“In our village, where we have no access to piped gas nor enough money to purchase kerosene at such insane prices, this bio-gas plant being set up with USAID’s support, is a blessing in disguise for us, “ said Kamran Shah, a resident of one of the union councils of district Dera Ismail Khan, KPK.
3,850 people including 1,693 women, 1,733 men and 424 children, in 9 Union Councils of district Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, have no access to piped gas, and use kerosene oil, firewood and dung cakes for all purposes as a source of energy. These means of energy does not only pose environmental danger to the villages but is also expensive, time-consuming to light and its smoke and smell causes severe ailments to the villagers. Given these harsh conditions being faced by the inhabitants of Dera Ismail Khan, USAID has responded quickly by awarding $250,000 in grants to Foundation for Integrated Development Action (FIDA) under USAID’s Small Grants Program to set up 175 bio-gas plants in Dera Imaill Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa per household consisting of 22 individuals each over a period of 18 months.
The entire communities of the 9 Union Councils of Dera Islmail Khan are being thoroughly gripped during the construction of these bio-gas plants so as to make them aware of its correct usage and maintenance. “I thank God and feel extremely fortunate for my community as a whole to have USAID understand our village’s need for this plant and supporting us in its construction. It will now relieve me and my other friends of having to fetch firewood from the forests, thereby saving us time and not even worrying anymore about any hazardous chemicals being generated during cooking and lighting which might harm us or our children”, expressed Mehr Bibi, on behalf of all the women livening in the district.
“I am excited about this bio-gas plant being constructed in my village as it will provide us with surplus ‘digested slurry’ which I and my other friends can use as an organic fertilizer in the fields. This slurry not only has more concentrated nutrients than the conventional fertilizer but due to its additional humus, it also improves soil fertility, thereby increasing crop production by 20-30%”, Noor Bahar exclaimed.
The communities of district D.I.Khan are actively involved during the construction phase of the bio-gas plants and are attending biogas plant awareness and training workshops being currently held at “Biogas Technology Facilitation and Learning Center” set up by FIDA. FIDA has also engaged 200 school children of the district in its biogas awareness and environment management campaign through various study tours and tree planting campaigns.
