The IFAD paper provides an overview of best practices in interventions that integrate livestock and renewable energy, particularly biodigesters.
The paper underscores that such interventions contribute to climate change mitigation by stemming methane emissions from livestock manure and using it as an energy source, as an alternative to wood/charcoal or fossil fuel.
13 October 2012: The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has released a paper that provides a review of the role of livestock as a potential renewable energy source to improve energy access in rural areas. The paper focuses on opportunities to harness biogas from livestock wastes and residues, including tools and reviews on the best available information on biogas digesters.
The paper underscores that such interventions contribute to climate change mitigation by stemming methane emissions from livestock manure and using it as an energy source, as an alternative to wood/charcoal or fossil fuel. It explores the climate change scenario, considers viable applications of renewable energy technologies addressed for small-scale farmers and livestock keepers at different levels of the value chain, and examines how this can provide multifunctional benefits for households, community and the environment.
The paper is part of a toolkit for development practitioners to support the design of livestock development interventions. It provides recommendations for project design and actions to encourage use of renewable energy technologies, through approaches that identify benefits from combining policy measures and technologies for small-scale farmers. [Publication: Livestock Thematic Papers: Tools for Project Design]