Abstract: Households in Tanzania use a combination of energy sources for cooking and lighting, such sources may include firewood, charcoal, kerosene, LPG gas, and electricity. More than 90% of Tanzanian primary energy is supplied by biomass, and most of this energy source is used for cooking in households (URT, 2003; MEM, 2011). This high reliance on biomass material has created an environmental burden and threat of forest disappearance in the country. On the other hand, over consumption of forest has resulted to a number of other negative impacts such as soil degradation, water sources degradation, and disruption of rainfall patterns. This paper assumes that biogas production technology has the great potential to reduce the high reliance on biomass (forest and woodland in particular) and in turns mitigates the environmental impact resulted by over consumption of biomass. More than 85% of Tanzanians rely on agriculture activities as the main source of income, and there is a positive relationship between agriculture development and biogas production development particularly in the rural areas. The study reveals that there has been a dramatically increase of adoption of biogas production technology in the country since 2009 to date. Up to 2009 there were 103 biogas plants countrywide, and up to 2013 a total number of 3819 biogas plants were already built in the country, an increase of 3608% of actual biogas production across 13 Regions in Tanzania and this is done through 11 different Biogas Agents. Disseminating this technology to most families living in rural areas, and some living in urban areas will significantly conserve the environment, improve agricultural activities, hence improve the food chain, and create employment particularly to youths in these areas.
Keyword: Biogas Production Technology, Adoption, Rural Areas, Environmental Conservation.
Title: Evaluating the Adoption of Biogas Technology as an Alternative Sustainable Energy for Cooking In Tanzanian Households
Author: Wilson B. Kiunsi, Raphael Iddphonce Mkini
International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online)
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