study on the effect of biogas with focus on gender issues bangladesh 2010

8/10/2019 Study on the Effect of Biogas With Focus on Gender Issues Bangladesh 2010

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Study on Effect of Biogas in theBiogas villages households with

focus on Gender issues

Final Report

Submitted ToNational Domestic Biogas and Manure Programme

(NDBMP)

by

Prokaushali Sangsad LtdHouse-4, Road-6, Block-C

Banani, Dhaka-1213

December 2010


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Study on Effects of Biogas in the Households in

Biogas Villages with focus on Gender Issues

CONTENTS

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 2

Chapter 1 Background, Scope of the Study and Research Methodology ................................. 8

Chapter 2 Characteristics of Surveyed Households and Biogas Plants ...................................16

Chapter 3 Gender Aspects in Biogas Project .....................................................................24

Chapter 4 Results of Focus Group Discussions ...................................................................31

Chapter 5 Conclusions and recommendations .....................................................................36

List of Annexes:

Annex -1 A summary on status of Biogas projects

Annex -2 Information on Survey/Data processing

Annex -3 English Version of Biogas Household Survey Form

Annex -4 Bangla Version of Biogas Household Survey Form

Annex -5 Biogas photos

Annex -6 Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Participants list

Annex -7 Terms of Reference


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Study on Effects of Biogas in the Households in Biogas Villages

with focus on Gender Issues

Executive Summary

Background:

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) with the support of NetherlandsDevelopment Organization (SNV) had started National Domestic Biogas and ManureProgram (NDBMP) in Bangladesh from 2006. Later with support from KFW more than11,000 domestic biogas plants have been installed by the end of 2009 under the NDBMP,with a target of construct 37,269 high quality domestic biogas plants by the end of 2012throughout the country involving the partner organizations.

Prokaushali Sangsad Limited (PSL) in collaboration with GEN Bangladesh (GENB) wasassigned this study to evaluate the gender aspect of NDBMP, in particular on its impact onrural Bangladeshi women. The study has been undertaken to assess the situation in genderperspective through household surveys and Focus Group discussions to ensure adequategender equity in future project activities of NDBMP. These are expected to contribute betterin achieving millennium development goals set by the Government.

The research undertaken here provides feedback on the gender dimension of NDBMPproject of IDCOL, and can be used as a source of information by other organizations workingwith biogas technology. The study investigates (a) womens access and involvement in thebiogas program of NDBMP and its impact on their lives, (b) identifies existing constraintswhich inhibit accelerated exploitation of the potentials of biogas, from gender perspective,

and (c) the role of biogas in empowerment of women.

A multi-disciplinary professional team with background in Energy, Environment, Gender andsocial issues, and Statistics has conducted the study. Methodological approaches such asDesk study and Literature review, interviewers observation, Focus Group Discussion (FGD),and questionnaire survey were carried out.

Surveys were conducted in selected 12 Biogas villages by defined by IDCOL. Thesebiogas villages are spread out around the country covering the 9 districts of Rangamati,Khagrachhari, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Pabna, Thakurgaon, Gaibandha, Joypurhat andDinajpur. The three organizations involved in the study include Grameen Shakti, Subashatiand Rahman Biogas.

Socio-economic background of the surveyed households show that the average family sizeis 5, with about 70 percent having 4 to 6 members with nearly equal number of male andfemale members. The main source of income for most of the owners of biogas plants isagriculture and other agro based occupations. Other major sources of income are businessand service, in addition to pisciculture, vegetable gardening, shop rent and hand loom.

Table E1. Types of cooking fuel used before Biogas Plant installation

Types of Cooking fuel Number of household %

Cow dung, rice husk, fuel wood, Jute

stick, agri. waste, leaves, twigs, etc.93 87.08

Kerosene 27 12.92

Total 209 100.00


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Traditional cooking fuels used by the rural households are typically agro based by products,which are not purchased with cash. Similarly, other forms of bio fuel are collected by thefamily members from the surrounding areas as shown in Table E1. As the fuels used forcooking in rural areas are easily available around or within the household, there wasnegligible expenditure for fuel for nearly 49 percent of the households. Average monthlyexpenditure for cooking fuel for other households was found to be about Taka 400 prior toinstallation of a biogas plant.

For the surveyed households biogas became the main cooking fuel replacing other forms oftraditional fuel after installation of a biogas plant. Domestic (small sized) biogas plantssupported by the NDBMP are appropriate for domestic use such as cooking and lighting.Women have expressed great satisfaction, particularly with the hassle free cooking allowedby biogas. However, improving indoor environment in the cooking area has the greatestimpact from the gender perspective. Time spent by women for collecting fuelwood can nowbe used for income generating activities and household work. Those who had to purchasefuelwood can spend the money on other requirements including investment in business, thuspromoting sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction and social development. Thus it

can be said that the main beneficiaries of biogas plants are the women users of thetechnology.

Findings:

According to the study, prior to installation of biogas plants, collection of fuel wood for thehousehold was done by all the members of the family, though most of the burden was on thefemale members.Several factors contributed to the decision made by a household in selection of a biogasplant. In addition to the economic wellbeing, the household has to own sufficient number ofcows or poultry to provide sufficient raw material for the plant to operate on a sustainablemanner. Table E2 shows distribution of the plant sizes in the surveyed households. The

most popular plant size is found to be 2 and 2.4 m3.

Table E2 Distributions of Biogas Plants by plant size

Table E3 shows that the households having biogas plants mostly own at least three cows.

However, some of them own fewer or none, and run their biogas plants using purchased

cow dung. This is a cause for future unsatisfactory performance.

Plant Size

(in m3)

No. of

Plants %

1.2 6 2.9

1.6 32 15.3

2 89 42.6

2.4 57 27.3

3.2 17 8.1

4.8 5 2.4

Others* 3 1.4

209 100

*owner not aware of size


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45

124

31

9

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

0-2 3-5. 6-8. 8+

Num

beroffamily

Number of cows

Table E3 Distribution of Cows used for Biogas Plant

No. of Cows Number of Family %

0-2 45 21.5

3-5 124 59.3

6-8 31 14.8

8+ 9 4.3

Total 209 100.0

Average Number of Cows: 4

As shown in Table E4, for 99 percent of the households, the main reason for construction ofa biogas plant was to produce gas for cooking. Other major reasons include reduction ofcooking time and hygienic reason that would reduce smell and improve the environment of

household. It is also important to note that about 72 percent of the households expectedreduction of energy cost whereas 75 percent was interested in production of improved bio-fertilizer from the slurry. Additional income from sale of biogas to neighbors, or production ofelectricity from biogas, was not of consideration for most in their decision to install a biogasplant.

Table E4 Reasons for constructing a Biogas Plant

Types of Reason No. of respondent %

Produce gas for cooking 207 99.00

Production of electricity 10 4.78

Reduce the cooking time 185 88.5Production of improved Bio-fertilized 157 75.1

Reduction of smell from Environment 168 80.4

Reduce energy cost 151 72.3

To improve the environment of house 167 79.9

To earn additional money 16 7.66

Percentage does not add up to 100 due to multiple responses

Gender Aspects of Biogas Project:

The survey indicates limited involvement of rural women in households financial decision

making activities. As shown in Table E5, in nearly 90 percent of the surveyed households,decision for installing a biogas plant was influenced only by the male members, whereas inabout 34 percent of the households, women had some role in the decision making process.Similarly, selection of the size of biogas plant is also mostly influenced by the male membersof the household.

Table E5 Decision making about purchasing Biogas plant by gender

Decision Taken by No. of respondent %

Male 187 89.47

Female 72 34.45



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Once installed, the household members are required to receive training on maintenance anduse of the biogas plants. Although women are more involved in using the biogas plants on adaily basis, it is the male member of the household who is the primary contact person for theinstaller, and hence the training is scheduled around his convenience. Often time women arenot consulted for her availability and hence excluded from formal trainings. As per surveyabout 40 percent of the male and only about 17 percent of the female respondents receivedtraining on operation and maintenance of biogas plants.

