a happy” Agnes Bih leader of a women’s mobilization force told us elatedly.
Trying endless possibilities with slurry manure has resulted to some unimaginable achievements for some farmers. “When we are farming in distant areas we dry the slurry manure to make it lighter to carry” Mme Atungsirri Martha told us as he loaded the stuff in to bags. Though the dry and wet slurry are good for the fertilization of farm fields, experts in this technology like Mary Ndikum at the santa community think the wet slurry is better because of its high nitrogen content. Showing us round a large hectares of pepper and carrot fields another farmer Achirri Chris opined that the after spraying the leaves of his vegetables with slurry water… the liquid acted as an insecticide and fungicide. “We have been overwhelmingly glad to discover this cheap and affordable technology” Chris told us.
Labels: Appropriate Technology, Bio Gas, Development, Prof Ali Festus
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:52 AM,
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