By Sharon Korir and Damaris Musembi
Introduction
Biogas, a renewable energy source, plays a significant role in addressing energy needs, mitigating environmental impacts, and managing waste. Produced through the anaerobic digestion of organic matter such as animal manure, crop waste, and household refuse, biogas offers versatile applications including cooking, heating, and lighting. Importantly, strengthening the biogas production value chain in rural areas holds great potential for job creation, ranging from basic agricultural waste management to technical expertise in plant installation, operation and maintenance.
Despite this potential, the uptake of biogas fuel remains low in rural areas (Figure 1). The Energy Policy (2004) and the Energy Act (2019) promote off-grid renewable energy systems, including biogas, but their production potential and adoption are yet to be fully realized. This policy blog explores the untapped potential of biogas production in rural areas for job creation.
Figure 1: Source of energy for cooking and lighting (2019)
Data source: KNBS (2019), Economic Survey
Status of Biogas Production
Uptake of biogas production technology
Despite efforts by the government, civil society, and development partners, biogas technology remains under-utilized. While installations increased from 2,000 in 2007 to 20,000 by 2022, operational efficiency remains low, with 70 per cent of the installed plants being non-functional. The overall installed captive power capacity is only 2.6 per cent. The barriers to adoption of biogas technology include high upfront costs, logistical challenges in feedstock collection, and the need for skilled labour for installation, operation, and maintenance.
The value chain of biogas production involves multiple stages, each requiring specific skills. These stages include waste collection, construction of biogas digesters, installation, operation, maintenance, and the marketing and distribution of biogas products. Expanding this value chain will increase rural employment, with a focus on skill development.
Over 73,000 jobs have been created in rural Kenya following the installation of biogas plants. In 2022, there were 111 licensed researchers in the physical, industrial, and biogas energy fields, which is a slight drop from 117 in 2018. While there has been some progress in adopting new technologies, the low number of researchers is a major hurdle to achieving meaningful growth in the sector.
Challenges and Emerging Issues to Employment in Biogas Value Chain
The use of biogas as a sustainable energy source faces several challenges that demand an integrated approach.
Policy gaps
The National Energy Policy (2018) emphasizes the role of biogas in enhancing energy access in rural Kenya and promoting environmental sustainability. However, there is no specific policy on biogas production. This has hindered the effective promotion and utilization of this resource, ultimately limiting its potential for employment creation.
Infrastructure construction, operation, and maintenance
Advanced biogas technologies such as plug-flow digesters and pressure swing adsorption are expensive and require skilled operators, hindering access by small-scale farmers. Consequently, farmers rely on simpler, less efficient systems that restrict productivity and prevent farmers from fully exploiting the benefits of biogas as a sustainable energy solution.
Public awareness, social acceptance and technology adoption
Community awareness, acceptance and adoption of biogas production are critical factors to technology penetration in rural areas. There is limited awareness and education about the benefits of up-taking biogas.
Limited experience with biogas project funders
Financial entities and project evaluators have limited knowledge of biogas technology, making it difficult to allocate funding due to the inability to conduct such project processes as risk assessment. Thus, the financial resources needed for equipment and skilled workers are unutilized because the project structures are still underdeveloped.
Limited financial resources
Even though there are various anaerobic digestion technologies, and many potential developers, the costs for biogas production are too steep, especially when expenses on gas purification and energy production are factored in.
Research, development, and innovation knowledge gaps
Knowledge gaps in biogas production constrain access to infrastructure and technology, which is worsened by insufficient funding, and shortage of skilled professionals. Social and cultural barriers further complicate adoption, limit sustainable biogas industry and projects expansion.
Opportunities
Employment opportunities along the biogas production value chain
The biogas value chain creates diverse job opportunities starting from feedstock collection from farmers, and skilled and non-skilled workers. Construction, installation and operation of biogas plants require engineers and technicians, while the marketing and distribution stage provides job opportunities for communication and marketing specialists. Engaging all the expertise in the value chain will create approximately 7 million jobs in rural Kenya.
Availability of agricultural waste (livestock and crop wastes)
Approximately 52.8 per cent of households in Kenya engage in at least one agricultural activity, indicating the availability of the required organic waste used as feedstock. Utilization of this feedstock holds tremendous potential to mitigate environmental impact and generate clean energy while creating job opportunities.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Kenya can unlock job creation potential in the biogas value chain by:
- Developing a specific biogas policy framework: The Government could develop a policy framework to promote biogas production, by addressing barriers in financing, awareness, and technological gaps. This framework should incentivize investment in biogas technology and provide subsidies for small-scale farmers to reduce upfront costs.
- Investing in training and skill development: The Government could invest in technical training programmes for rural communities. These could be run through TVET institutions focusing on biogas plant installation, operation and maintenance.
- Promoting public awareness campaigns: Public awareness campaigns are critical for increased adoption of biogas technologies. These could focus on educating rural communities about the benefits of biogas for household energy needs, environmental sustainability, and job creation.
- Supporting research and innovation: Increase the number of licensed researchers and encourage innovation in biogas technologies to improve the efficiency of biogas production by reducing costs and creating more skilled jobs. Further, the Government could collaborate with universities and research institutions to promote biogas as a viable renewable energy source.
- Enhancing financial support and incentives: The Government could collaborate with financial institutions to create favourable lending terms for biogas projects, through low-interest loans or grants. The Government could also leverage publicprivate partnerships to attract biogas infrastructure investments.