According to the survey, about 48 percent of the respondents participated in motivation,awareness, seminars, workshops. Others joined the training on bio-gas maintenance or itsmanagement.

Since the male member of the household manages overall household expenditure, thesurvey indicated that in about 72 percent of the households the male member bears theexpenses of maintenance of the plant. In about 50 percent of the households both the maleand female members share the overall work behind operation and maintenance of a biogasplant, which involves mixing and feeding of raw material, cleaning nozzles and the slurrypool of their plants etc. In some families hired personnel are engaged to do the necessary

work for them.

According to the survey about 93 percent of the people prefer not to attach their biogas plantto the toilet, whereas only about 7 percent are interested to do so. The respondents feel thatit will not be hygienic to make a connection between the toilet and the biogas plant. Thebasic idea of this arrangement is not acceptable for most of the people since they are notaccustomed to it. About 35 percent of the households also felt that they have adequatesupply of cow dung needed for operating their biogas plants; hence it is not necessary toconnect their toilet with bio-gas plant. There is a cultural barrier that has to be overcome forusing human waste as a raw material to the biogas plant. The sanitation aspect of thearrangement is not recognized by most people.

Women engaged in cooking with biogas enjoy cleaner kitchen and agree that there issignificant improvement in their environment from using a biogas plant. Table E6 showscomments from the respondents on the level of improvement of their kitchen and variousbenefits from using biogas from cooking as opposed to traditional bio-fuel.

Table E6 Comments of respondents on improvement of kitchen environment

Comments about indoor environment

after installation of biogas plant

No.

of respondents %

Improved, no smoke, cleaner kitchen 159 76.08

Reduced smoke 14 6.70Not improved 9 4.31

Slightly improved 27 12.92

Total 209 100.00

Various benefits are reported by households through using biogas plants and therespondents feel that this technology can raise their standard of living. About 76 percent ofthe respondents have expressed that biogas technology has saved time and reduced theirworkload in cleaning utensils and other items of the kitchen. About 70 percent of therespondents considered women could have an opportunity to use their spare time inproductive works with possibility of added income generation like sewing, small business

and child care. Therefore biogas technology reduces smoke, lessens labor, saves time, andalso provides health benefits from clean environment.


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Open fire from traditional cooking poses risk of hazard for the women in the kitchen. Womenfeel safer after installation of bio-gas plant compared to the past. Hence the biogas plantensures safety against fire hazard for women members and their children around them.Nearly 82 percent of the respondents feel this is a significant gender specific socialcontribution of the biogas plant installation.

A major economic benefit comes from the bio-slurry, the by-product of biogas, which is ahigh grade fertilizer. Biogas plants thereby have a positive impact on agricultural productionof the households since bio-slurry increases soil nutrition. It is also used directly in ponds asfish feed. About 80 percent of the survey respondents indicate positive impact of bio-slurryutilization on increased agricultural and vegetable productivity.

Nearly 50 percent of the respondents indicated that both the male and female members ofthe family are involved in bio slurry management for the households. In certain cases, thefemale members have expressed reservation in handling bio-slurry and hence in 44 percentof cases male members take the responsibilities by themselves.

Under the NDBMP biogas program, households are in close contact with the representativesof the POs during all the stages of biogas plant installation. The process starts with initialdialogues to financial commitment for purchase of biogas plant and its installation. Therespondents were asked to comment on their views towards experiencing genderdiscrimination in the processes led by the POswhich include primary discussion, decisionmaking, installation and maintenance of the biogas plant. According to Table E7, womenowners of biogas plants mentioned that they did not face any gender discrimination duringany phase of the project.

Table E7 Experience with gender discrimination while procuring biogas plant

It is observed during the study that, majority of the people prefer to use biogas for their owncooking rather than selling to neighbours. Survey shows that only 6.2 percent people share

their gas with others and make some profit from there. However in 69 percent of the casesthe male members of the family take the profit. Therefore there is financial discriminationagainst women when the household profit is divided.

Almost all the respondents expressed that credit was available to them without muchproblem. Around 39 percent of the respondents think that any individual should be eligibleloan whereas 27 percent think the applicant should own some sort of properties like cow orland in order to qualify for obtaining a loan for biogas plant. Almost 60 percent of the peopletook the advantage of the loan from the PO whereas the remaining 40 percent did not.

Recommendations:

1. As a policy for the future projects of the NDBMP, gender focus should extend from theearly stage of project conceptualization and planning, and should then continue up to

Experienced gender

discrimination?

No. of

respondent

%

Yes 1 0.5

No 180 86.1

Not aware 23 11.0

Refused to answer 5 2.4

Total 209 100.0


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project monitoring and evaluation. In order to implement such policy there should beexplicit guidelines that identify the difference between womens and mens ability toparticipate in every stage of biogas project cycle. Among others, guidelines should beinclusive of procedures for collection of gender disaggregated data during projectmonitoring, which is essential for understanding the impact of energy interventions onpeople in a gender sensitive manner.

2. NDBMP should build gender awareness among its team members. Such awareness canbe extended from management and professional staff to the partner organizations.Gender awareness training should therefore be given to those staff of NDBMP engagedin problem identification and interfacing the POs in the field.

3. Those staff of the POs engaged in project design and implementation should be briefedon gender and energy. The POs should be encouraged to include women members fromthe community to join their team of trainers, supervisors, and become active members inproject implementation.

4. NDBMP should assist in empowering women through capacity building. In order todisseminate knowledge among rural women, it is suggested that a brief training on thetechnology be given specifically to a group of women at the time of installation. This willhelp in creating a pool of trained women who can eventually be the carriers of thetechnology into the untapped areas. Through such intervention NDBMP can furtherenhance their scope of participation with measurable empowerment.

5. In a national scale, NDBMP should extend their collaboration with the public programsthat operate at the district level. Such programs are already designed to train and createself employment opportunities for women. Socioeconomic and health benefits of biogastechnology can be disseminated through these programs. Communication of NDBMP

with the Ministry of Women and Children Affair can identify the ongoing trainingopportunities where biogas technology can be introduced to women from a genderawareness perspective.


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Study on Effect of Biogas in the Households in

Biogas Villages with focus on Gender Issues

Chapter 1 Background, Scope of the Study and Research Methodology

1.1 Background

Gender and energy related issues have hardly been discussed as an important topic in the

policy agenda of the government as well as among common people of Bangladesh. The

gender aspects of energy as a means of empowering women through using energy

productively is not understood even by the development programmers as seen from the lack

of incentives or access to finances for household energy projects. How far use of energy can

contribute to the well-being of women and improve their position in the society, both with

respect to economic condition and personal environment, will determine its usefulness and

relevance for women. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate gender and energy issue in the

policy agenda of the country.

It is often a problem in getting information and data dealing with women and energy when

addressing the issue of womens income generatingrole. Other than their daily household

works they play a vital role in the economy of the country. Now-a-days in rural areas women

are contributing to the family income by involving themselves in various types of income-

generating activities (IGAs). The three major activities in which women were highly involved

are poultry- rearing, livestock rearing, and handicrafts. These all activities need sufficient

energy use.

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) with support from Netherlands

Development Organization (SNV) started the National Domestic Biogas and Manure

Program (NDBMP) in Bangladesh in 2006. Later on KFW also joined the program from mid

2009. More than 11,000 domestic biogas plants have been installed by the end of 2009

under the NDBMP. It aims to construct 37,269 high quality domestic biogas plants by the

end of 2012 throughout the country involving the partner organizations.

This study will establish a data bank to get an impression on how Biogas technology can

help in increasing access to energy for rural Bangladeshi women. The activities and

Research undertaken in this respect will provide inputs to future projects of IDCOL, and can

be used as an essential information bank by other organizations working in the energy

sector.


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Picture-1:Bio-gas Stove.

