To provide clean cooking fuel at village level while improving income opportunities and giving appropriate treatment to crop residues
Small plots of farmland (less than 2.5 acres (1 ha)) are the main livelihood asset for many rural families in India. Several constraints, such as a lack of irrigation and access to appropriate finance services, lead to low productivity levels and subsistence agriculture. At the same time, the combustion of solid biomass in inefficient stoves is still the main cooking option in rural India. The Asian Regional Energy Initiative of the IEI demonstrated one option to address these and other pressing issues by integrating two main measures: a) the establishment of banana plantations using micro-irrigation and other sustainable farming methods and b) the development of a village biogas distribution system, fed by biogas generated from the plantations' organic residues.
Four small farms near the village of Gundigere (in south-east Karnataka) were selected for establishing banana plantations of 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) each. Two floating drum biodigesters produce biogas mainly from banana stalks and non-productive stems from the plants. Through a network of pipelines, the biogas is distributed to 70 households and used for cooking purposes.
The project was undergoing an upscaling phase, which formed part of the original contract. More information can be found at the bottom of this page.
Technology, Operations and Maintenance

Financial Issues & Management
A cooperative was formed for taking over the operation and management of the established systems. The cooperative consists of one representative from each village family. "Share-cropping" agreements were created with the four owners of the land where the banana plantations were established. In return for the improvements made to their land, the landowners have to deposit 50% of their net revenue from selling the bananas into the cooperative's bank account for the first seven years of operation. The supply of biogas to each household is linked to a monthly flat tariff of about €2.86. Additional revenues may eventually result from the sale of the digester effluents as organic fertilizer. This combination of cash inflows enables the cooperative to keep the biogas supply tariff low. The monthly tariff covers operational and maintenance costs, while the share of banana sales revenue covers a large proportion of the capital costs.
Environmental Issues

Social Issues
Currently, four people are employed to operate and maintain the system. They have been trained in all the daily tasks required for the maintenance and continuous operation of the digesters and biogas supply, as well as in keeping records of operational parameters and monthly biogas supply payments. In addition to these permanent jobs, the operation of the plantation involves labour-intensive activities. This creates seasonal jobs for the local population, particularly at harvest time.
Results & Impact
During the first year of harvest (between January and August 2013) around 63 tonnes of bananas were sold. This generated approximately €9,500 for the cooperative from the "share-cropping" agreement.
By the end of December 2013 all 70 houses had been connected to the biogas distribution network. By the conclusion of the project implementation phase, the biogas was supplied for 9 hours per day: 4 hours each morning and evening and 1 hour in the afternoon. This already meets most cooking needs and the users have expressed their satisfaction. It is anticipated that the biogas supply period will be increased even further in future.
Replicability
The results achieved by the end of the project implementation phase indicate that the proposed concept can repay 100 % of the financial investment within seven years of operation (not taking loan interest into account). This means that the concept can offer a meaningful alternative for the rural population to improve their access to clean energy, while increasing food production, employment and earning opportunities for small farmers. The main conditions for replicating the project concept are:- Appropriate climate and soil for banana growing
- The availability of sufficient water resources
- Village structures with houses clustered near each other
- Some background of communal cooperation among villagers
Lessons learned
The project has demonstrated that a biogas system can be based solely on stem-waste from banana plantations, although the methane generation potential of these parts of the plant is much lower than that from fruit and peel. Some other noteworthy lessons are:- Appropriate timely distribution for planting new saplings is crucial to avoid strong fluctuations in the availability of substrate and income.
- Access to transportation for taking harvest to nearby markets at the right time is important in order to ensure the proper marketing of the produce.
- The demonstrated concept is labour-intensive and labour costs account for a large share of the operational costs. If wages were to rise substantially, the gas tariffs would have to be raised accordingly.
Upscaling Strategy
After the successful implementation of the first project phase, WISIONS continued to support IEI in its aim to scale up the demonstrated concept in a second phase. The main objectives of the upscaling activities from 2014 until 2016 included:- The installation of drip irrigation systems and biodigesters in other locations,
- The training of farmers and other users, and the assessment of financing options for the new technologies,
- The home delivery of gas for cooking purposes and, finally,
- The demonstration that these benefits are replicable.
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