Rural farmers are to benefit from a new programme that seeks to empower locals to acquire biogas plants at affordable prices. Partnering with the Ministry of Energy and the Dutch Government, the Kenyan National Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENRAP) will soon be rolling out the programme in high agricultural potential regions in a four-year plan.

The Dutch Government, according to the programme’s  media relations officer Mr Joshua Bariu has [pledged Sh457 million in direct capital and technical support. He said that the programme was a public-private partnership initiate. The officer said it would bring on board all stakeholders in the biogas value chain, including rural farmers who are users, biogas construction companies, masons, suppliers of appliances and fabricators of the same.

Renewable Energy
The technology mainly uses waste produced at the farm to produce clean renewable energy. Dubbed the Kenya National Domestic Biogas Programme, the programme seeks the adoption of domestic biogas technology as an alternative  sustainable energy source. Mr Bariu said the new biogas plant design, known as KENBIM (Kenya Biogas Model), had been developed  by a consortium of local experts  with support from other experts.