1.2 Problem Formulation/Research Rationale

The pattern of rural fuel consumption with extremely high dependence on fuel wood is

raising environmental, health and productivity problems in the rural mainstream. Because ofenergy shortage animal dung is being used as fuel depriving the soil of organic matter. As a

result farmers are dependent on chemical fertilizer. Use of biomass as fuel in traditional

stoves is responsible for in-door air pollution causing health hazards to the users.

Deforestation, declining soil fertility, use of chemical fertilizer, and declining agricultural

production is a common scenario.

Domestic (small sized) biogas plants supported by the NDBMP are appropriate for

household use such as cooking and lighting. Biogas provides multiple benefits at the rural

household as well as environment levels. Women have expressed great satisfaction,

particularly with the hassle free cooking allowed by biogas. However, improving indoorenvironment in the cooking area has the greatest impact from the gender perspective.

Eliminating the workload and time lost for collecting fuelwood also contributes in positively

impacting womens health and livelihood. Time spent by women for collecting fuelwood can

now be used for income generating activities and household work. Those who had to

purchase fuelwood can spend the money on other requirements including investment in

business, thus promoting sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction and social

development. Thus it can be said that the main beneficiaries of biogas plants are the women

users of the technology.

The study has been undertaken to assess the situation in gender perspective through

household surveys and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) to ensure adequate gender equity

in future NDBMP activities. These are also expected to contribute better in achieving

millennium development goals set by the Government.

Aims and Objectives:

The aim of the study was to investigate womens access and involvement in installation of

biogas plants from a gender perspective. In this regard the study focused on the following

listed objectives

a. Investigate and assess womens access to and involvement in the biogas program

and its impact on their lives.


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b. Identify existing constraints which inhibit accelerated exploitation of the potentials of

biogas, from gender perspective.

c. The role of biogas in empowerment of women

1.2.2 Scope of the study:

The study reviewed and analyzed the status of biogas users of selected biogas villages from

gender perspective. During investigation and analysis the study covered involvement,

access, impact and opportunity for empowerment of women in the research areas. For the

purpose of this research work the following issues were investigated as required by the

TOR:

Womens participation in decision making.

Management: Planning process, and implementation.

Construction: Skilled/unskilled labor participation, wage rate, difference and reason Operations and maintenance: Number of breakdowns since installation, any

caretaker,

Technology: Lighting technology, Stoves, Location of Plants and need identification,

Women access to resources: Credit: specialized credit programs,

Technical aspects: Training, Skill development for operation and maintenance. ,

Ownership of resources: Land, livestock, Building, Equipment and Liquid assets.

Health and workload: Health and hygiene impacts, workload impacts, access to

information and awareness level impact.

Dietary Impacts: Increased number of cooked meals

Bio-slurry management and utilization: pit construction, making of pit boundaries,

composition and utilization of bio-slurry

Income generation and productive work: Income generating activities and productive

works.

1.2.3 Study Approach and Research Methodology

A multi-disciplinary professional team with background in Energy, Environment, Gender and

social issues, and Statistics conducted the study. Methodological approaches such as Desk

study and Literature review, interviewers observations, Focus Group Discussions (FGD),

and questionnaire survey were carried out. However, the research mainly followed the

inductive reasoning method of scientific explanation. The research team had experience inthe fields of bio-gas, socio-cultural studies of rural people with environmental and economic

perspective. Based on previous knowledge collected from the literature review and field

work, unsorted experiences were gathered to make a trans-disciplinary approach in the

study of bio-gas.

Desk study and Literature review:

Several studies were conducted by different organizations to assess the impacts of the

biogas project. These were reviewed to get an idea about the existing status in areas in and

outside the selected survey area. This component focused mainly on an interdisciplinary

review of secondary sources related to biogas and its interrelation with gender. The review


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covered from gender perspective involvement, access and empowerment of women in the

various research areas. A summary on the status of Biogas projects as reported in other

reports 1is given in Annex1

Household Survey:

Key targeted respondents of this survey are primarily the beneficiaries of households using

biogas plants financed by NDBMP. In this regard, one individual (Male or Female) from each

of the sampled households were interviewed for the survey to gather relevant data and

information. Around 200 households from the 6 selected villages were covered through the

household survey. Random sampling was done as far as possible with the help of IDCOL

POs participating in the project. The database provided by NDBMP was used to arrive at a

representative sample including various sizes of plants using cow dung and poultry litter.

1References:

Ashraf Jahan BegumBiogas technology,M.A Gofran Ist November 2004.Md. Abdul Mottalib A study on Biogas generation from organic kitchen waste and domestic sewageM.Sc Engineering Thesis of BUET December1996.M.A Satianathan Biogas Achievements and Challenges,. Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development, New Delhi, 1975.Biogas pilot plant (2nd phase ) project, BCSIR. Evaluation of Biogas plant of BCSIR, 1st and 2nd phase June 2004. DPC group.The Biogas technology in China,Chengdu Biogas Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture. P.R.C Dec.5. 1989, Agricultural publishing house.Prokash C Ghimire Technical study of Biogas plants installed in Bangladesh. Oct. 2005.Annecke, W., 2002. Climate change, energy-related activities and the likely social impacts on women in Africa.In International Journal of GlobalEnvironmentalIssues (IJGENVI), Vol. 2, No. 3-4.http://www.inderscience.com/search/index.php?action=record&rec_id=2400&prevQuery=&ps=10&m=Brew-Hammond, A. and Crole-Rees, A., 2004.Reducing Rural Poverty ThroughIncreased Access to Energy Services:A Review of theMultifunctional PlatformProject in Mali.

http://www.undp.org/energy/docs/multi_engEbrahimian, E. Project Supervisor: Gitonga, S., UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme, 2003. Community Action to Address Climate Change: CaseStudies Linking Sustainable Energy Use with Improved Livelihoods. http://sgp.undp.org/download/SGPCaseStudiesBook.complete.pdfGEF-UNDP Small Grants Programme, 1998. Women and Energy Project.Zimbabwe.http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=3919GEF-UNDP Small Grants Programme, 2002.Promoting the Production and Utilizationof Jatropha Oil in the West Mamprusi District of the NorthernRegion of Ghana.http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=5521GEF-UNDP Small Grants Programme, 2005.Solar Energy Power for Socio-EconomicAdvancement of Women in SelectedCommunities in theNorthern Region.Ghana.http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=7466GEF-UNDP Small Grants Programme, 2005. Scaling Up Animal Husbandry Practicesas Sustainable Livelihoods, EmpoweringWomen throughCredit, Self-Help andAlternative Fuels/Energy Sources.India.http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=9240GEF -UNDP Small Grants Programme, 2005. Utilizing Solar Energy for Drying Agriculture Crops in Khuzaa Village by DistributingCrop Driers for60 Women.Palestine.

http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=7414Genanet. A Powerful Connection: Gender and Renewables. Gender Perspectives in Industrialized Countries.http://www.genanet.de/positionen.html?&L=1Global Village Energy Partnership. GVEP National Energy for Poverty Reduction Action Plan. GVEP Ghana. http://kiteonline.net/gvep/gvepabout.htmMisana, S. and Karlsson, G., 2001. Generating Opportunities: Case Studies on Energy and Women. Newsletter of the network forgender andsustainable energy, Vol. 4. 2001.http://www.undp.org/energy/publications/2001/2001a.htmModi, et al., 2005. Energy Services for the Millennium Development Goals.UN Millennium Project.http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/MP_Energy_Low_Res.pdfUNDPUnited Nations Development Programme, 2007. Gender Equality Approach to Sustainable Energy Initiatives.http://www.escuelaundp.org/public/index.php?id=cd&cdbus=1&pag=15&are=18UNDP / UN-DESA / World Energy Council,2000. World Energy Assessment: Energyand the Challenge of Sustainability.http://www.energyandenvironment.undp.org/undp/index.cfm?module=Library&page=Document&DocumentID=5037UNDP, 2004. UNDP and Energy for Sustainable Development.http://www.undp.org/energy/docs/UNDP_energy brochure.pdfUNDP, 2004. The World Energy Assessment: Overview.

http://www.undp.org/energy/docs/WEAOU_full.pdf
http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=9240http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=9240http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=7414http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=7414http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=7414http://sgp.undp.org/index.cfm?Module=Projects&Page=ShowProject&ProjectID=9240


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Selection of study area:

As per TOR, the study was conducted in the villages defined by the project as Biogas

villages. The names of 12 Biogas villages were supplied by IDCOL which has been

presented in Table 1 below. The Table represents three organizations involved in the

activities, namely, Grameen Shakti, Subashati and Rahman Biogas. These Biogas Villages

are spread out around the country covering the 9 districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari,Kushtia, Mymensingh, Pabna, Thakurgaon, Gaibandha, Joypurhat and Dinajpur of 5 major

divisions (Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna).

