Article and Image Courtesy : Down to Earth
Author : Aparna Pallavi
Sindhutai Tayade adds cow dung slurry to her plant through the feeder; Vijay Ingle stirs the slurry in biogas digester tank
When Vijay Ingle of Chittalwadi village in Akola district decided to install a biogas plant at his dairy last year, everyone was sceptical. It had failed to take off in the Vidarbha region despite the government promoting biogas as the cleanest and cheapest fuel for over three decades and offering subsidies for setting up the plant. Besides, no one had heard of a biogas plant installed 400 metres from the house; it is usually set up in the backyard, close to the kitchen.
In neighbouring Tandulwadi village of Buldhana district, farmer Shyamrao Deshmukh had faced similar scepticism four years ago. As his joint family grew and multiplied, they had to relocate their cowshed to the village outskirts, around half-a-kilometre away. To cut down the growing LPG expenses, Deshmukh decided to set up a biogas plant in the cowshed. He, too, found himself surrounded by people asking him to give up the project.
The two farmers, however, stuck to their resolve and made the plants work. The success turned critics into believers. Today, Chittalwadi has 15 working biogas plants. Tandulwadi has four. Several others also plan to install biogas plants and have applied for subsidies.
So far, officials had cited cow dung scarcity in Vidarbha as the reason biogas was not drawing a crowd, despite subsidies. But farmers setting up biogas plants in these villages do not own large numbers of cattle, disproving the official theory. They have found innovative solutions to the challenges that prevented them from accessing biogas.
Innovation in a loop
While struggling to overcome problems involving distance, Deshmukh approached Dr Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, an agriculture university in Akola that offers extension services. He was advised to install telescoping PVC pipe to build pressure in the gas tank and put the pipeline below ground with a gentle gradient for unhindered flow of gas to the kitchen. He was also told to install equipment for removing moisture from the pipeline. Deshmukh realised that to install the pipeline he would have to shell out more than the cost of the entire plant. He would also have to lower his kitchen floor by around 60 cm.
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