In Malawi, Energy supply deficiencies are common which result in interruptions to processes that require energy as an input. A prominent example is the national electrical energy system which is accessible to less than 1% of the rural population and is unreliable. According to Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA), from 2008 statistics, about 90% of Malawi?s population use wood for fuel and charcoal production, accounting for about 88.5% of the country?s energy requirements, 6.4% comes from petroleum, 2.8% from electricity and 2.4% from coal. Households account for 83% of all energy consumption, with industry taking 12%, transport taking 4% and the service sector taking 1%. Statistics show that 85.7% of the population use paraffin in hurricane and pressure lamps for lighting, 7.2% use electricity, 2.2% use candles, 2.6% use firewood and 1.4% use other means of alternatives for lighting. For cooking, 88% of the population use firewood, 8% use charcoal, 2% use electricity, 1% use paraffin and 1% use other means such as crop residues, animal dung and those not mentioned above. This means there is a lot of work to be done to improve the energy status in Malawi. There is a need to introduce sustainable renewable energy solution mainly to the rural areas. 

Climate change which has resulted into many problems, has become one of the most spoken words both in media and other circles. It is a well-known fact that deforestation has contributed much to the climate change. Deforesting has come because majority of Malawians use wood fuel and charcoal for cooking. Although every year we hear of tree planting exercise, the number of trees which are cut obviously outnumber those being planted especially when we consider many planted trees are not taken care of and eventually they die.

Majority of Malawians think that there is no alternative solution for energy outage, deforestation and food insecurity. However, this is just lack of knowledge on the alternative source of these needs. Most farmers in rural areas have livestock and there are so many wastes out there that can be utilised to produce clean energy and in a long run mitigate the effects of climate change. ?biogas? is the solution to the problems that the people in rural areas are facing.

Biogas is a gas produced when bacteria break down organic material such as cow, pig, chicken dung, farm Waste, garbage and even sewage material in the absence of oxygen. The gas is a mixture of methane (60%) and carbon dioxide (40%). methane is what makes natural gas, which is colorless, odorless and burns in a clean way that does not pollute the environment.

The methane gas produced when organic material decomposes is captured and used in

Cooking, heating and even lighting in homes. If methane is not captured through biogas production, a lot of it ends up in the atmosphere where it causes great damage to the ozone layer, a shield that protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun.

Biogas is a cheap source of energy that also reduces the destruction of trees while producing high quality organic fertilizer that farmers can use to improve crop yields. It is a clean source of energy. 

The rural people from Malawi can benefit the following things if biogas use can fully adopted.

Protects the environment: The damage of the ozone layer is a major cause of global warming and climate change. Therefore, by using farmyard manure in biogas production, farmers help to protect the environment. A lot of farmyard manure produced in farms in Malawi often goes to waste. If the manure was used in the production of biogas, many homes in the country would have a good source of energy for cooking, which would in turn save a lot of trees that are cut down for firewood or charcoal.

Organic fertilizer: Biogas production has many benefits in organic farming. The main product of biogas production is slurry (organic manure), a high quality fertilizer that is higher in nutrients than compost or farmyard manure. It is also approved that this organic fertilizer does not cause soil degradation as chemical fertilizers do.The slurry (organic fertilizer or biogas manure) has great potential especially in organic farming systems where crop rotation is practiced and nutrients recycled to improve agricultural productivity. Research has shown that the slurry can increase crop yields in organic farms by up to 30 percent.

Clean energy: 88% of people in Malawi use firewood, charcoal or crop residue for cooking. This has caused a lot of deforestation and even desertification. The increase in population makes it unsustainable to continue with the use of wood fuel as a source of energy. Biogas is therefore the most suitable alternative source of energy that farmers in rural areas need to use to protect their environment and increase crop production.

Human health: The other reason why more people need to use biogas is the health benefits they stand to gain the firewood used in most rural households is responsible for air pollution and gases that damage the atmosphere. Indoor air pollution poses great danger to the health of women and young girls who perform most of the household chores such as cooking and even household sanitation. A family that has a 6 cubic meter biogas system can meet their daily cooking needs, use it for lighting and also for other purposes such as heating chicken brooders or incubators while saving money that they would have used to buy electricity charcoal or even firewood.

Writer: Clement kandodo, 18th Eco Generation Ambassador