Table-1: Bio-gas villages from NDBMP Selected for Field Survey

Sl Organization Village Union Upzila Zila Division No. of

Plants

01 Grameen Shakti Gamaridhala Khagrachari Khagrrchari

Sadar

Khagrrchari Chittagong 26

02 Grameen Shakti Rangapani Pouroshava,

Ward No 6

Rangamati

Sadar

Rangamati Chittagong 25

03 Grameen Shakti Ranchandrapur Majpara Atgoria Pabna Rajshahi 52

04 Grameen Shakti Kajirhat Ekdanto Atgoria Pabna Rajshahi 25

05 Grameen Shakti Tikuria Dhara Haluaghat Mymenshing Dhaka 57

06 Grameen Shakti Dakatia Dakatia Bhaluka Mymenshing Dhaka 25

07 Grameen Shakti Argi Salandhar Salandhar Thakurgaon

Sadar

Thakurgaon Rajshahi 40

08 Grameen Shakti Khidir Malibari Gaibandha

Sadar

Gaibandha Rajshahi 26

09 Grameen Shakti Irshania Irshania Bochaganj Dinajpur Rajshahi 22

10 Rahman Biogas Boro Tajpur Puranapail Sadar Joypurhat Rajshahi 39

11 Subashati Khalishadaha Koya Kumarkhali Kushtia Khulna 26

12 Subashati Chandpur Dasuria Ishwardi Pabna Rajshahi 27

In view of the large area coverage, it was decided after discussion with the project officials

that 50% of the villages would be visited to conduct the survey on a total of 200 households.

These would be the major biogas villages which are representative of the other biogas

villages. For this purpose the following issues have been considered:

(a) Sample would cover households from all the three NGOs/POs working for this

study project, i.e., Grameen Shakti, Rahman bio-gas and Subasati.

(b) Representation of bio-gas villages with maximum number of biogas plants.

(c) Representation of a hilly region (Rangamati Sadar), Piedmont plain (Haluaghat of

Mymensingh), Marshy land (Atghoria of Pabna), Moribund delta (Kumarkhali of

Kushtia) and Northern Flood plain (Thakurgaon Sadar).

(e) Spatial distribution (south-eastern, north-central, west-central and northern part

of the country).

(f) Transportation and communication system.

Considering all the above, the following areas were selected for in-depth field survey.


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Chapter 2 Characteristics of Surveyed Households and Biogas Plants

2.1 Socio-economic background and demographic information on surveyed

households in Biogas villages

A total of 209 households were surveyed under this study. Characteristics of the households

surveyed in the biogas villages and the biogas plants being used are presented in this

chapter.

2.1.1 Family size of surveyed households

Table 2.1 shows the distribution of family sizes within the surveyed households. The average

family size is 5, with about 70 percent having 4 to 6 members. The households have nearly

equal number of male and female members.

Table 2.1distributions of HH by family size

Family size

Number of

household%

1-3 24 11.5

4-6 147 70.3

6+ 38 18.2

Total 209 100.0

Average family size: 5

2.1.2 Income source and distribution of surveyed households

As shown in Table 2.2 average monthly income in the households owning biogas plants

surveyed under this project is 11,642 BDT. Distribution of average monthly income in the

rural areas of Bangladesh found from secondary sources2shows that the monthly income of

more than 61% of rural households is less than Tk.5,000. This indicates that most of the

owners of biogas plants belong to the more affluent part of the society.

2Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2005


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32

90

43

28

16

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


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Table 2.4 Other sources of income

Sources of income other than

main occupation

No. of

respondents

%

Agriculture, Pisciculture,

Gardening, vegetables49 66.22

Shop rent 7 9.46

Handloom 11 14.86

Others 7 9.46

Total 74 100.00

Biogas plant users are also found to own other assets that are indicative of financial

solvency of the households. As shown in Table 2.5, the type of assets include land,

livestock, building and other items with re-sale value, and hence a sign of prosperity.

Table 2.5Distribution of ownership of the following valuable assets

Type of assets No. of Respondent

Land 185

Livestock 179

Building 166

Equipment 75

Pond 43

Biogas became the main cooking fuel for the surveyed households after installation of a

biogas plant, replacing other forms of traditional fuel. Table 2.6 shows the various types of

fuel, which are easily attainable from the surroundings of the homestead and agro-field.These forms of natural resources were being used by the households prior to installation of

their biogas plant. About 13 percent of the households were found to replace kerosene with

biogas for cooking.

Table 2.6 Types of cooking fuel used before Biogas Plant installation

Types of Cooking fuel Number of household %

Cow dung, rice husk, fuel

wood93 44.50

Jute stick, fuel wood, agri.

waste, leaves, twigs, etc. 89 42.58

Kerosene 27 12.92

Total 209 100.00

Traditional cooking fuels used by the rural households are typically agro based by-products,

which are usually not purchased with cash. Similarly, other forms of biomass fuels like cow-

dung or branches of trees are collected by the family members from the surrounding areas.

As the fuels used for cooking in rural areas are easily available around or within the

household, there was hardly any monetary expenditure for fuel for nearly 49 percent of the

households as shown in Table 2.7. Average monthly expenditure for cooking fuel for other

households was found to be about Taka 400 prior to installation of a biogas plant.


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Table 2.7 Distribution of monthly expenditure on cooking fuel

Expenditure (in TK.) Number of household %

No cost 102 48.8


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45

124

31

9

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

0-2 3-5. 6-8. 8+

Numberoffamily

Number of cows

Table 2.9 Distributions of Biogas Plants by plant size

2.2.2 Source of raw material for biogas plant

Biogas plants usually operate with cow dung and poultry droppings as the main raw material

in addition to water used for mixing. Households using biogas plants usually own at least

three cows, which provide the raw material needed for their plant. Few of the households

also run their biogas plant with additional purchased dung.

Table 2.10 Distribution of Cows used for Biogas

Plants

No. of Cows Number of Family %

0-2 45 21.5

3-5 124 59.3

6-8 31 14.8

8+ 9 4.3

Total 209 100.0

Average Number of Cows: 4

Although ideally a minimum of three cows isneeded to run a bio-gas plant efficiently,more than 20 percent of the families do notown as many, as shown in Table 2.10.Hence with a shortage of raw material manyof the biogas plants are currently not in useor are used with less than full load. Someplants were never started for production or

never worked properly after beingestablished due to the lack of raw material.

It was revealed during FGDs that in some cases

people were misinformed that cows would be

given for free if they installed a biogas plant.

This has resulted in people installing biogas

plants using purchased or borrowed cow-dung.

This was a temporary solution for some which

ultimately ended up being unused because of

want of raw materials. The villages of

Rustampur, Tegharia and Kutura of Haluaghatin Mymensing have 10 plants where households

do not own any cattle.

Plant Size

(in m3)

No. of

Plants %

1.2 6 2.9

1.6 32 15.3

2 89 42.6

2.4 57 27.3

3.2 17 8.1

4.8 5 2.4

Others* 3 1.4

209 100

*owner not aware of size


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Poultry dropping is also another useful source of raw material for the biogas plants,

especially for poultry farms owners. At the household level most of the families have poultry

birds but they are of no use for bio-gas plants unless the droppings are well managed and

collected on daily basis. As shown in Table 2.11, many households own between 10 and 30

poultry, which currently contribute to the biogas plant operation used in addition to cow dung,whereas about 84 percent of the biogas plant owners do not need to use poultry dropping for

plant operation.

