抄録
The government of Laos views biogas technology as a vehicle to reduce the poverty of rural smallholders, and as an alternative source of low-cost, renewable energy for rural households or low-income farmers. This study assesses the impacts of installing bio-digesters in the Biogas Pilot Project (BPP), and examines the contribution of biogas technology to improving livelihoods of biogas users. The analysis is based on a detailed survey of a representative sample of existing customers in the BPP pilot areas in Laos. Data on socioeconomic factors affecting farmers’ livelihoods after the installation of bio-digesters were collected for 100 households within 29 districts in the five pilot provinces of Xiangkhuang, Vientiane, Khammouane, Savanakhet and Vientiane Municipality. The smallest size (4m3) of bio-digester was installed by 82% of the surveyed households. Reasons for installing the smallest size included the limited number of livestock owned by households and the high cost of the biogas plant construction. The limited financial resources of rural smallholders make the 2,379 thousand kip (about US$297.50) construction cost for the smallest 4m3 biogas plant size is the main constraint slowing adoption of this technology. Most biogas users (76%) were fully satisfied and 20% were partially satisfied by their bio-digesters. Due to in-sufficient supply of biogas for cooking and lighting, 4% of the households were not satisfied with the gas plants. In addition to reducing the amount and cost of firewood or charcoal, reported benefits included the use of dung residual as a substitute for chemical fertilizer that also reduced costs. Other reported benefits included reduced workload including reduced time collecting firewood, cooking and cleaning cooking utensils. In addition to installation cost, hurdles for adoption of bio-digesters include low cost of fuel wood and in availability of dung near digesters due to free roaming livestock.
