(VEN) - The Vietnam Biogas Program, which aims at turning wastes into clean energy resources by using the biogas technology, has been awarded 20,000 British pounds at the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.
The Vietnam Biogas Program was one of the six award winners coming from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The program is implemented by the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with assistance of the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV). It is highly appreciated for the effectiveness and benefits it brings. Initiated in 2003, the Vietnam Biogas Program's objective is to build 168,000 biogas projects in rural Vietnam to the end of 2012 and contribute to improving the quality of life and the living environment of hundreds of thousands of rural people.
The founder and chair of the Ashden Awards, Sarah Butler Sloss, said that the Vietnam Biogas Program is praised for being a highly successful partnership which has enabled the distribution of biogas technology across Vietnam on a massive scale in a way that is both sustainable and has the potential for further expansion.
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The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy of the United Kingdom (UK) were founded in 2001 to encourage the utilization of sustainable energy resources to adapt to climate change, eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. Since then, more than 120 Ashden awards have been presented to representatives from the UK and developing countries.
The 2010 Ashden award winners include Vietnam, with its biogas program, and India, Brazil, Nicaragua, Kenya and West Sahara.
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The program is implemented with non-refundable aid from the Dutch government, budgetary capital of the Vietnamese Government, reciprocal capital of provinces and considerable contributions of households that take part in the program.
The implementation of the Vietnam Biogas Program consists of two stages. In the first stage (2003-2005), the program was carried out in 12 provinces and cities. In 2005-2006, the program was developed in an additional eight provinces to prepare for the second stage. In the second stage (2007-2011), the program will be implemented in 50 provinces/cities nationwide.
In 2006 the Vietnam Biogas Program won the first prize at the Global Energy Awards in Brussels (Belgium) for significant contributions to minimizing the global warming phenomenon.
At a ceremony that was held on July 12 to announce the award, Dr. Hoang Kim Giao, the head of the Animal Husbandry Department cum director of the Vietnam Biogas Program, said that by the end of 2009 more than 78,000 biogas projects have been built in 37 provinces of Vietnam, which benefit about 390,000 farmers. In 2010 an additional 29,000 biogas projects will be built under the Vietnam Biogas Program.
Farmers highly appreciate biogas projects because biogas allows them to manage muck in a simple way and reduce environmental pollution. The by-products of biogas can be used to fertilize plants as substitutes for fresh night-soil and some kinds of chemical fertilizer to increase the yield of plants. Presently, about 60 percent of Vietnamese farmers use by-products of biogas to fertilize plants. They also sell these by-products to increase their incomes.
Biogas projects help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels. In 2009, dioxide carbon (CO2) emissions were cut down by about 167,000 tonnes. The use of biogas allows farmers to save much time and fuel. Survey results show that women can save 1.75 hours a day and so they can take more care of their children and relax.
In the opinion of Dutch consultants, Vietnam has great potential to develop biogas, with more than two million pig-breeding households and a half of them can build biogas plants. The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and SNV will directly assist the construction of 107,000 biogas projects by the end of 2010 and are seeking ways to promote sustainable development of the program. The ministry and SNV are promoting medium and large-scaled biogas projects to serve electricity generation purposes.
Tom Derksen, the director of SNV in Vietnam, said that it costs about US$550 to build each family-sized biogas plant with capacity of 10cu.m. The construction cost is borne by families. After the plants are checked to ensure smooth operation, each family will receive a subsidy of US$67-70. Presently, most families in rural Vietnam use their savings or borrow money from friends or relatives to build biogas plants. Tom Derksen said, "Micro-finance institutions are not many in Vietnam and therefore SNV is actively coordinating with the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to seek loans from local development banks to help farmers build biogas plants."./.
By Nguyen Tien Dung
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