Table 2.11 Distribution of Poultry birds used for Biogas Plant

No. of Poultry birds owned Number of Family %

0-9 10 4.8

10-19 8 3.8

20-29 4 1.9

30+ 11 5.3

Dont need poultry to run their biogas plant 176 84.2

Total 209 100.0

Householders choose plant sizes as per availability of cow-dung or poultry droppings. On

average 55-60 kg of cow-dung is used per day for operation of biogas plants as shown in

Table 2.12. This is based on the assumption of respondents and is not an actualmeasurement.

Table 2.12 Distribution of quantity of Cow-dung used in Biogas plants

Plant Size No. ofPlants

% Av. Number ofCattle/HH

Cow dungfed, kg/day

1.2 6 2.9 3 34

1.6 32 15.3 4 602.0 89 42.6 4 43

2.4 57 27.3 5 66

3.2 17 8.1 5 62

4.8 5 2.4 6 98

others 3 1.4

Total 209 100.0


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2.2.3 Labor used in Biogas plant construction

Construction of biogas plant requires skilled labor and masons with specialized training.

According to the survey, majority of the workers were male. Number of people engaged in

overall construction is a function of the biogas plant size. In general two to four people were

engaged in the work as shown in Table 2.13.

Table 2.13 Number of people engaged in construction of Biogas plant

Number No. of respondent %

2 94 44.98

3 36 17.22

4 48 22.97

5 or more 31 14.83

Total 209 100.00


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2.3 Reasons for installing a biogas plant

Rural homes typically use wood and bio-residues from agriculture as their cooking fuel.

Unless fuel wood is bought through cash purchase, fuel for cooking is usually gathered bythe women and children of a household. The main reason for investing in a biogas plant is

production of gas for cooking. Table 2.14 shows the results from the survey indicating

various reasons behind a households decision to install a biogas plant.

Table 2.14 Reasons for constructing a Biogas Plant

Types of Reason No. of respondent %

Produce gas for cooking 207 99.00

Production of electricity 10 4.78

Reduce the cooking time 185 88.50

Production of improved Bio-fertilized 157 75.10Reduction of smell from Environment 168 80.40

Reduce energy cost 151 72.30

To improve the environment of house 167 79.90

To earn additional money 16 7.66


According to the survey, for 99 percent of the households the main reason for construction of

a biogas plant was to produce gas for cooking. Other major reasons include reduction of

cooking time and improvement of the environment of household. It is also important to note

that about 72 percent of the households expected reduction of energy cost whereas 75

percent was interested in production of improved bio-fertilizer from the slurry. Additional

income from sale of biogas to neighbors, or production of electricity from biogas, was not of

consideration for most in their decision to install a biogas plant.

Respondents gave their opinion on the negative aspects of traditional cooking fuel on health

and hygiene. As shown in Table 2.15, most people consider inhalation of smoke damaging

to their health and makes the environment around the cooking area uncomfortable.

Table 2.15 Perception on Negative aspects of traditional cooking fuel on health and

hygiene

Major Causes No. of respondents %

Black smoke damaging to health 61 35.06

Difficult to collect, destroys wood/trees, not safe for health 34 19.54

Black smoke, costly and time consuming, makes clothes dirty 49 28.16

Unhygienic to collect, destroy trees, spend more time 23 13.22

Others 7 4.02

Total 174 100.00


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Chapter 3 Gender Aspects in Biogas Project

3.1 Decision on Biogas Plant Installation

As shown in Table 3.1, in nearly 90 percent of the surveyed households, decision for

installing a biogas plant was influenced by the male members, which included father,

husband or son. In about 34 percent of the households, women had some input in the

decision making. This indicates limited involvement of rural women in households financial

decision making activities. Although selection of the size of biogas plant is a function of

number of cattle available and amount of gas required for cooking, the financial decision of

investing in installing one is mainly done by the male members of the family. It is significant

to note that the female members took sole decision for about 15 percent and joint decision in

about 25 percent of the surveyed households regarding the size of the biogas plant to be

installed.

Table 3.1 Decision making about purchasing Biogas plant by gender

Table 3.2 Taking decision about size of the Biogas plant by gender

Category No. of Respondent %

Male 117 55.98

Female 32 15.31

Both 53 25.36

Others 7 3.35

Total 209 100.00

3.2 Operation and maintenance of biogas plant

Although simple in logistics, a biogas plant requires regular maintenance for effectiveoperation. Survey indicates that both the male and female members of a family take care of

those plants in most of the cases, as seen in Table 3.3. In other households where only male

or only female takes care of the biogas plant, there is a possibility that a particular gender

feels choosy about the activities and is not interested in handling them. However, since the

male member of the household manages overall household expenditure, the survey

indicated that in about 72 percent of the households the male member bears the expenses

of maintenance of the plant.

Decision Taken by No. of respondent %

Male 187 89.47

Female 72 34.45



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Table 3.3 Person responsible for taking care of the Biogas plant

CategoryNo. of

Respondent%

Adult male 37 17.7

Adult female 38 18.2

Both 118 56.5

Children 2 1.0

All 14 6.7

Total 209 100

As shown in Table 3.4, in about 50 percent of the households both the male and female

members share the overall work behind operation and maintenance of a biogas plant, which

involves mixing and feeding of raw material, cleaning, and removal of the slurry. In some

families male or female hired personnel are engaged to do the necessary work.

Table 3.4 Involvement of family members in operating the biogas plant

The activities/involvement of family

members

Male Female Both

N % N % N %

Collecting of dung/wastage of poultry 59 28.2 49 23.4 117 56.0

Mixing and feeding of the plant 75 35.9 45 21.5 106 50.7

The cleaning of the nozzles 77 36.8 44 21.0 104 49.8

Water removal from the gas pipes 77 36.8 45 21.5 106 50.7

Cleaning of the slurry pool 68 32.7 51 24.5 108 51.9The percentages do not add up to 100 due to multiple responses

3.3 Training on operation and maintenance of Biogas plant

Once installed the household members are required to receive training on maintenance and

use of the biogas plants. It is the male member of the household who is the primary contact

person for the installer, and hence the training is scheduled around his convenience. Often

time women are not consulted for her availability and hence excluded from formal trainings.

As shown in Table 3.5, about 40 percent of the male and only about 17 percent of the female

respondents received training on operation and maintenance of biogas plants.

Table 3.5 Information related to training on use and maintenance of Biogas Plant

Received formal training

on biogas plant use

No. of

respondents

Male Female

%

Yes 120 57.40% 85 (40.7%) 35 (16.7%)

No 89 42.60% 41 (19.6%) 48 (23.0%)

Total 209 100 126 (60.3%) 83(39.7%)


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Table 3.6 shows the types of training provided by the POs to the members of households

which installed biogas plants. The survey results clearly indicate that majority of the

trainings were given to the male member of the families although the women are more

involved in using the biogas plant on a daily basis. According to the survey, about 48

percent of the respondents participated in motivation, awareness, seminars, workshops.

Others joined the training on bio-gas maintenance or its management.

Table 3.6 Training and capacity building of household members

Description of training Total No. of

respondent

Male Female

N % N % N %

Effective usage of the biogas plant 25 11.96 21 10.05 4 1.91

Training on management and maintenance of

the plant 35 16.75 29 13.88 6 2.87Motivation, awareness, seminars, workshops 100 47.85 83 39.71 17 8.14

How to use of bio-slurry and cleanness, mixing,

and handling 45 21.53 37 17.70 8 3.83

Others 4 1.91 3 1.44 1 0.47

Total 209 100.00 173 82.8 36 17.2

3.4 Possibility of connecting biogas plant with the toilet

According to the survey about 93 percent of the people prefer not to attach their biogas plant

to the toilet, whereas only about 7 percent are interested to do so. The respondents feel that

it will not be hygienic to make the connection between the toilet and the biogas plant. Table

3.7 shows the reasons for not connecting their biogas plant to the toilet. The basic idea of

this arrangement is not acceptable for most of the people since they are not accustomed to

it. About 35 percent of the households also felt that they have adequate supply of cow dung

needed for operating their biogas plants; hence it is not necessary to connect their toilet with

bio-gas plant. Some people also feel very uneasy to cook and eat afterwards if the biogas

plant is attached to the toilet. Therefore it is a cultural barrier that has to be overcome for

using human waste as a raw material to the biogas plant.

