Pastoralist women savour benefits of using clean biogas

Katelina Lekanta cooks using the biogas in her Manyatta at Archer's Post in Samburu County. She uses cow dung from her cattle to make the gas.  

Photo credit: Nicholas Komu | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The system runs on any biodegradable materials such as animal dung, kitchen and food waste as well as garden weeds.
  • A 20kg bucket of any waste produces gas that is enough to cook for a homestead of about six to eight people daily.
  • Some of the residents use the sludge that comes from the system to grow crops, earning double gains.
  • The Samburu community being a society that practices livestock keeping primarily, each family keeps hundreds of cattle and goats making dung a readily available resource.

On the foothills of Matthews Ranges in Wamba, Samburu County, the Seeds of Gold finds Jane Lekaldero preparing mid-morning tea for her family.

Well, she can now afford the mid-morning tea ‘luxury’ because it has become easier to cook. Lekaldero’s family is among dozens that have embraced biogas for cooking.

The clean energy has brought a change of lifestyle in the community as residents drop firewood use.

“Our biogas system comprises a 6,000-litre black tube made from tarpaulin and a thick waterproof material. The purpose of the covering is to induce heat using a greenhouse effect,” says Lekaldero, who keeps 100 goats and about 40 sheep.

The system runs on any biodegradable materials such as animal dung, kitchen and food waste as well as garden weeds.

“Every day, 20kg of sludge is fed into the system. It then ferments producing methane gas which rises to the top side of the tube where it is collected and piped into the house,” Robert Wanjiku, a technician with Flexi biogas explains.

A 20kg bucket of any waste produces gas that is enough to cook for a homestead of about six to eight people daily.

At Archers Post on the Samburu-Isiolo border, Selina and Katelina Lekanta have also installed the system in their manyatta.

Manage the system

“I can now focus on my beadwork and still come home and make supper for my family on time,” says Selina, noting they readily find dung that they feed into the biogas system since they are pastoralists.

Some of the residents use the sludge that comes from the system to grow crops, earning double gains.

Some 130 homes are currently using biogas in the areas in the project supported by World Vision and Northern Rangelands Trust.

“Since the community depends on livestock keeping, biogas generation is easier and sustainable,” says Sammy Lesaita, who oversees the Integrated Management of Natural Resources for Resilience in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands programme run by the two organisations under which the project started in 2018 is implemented.

The Samburu community being a society that practices livestock keeping primarily, each family keeps hundreds of cattle and goats making dung a readily available resource.

Wanjiku notes residents have been trained on how to manage the system, which only requires to be fed with 20 litres of sludge per day.