Table 3.7 Reasons for not connecting biogas plant to toilet

The major reasons for not attaching biogas plant to toilet

No.

of respondents %

Dont like the idea 101 51.79

Toilet was built earlier in a different location 15 7.69

Have enough cow dung 70 35.90

It is very uneasy to cook and eat close to a toilet 5 2.56

Other reasons 4 2.05

Total 195 100.00


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Respondents seemed to be aware about their personal hygiene. According to the survey

65% used Pucca, 26% Kutcha and 9% Ring-slab/Semi-pucca toilets before biogas plant

installation took place, which is a very good sign of awareness about health and hygiene.

However, the aspect of installing biogas plants as a means of improving the environmental

sanitation of the household is not recognized by most people.

3.5 Impact of Biogas plant on kitchen environment

All respondents agreed to the fact that there is significant improvement in their environment

from using biogas plant on a daily basis. Table 3.8 shows the comments from respondents

on the level of improvement of their kitchen from using biogas for cooking as opposed to

traditional biomass fuel. Only about 4 percent of the respondents think that there was no

improvement in kitchen environments while rest of the people recognize various benefits

from using biogas for cooking. Women engaged in cooking with biogas enjoy cleaner kitchencompared to others people who dont have biogas plant.

Table 3.8 Comments of respondents on improvement of kitchen environment

Comments about indoor environment

after installation of biogas plant

No.

of respondents %

Improved, no smoke, cleaner kitchen 159 76.08

Reduced smoke 14 6.70

Not improved 9 4.31Slightly improved 27 12.92

Total 209 100.00

Male members are not usually involved in the kitchen in Bangladesh. However, in about 32

percent of the cases male members expressed willingness to help in activities in the kitchen

to help their female partners during cooking. A cleaner kitchen with gas burning stove made

this possible.

Female members spend most of their time for preparing food and hence cannot give time to

other activities. Because of biogas now they dont have to spend time for collecting fuel

wood and may get some free time for rest. So its use will create a great opportunity for

women to be involved in other activities like childrens education, income generating

activities, social and other activities. About 75 percent of the respondents have expressed

that biogas technology has reduced their workload in cleaning utensils and other items of the

kitchen.

Open fire from traditional cooking poses hazard for the women in the kitchen and it is a

common scenario to see rural women to get burned or injured while cooking. Women feel

safer after installation of bio-gas plant compared to the past. Hence the biogas plant

ensures health and safety for women members and their children around them. Nearly 82

percent of the respondents feel this is a significant gender specific social contribution of thebiogas plant installation.


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3.6 Benefits received from using Biogas plants

Various benefits are reported by households through using biogas plants and the

respondents feel that this technology can raise their standard of living. Biogas technology

reduces smoke, lessens labor, saves time, and also provides health benefits. In addition to

better health effects on women from clean environment, extra free time gives them scope to

explore other activities. About 70 percent of the respondents considered women could have

an opportunity to use their spare time in productive works with possibility of added income

generationlike sewing, small business and child care.

A major economic benefit comes from the bio-slurry, another product of biogas plant, which

is a high grade fertilizer. Biogas plants thereby have a positive impact on agricultural

production of the households since bio-slurry increases soil nutrition. It is also used directly

in ponds as fish feed. Opinion of the respondents on the impact of bio-slurry utilization on

productivity is presented in Table 3.9. About 80 percent of the respondents reported that

bio-slurry as a high quality fertilizer had increased agricultural production.

Table 3.9 Opinion about productivity benefits from bio-slurry utilization

Issues

Response No. of

Respondent %

Bio-slurry use increased agricultural production YesNo

167

42

79.9

20.1

Bio-slurry use increased vegetable production YesNo

174

35

83.3

16.7

After using bio-slurry, did family nutrition level improve because of

higher consumption of vegetables

Yes

No

151

58

72.2

27.8

Can women cook more food items than before? YesNo

146

63

69.9

30.1

Total 209 100.0

Nearly 50 percent of the respondents indicated that both the male and female members of

the family are involved in bio slurry management for the households. In other families either

men or women undertake the job indicating that a particular gender dislikes handling the bio

slurry. In about 44 percent of the cases female members have expressed reservation in

handling bio-slurry and hence male members had to take up the responsibility. Tables 3.10

and 3.11 show the opinion of some respondents on perceived advantages and

disadvantages of bio-slurry management for women members of the family.

Table 3.10 Benefits for women from using bio-slurry

Types No. of respondent %

Can produce more vegetables, gardening 26 12.4

Cleaner environment 12 5.74

Others 3 1.44

Table 3.11 Disadvantages faced by women in managing bio-slurry

Types No. of respondent %

Dislikes handling dirty slurry 27 12.92

More work in cleaning and disposal 14 6.70

Others 4 1.91


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3.7 Opinion about gender discrimination related to Biogas project

Under the biogas program, households are in close contact with the representatives of the

POs during all the stages of biogas plant installation. The process starts with initial dialogues

to financial commitment for purchase of biogas plant and its installation. The respondents

were asked to comment on their views towards experiencing gender discrimination in the

processes led by the POs which include primary discussion, decision making, and

installation and maintenance of the biogas plant. The responses are given in Table 3.12.

Women owners of biogas plants mentioned that they did not face any gender discrimination

during any phase of the project. Respondents commented about the initial dialogue with PO

staff, utilization of biogas plant, maintenance of plant, installation of plant, for bank loan,

savings and credit related works, training and awareness program. Very few cases of gender

discrimination seemed to have occurred according to peoples opinion in the study area. On

the other hand, high levels of expectations and awareness about gender equity is also not

wide spread enough to influence their say in these respects.

Table 3.12: Opinion about gender equity during Biogas plant procurement

Gender equality experienced with biogas plant stagesNo. of

Respondent %

During the initial dialogue with PO staff Yes

No

207

2

99.0

1.0

During the utilization of Plant Yes

No

206

3

98.6

1.4

Decision making for purchasing the Plant Yes

No

203

6

97.1

2.9

During the installation of Plant Yes

No

203

6

97.1

2.9

During maintenance of the Plant Yes

No

205

4

98.1

1.9

For Bank loan, savings and credit related work Yes

No

200

9

95.7

4.3

In training and awareness program Yes

No

205

4

98.1

1.9

Total 209 100

Although gender discrimination prevails in many activities within the country, according to

Table 3.13, 86 percent of the respondents did not feel it during any stage of biogas

implementation process. One of the possible reasons may be that awareness about gender

equity is not prevalent and people tend to accept official responses without question. In fact,

the lone respondent in the following table who mentioned gender discrimination was a man

who thought mens concerns were not addressed adequately.

Table 3.13: Experience with gender discrimination while procuring biogas plant

Experienced gender discrimination No. of respondent %

Yes 1 0.5

No 180 86.1

Not aware 23 11.0

Refused to answer 5 2.4

Total 209 100.0


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3.8 Other issues related to Biogas plant utilization

o Selling biogas to neighbor: It was observed during the study that, majority of the

people prefer to use biogas for their own cooking rather than selling to neighbors. Survey

shows that only 6.2 percent people (13 out of 209 HHs) share their gas with others and

make some profit from there. Out of that, in 69 percent of the cases (9 out of 13) the

male members of the family take the profit. Therefore there is financial discrimination

against women when the household profit is divided.

o By using bio slurry we can increase our agricultural productivity, which consequently

increase average income available for investment in small businesses. By using biogas

in cooking women can spend her extra time for education. About 69 percent of the

respondents expressed opinion that biogas plant can help to develop womens

education, small business etc.

o The ease of operation of a bio-gas plant is enjoyed by all the consumers. While many

people like environmental benefits and hygienic aspects, people also value production of

bio-fertilizer from the slurry.

o The survey shows that nearly 82 percent of the biogas plants are registered in the name

of male members of the families, which is indicative of male dominance in the society.

o Almost all the respondents expressed that loan was available to them without much

problem. Around 39 percent of the respondents think that anybody can have the loan

whereas 27 percent think the applicant should own some sort of properties like cow or

land in order to qualify for obtaining a loan for biogas plant. Almost 60 percent of the

people took the advantage of the loan from the PO whereas the remaining 40 percent

did not.


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Chapter 4 Results of Focus Group Discussions

Focus group discussions were held at each of the selected biogas villages. The objective of

these sessions were to elaborate upon information collected in the field survey giving local

people the opportunity to discuss the issues. A summary of the discussion outputs is given

below.

Picture-2:FGD Participants in Rangamati.

Q.1 Ease of understanding of communication materials provided by POs

The communication materials developed by the project were in general understood by those who

participated in the training programs and/or the discussion sessions. However most of them did not

read these thoroughly themselves, but the rules and instructions were explained to them by the PO

personnel.

Q.2 Information required by potential owners before installation of Biogas plant

The most important information for many people was related to economic viability of installingbiogas plants. In most of the areas fuel wood is available free of cost from the surrounding areas. So

the economic benefit is not obvious because the time and energy spent in collecting them, especially

since it is done by the women and children, is not considered as a valuable resource.

The cost of the plant itself is an important issue. The monthly installments are considered as a

determining factor in making decisions about purchase.

People are interested to know about the advantages and disadvantages of installing a biogas plant.

The POs usually introduce the technology to potential clients. The TV ads are also a useful way of

information dissemination.


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Q.3 Perceived benefits of bio-gas plant

Time saving because they can do other works besides cooking.

available throughout the year Healthy because of smoke free kitchen and surrounding area

Save cost of fuel and carrying cost

reduced possibility of accident from fire

saving time wasted in collecting cooking fuel

Easily available loan and financial support from the companies when making a bio-gas plant.

The slurry can be used as manure/fertilizer and fish food.

Q.4 Opinion on how information on biogas was disseminated to women

In the biogas villages the residents learn about biogas through the POs. Their representatives go

from home to home to inform potential clients. On the other hand, neighbours know about it when

someone installs a plant.

Women biogas plant users share information on the advantages and disadvantages of biogas with

other women in the village. They discuss how this technology saves time, energy and money. Use of

the slurry as manure/fertilizer and fish food, reduced possibility of accident from fire, advantages

related to health issues, etc. were also discussed.

Information on activities related to operating the plants and their experiences in doing so are also

shared. These included mixing of raw materials, lighting of the stoves and their maintenance, looking

after the slurry tank to avoid breeding of mosquitoes, safety issues, etc.

Q.5 What kind of information would be useful for women?

The following information was thought to be useful for biogas plant users and potential clients

according to Focus Group members:

Economic benefits

How to apply for loan from PO or other financial institutions

Government incentives available

How to operate a plant efficiently

Possible uses of biogas

How to make manure

Proper procedure for mixing water

Various advantages of biogas

Health benefits

Use of slurry as fish feed in ponds

Safety issues


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Q.6 Who are the people in your mohallah or village who would need special help in order to

take part in the Biogas Project and to benefit from it?

Many people in the village are interested in the biogas technology but complexity of getting loan

deters them. If repayment of loan is made easier than now, many more people would be interested

to install plants. They also requested for assistance in buying water pump since equivalent amount

of water and dung is required in a plant.

Small families which have none to collect fuel but have adequate number of cattle can be helped to

install bio-gas plants. Large families having cattle can also be helped to install bio-gas plants.

Q.7 When you go out, who looks after the plant?

In the absence of the head of the household others members of the family take care of the

plant.

Q.8 Do you think you would be able to take part in a masons training for a Biogas plant?

(would you want to? Would anyone object?)

Training on plant maintenance is necessary. If there is economic benefit, people would be interested

to take masons training. The groups did not think there was any problem in taking the training.

Q.9 Do you think that you or other women would be able to become a mobiliser for the

Biogas project? What would be necessary to make this possible for yourself? For other

women?

The members of the Focus Group agreed that women could be good organizers in biogas project.

They would however need support from all walks of the society including men and women from the

community, POs, government and non-government organizations. The owners of plants can

encourage others and help by sharing experience. But positive attitude and support from the

community is essential.

Q.10 In your opinion, what are the 2 or 3 most significant problems faced by women in your

village, that affect their ability to take part in projects like this one, or any other initiative?

Usually there is no problem for women in participating in biogas projects as users. However in many

cases the husbands or other male members of the family dont approve of the women going outwithout escort.

Q.11 Which factors, if any (social, technical, financial, communication, literacy) would make it

easy or difficult for women to become involved in any aspect of the biogas technology?

Easy: Social, education, regular communication with the POs,

Hard: Technology, Economic, Transport/Communication, male members of the family

dont like the women to be involved in activities outside the home.


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Q12. Do you think that this project can do anything to increase any aspect of womens and girls

empowerment (for example, increased ability to contribute to decisions). If No, why not?

If Yes, what would you suggest?

Yes, the project can help in increasing empowerment of women

Increased employment opportunity

Can become POs by taking training

Will get more time for education

Will enable to take decisions more easily

Work in handicraft organization

Make handicraft production

Interested to work in different organizations.

No, we dont think so

bio-gas has no use other than comfort in cooking

there is no relationship between biogas and income generation or empowerment it is wrong to say that a bio-gas plant saves a lot of the time of women for doing household

chores

Observations related to conducting the survey:

It was difficult reaching households in various study areas like the hilly areas in

Rangamati and there were problems in communication with Partner Organizations.

Some participants were not interested in answering several questions.

It was not possible to collect information from some plants that do not have adequate

number of birds or animals to produce biogas or manure. The following plants were

found not to be working properly mostly because of lack of cow dung or other rawmaterials.

List of bio-gas plants not in operation at the time of survey

SurveyID Name Village Plant Size

17 Md. Yasin Ali Ramchandrapur 2.4

36 Hafijur Rahman Ramchandrapur 3.2

82 Tofael Mia Rangapani 2

87 Binoy Juti Chakma Rangapani 5

89 Sameer Kanti Barua Vedvedi 2

94 Nuruddin Miajilila 296 Bidesh Kanti Barua Rajmoni para 2.4

130 Abdul Rafiq Rustampur 2

140 Md. Suman Mia Rustampur 2

147 Md. Nazrul Islam Rustampur 2

153 Ripon Mia Rustampur 2

154 Ashraf Ali Rustampur 2

156 Abdul Barek Rustampur 2

169 Abu Bakar Siddik Tikuria 2

170 Hasan Mia Kutura 2

171 Abdul Kaiyam Kutura 2

174 Ruhul Amin Kutura 2182 Abdul Kaiyum Karuapara 2


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Since many people are illiterate and without much contact with media/information,

some of their views on issues like womens empowerment or climate change were not

clear or not available at all.

Many people in the study areas do not have much idea about environment, sanitation,

health and hygiene and so were unable to give information about their expectations.


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Chapter 5 Conclusions and recommendations

Based on the field study and observation in the primary level, some main features of the

gender aspects of impact of the Biogas project on rural households has emerged. Directdiscussion with both male and female members of the bio-gas villages has helped in

highlighting the issues of concern as given below.

Women in decision making:

Installation of bio-gas plant has not significantly enhanced the rate of womens participation

in decision making though there are many cases of joint decision making. It can be expected

that in the long run women will speak out their preferences to a greater extent. With the

opportunity of using a modern technology like biogas, they are appreciating the time and

energy saved and understanding the value of their time.

Womens access to energy and technology:

Bio-gas is a new technology to most of the rural women. In a large number of cases it is the

first time they have access to a technology that is particularly useful for their everyday work.

It has given them access to energy that they can use any time without having to spend time

in collecting. This has have given them a sense of better and comfortable life that they never

experienced before.

Saving of time and effort:

Access to biogas has empowered women by bringing them close to a technology thatrequires their creativeness in operating and managing the system. Since they are the ones

who use it they take responsibility for its proper maintenance. They are able to advise others

and make suggestions to the POs about their observations.

The technology frees up time for the women and other members of the household previously

spent on collecting cooking fuel. This time and effort can now be used for helping the

children with studies or upgrade their own education. The time can be used for various other

work around the house and outside, as well as taking care of the children.

Health of women:

Bio-gas has freed women users from physical hardship of collecting and carrying fuelwood.

They have the freedom of working at ease in their kitchen now. Collecting fuel and

preserving them was never the best of experiences to them because of the long hours of

work with heavy loads, during all seasons of the year. Even older women and children would

be engaged in this hard labour which can be totally avoided by using biogas. Cooking with

open fire using fuel wood was also a health and safety issue because of the indoor pollution

and dangerous flame it creates. Using biogas has also increased their consciousness about

physical health of the family members.

Increased possibility of entertainment, leisure and relaxation will also have positive impact

on their mental health.


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Womens entrance into work force:

Attending training courses, workshops, etc. can increase womens ability to join constructive

work and can help them to enter workforce with the help of bio-gas. Today rural women are

experiencing a new opportunities. They can have access to loan from the POs to start their

own business in biogas dissemination. Training them in basic account keeping and

management will go a long way in womens empowerment.

Women on property issues:

In property issue women are still lagging behind. Most of the plants are registered in the

name of a male member of the family.

Womens involvement in income generating activities:

Women are utilizing time freed by using bio-gas in income generating activities. They are

attending village co-operatives, creating handicrafts, selling them in market, producing

vegetables in own vegetable garden for family use etc. These involvements of women in

income generating activities have a great effect on enhancing the value of their role in the

family.

Recommendations:

1. As a policy for the future projects of the NDBMP, gender focus should extend from the

early stage of project conceptualization and planning, and should then continue up to

project monitoring and evaluation. In order to implement such policy there should be

explicit guidelines that identify the difference between womens and mens ability to

participate in every stage of biogas project cycle. Among others, guidelines should be

inclusive of procedures for collection of gender disaggregated data during project

monitoring, which is essential for understanding the impact of energy interventions on

people in a gender sensitive manner.

2. NDBMP should build gender awareness among its team members. Such awareness can

be extended from management and professional staff to the partner organizations.

Gender awareness training should therefore be given to those staff of NDBMP engaged

in problem identification and interfacing the POs in the field.


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Annex 1 A summary on status of Biogas projects

o Biogas, which is mainly composed of methane (60-70%) and carbon dioxide (30-40%) is

a combustible gas produced by anaerobic fermentation of organic materials by the action

of bacteria. Methane is odourless gas and burns with a clear blue flame without smoke. It

produces more heat than kerosene, fuel wood, charcoal and dung-cakes. When biogas is

used in suitable designed burners, it gives a clean, smokeless, blue flame, which is ideal

for cooking. If biogas is used in specially designed lamp it gives a light similar to the

kerosene pressure lamps. Biogas can be used for other purposes such as electricity

generation, refrigeration, space heating and running engines but higher amount gas will

be required for these purposes. Family size biogas plant is appropriate only for the

domestic use such as cooking and lighting.

o Alessandro Volta of Italy who made the unexpected discovery of combustible air on 14

November 1776 was the first who named it as Biogas. Humphrey Davey in 1800

discovered it from farmyard manure and in 1803-1806 his friend William Henry named it

as Methane. Due to their widespread research, utilization and dissemination of biogas

technology, the Peoples Republic of China is recognizedtoday as the leading country in

biogas technology. The Biogas Research & Training Centre (BRTC) of Chinese

Hydraulic Biogas Digesters for Asia Pacific Region was established in 1979 at Chengdu

of Sichaung Province. India is the second leading country for its contribution of Floating

Top Cover and Fixed Dome Plant.

o The technology was first introduced in Bangladesh in 1972 by Prof. M A Karim at the

Bangladesh Agriculture University, Mymensingh and subsequently by the Bangladesh

Academy of Rural Development (BARD) at Comilla. The Bangladesh Council of Scientific

& Industrial Research (BCSIR) installed more than 25000 plants; the Local Government

& Engineering Department (LGED) installed about 1900 plants; and the Environment &

Pollution Control Department (EPCD) installed 220 plants. The Danish International

Development Assistance (DANIDA); Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation

(BSCIC); BRAC; BUET; some NGOs; Department of Youth & Sports and other

organizations are doing similar research & dissemination work throughout the country.

o In 1992, LGED constructed a Chinesetype fixed dome design plant in Karimpur village

of Begumgong, Noakhali and another biogas plant using only human excreta in Faridpur

Muslim Mission. LGED also constructed a biogas plant using water hyacinth at

Mandaripur. Similarly, in 1994, LGED constructed a biogas plant using poultry

droppings at Uttar Khan, Dhaka and city waste based plants in 10 towns. In this way

LGED had built about 200 biogas plants by 1994. A wider dissemination of biogas took

place while BCSIR implemented the Biogas Pilot Plant (1st phase) Project during the

period of July 1995 to June 2000. During this period, as many as 4,664 fixed dome plants

were put forth throughout the country. The biogas farmers received an investment subsidy

of Taka 5,000 under the framework of the project. Following the successful completion ofthe first phase of the program and considering the huge potential of biogas in the country,


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BCSIR implemented the 2nd phase of the Biogas Pilot Plant during the period July 2000

to June 2004. Out of the target of establishing 20,000 biogas plants for this phase, a total

of 17,194 plants were finally completed. The investment subsidy for the owner was

increased to Taka 7,500 per plant. In addition to the diploma civil engineers employed

and paid on a monthly basis by BCSIR, an agency system was introduced on incentive

basis. About 50 agencies were recognized and they were provided with a lump sum fee of

Taka 5,000 per plant as service charge. About 1,000 masons and youths were trained

under the project as well. In the period from October 1998 to June 2003, LGED also

implemented a parallel biogas project with the objective of constructing 1,900 domestic

plants. As the investment subsidy for this project amounted to Taka 5,000 only, it proved

to be rather difficult to motivate farmers during the implementation of the 2nd phase of

the Biogas Pilot Plant Project as BCSIR had been providing Taka 7,500 in the past.

Therefore, the LGED project was terminated prematurely, after having constructed 1,120

biogas plants. Under the Secondary Town Infrastructure Development Project-II, another

20 domestic plants were constructed using only the human excreta as feeding materials.

Recently, Grameen Shakti (GS) has started constructing biogas plants without subsidy.Some 120 such plants were already been constructed by December 2005 and GS aims to

construct a total of 200,000 biogas plants within a period of five years. Since there is no

formal biogas programme at this moment, some 200 plants were constructed by

previously trained diploma engineers on individual basis.

o The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), German Technical Co-operation

(GTZ), Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) and other organizations

are also implementing the biogas project activities throughout the country. SNV has

implemented a project in Nepal over the last few years. With the 95% success of the

project, SNV expanded the program to other Asian countries and started the mission inBangladesh in 2004. IDCOL with the support of SNV and financing by KfW of Germany

started the National Domestic Biogas and Manure Program in Bangladesh from mid

2006 and installed 1200 family size biogas plants out of 60000 high quality domestic

plants. The successful implementation of the program depends on the easy functioning of

the plants, direct and indirect benefits enjoyed by users, socio-economic impacts,

environmental issues, health & sanitation, womens involvements etc. The major

environmental benefit from using biogas as an energy resource is that there is no net

production of greenhouse gases. The carbon dioxide released during biogas combustion

originally was organic plant material and so is just completing a cycle from atmosphere

to plant, plant to animal and back to the atmosphere. Methane is a more severe

greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and capture of biogas as a fuel prevents the release

of methane into the atmosphere. The capture of methane for use as fuel would

significantly reduce the net greenhouse gas production.


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