Lautoka-based commercial piggery farmer Subhash Chandra’s household expense on purchasing cooking gas has significantly been reduced after the Ministry of Agriculture provided him with a biogas digester worth around $4000.
Agriculture Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy, who was present during the handover, said a total of $250,000 has been allocated in the budget for biogas digesters to be provided for farmers in the country.
“There is quite a bit of waste that is being generated at farm level amongst the agriculture sector and we want to utilise this waste in a positive way to reduce farm cost,” he said.
Dr Reddy added that the biogas digester was also a way to reduce any detrimental effect of farm waste on the environment.
“The biogas digester will utilise farm waste to generate biogas for household use.
“Liquid fertiliser would also be released during the process and it can be collected and used on the farm for fertilising crops.”
He said over 20 farmers would benefit from this biogas digester initiative from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr Chandra said he has around 80 pigs at his farm, which generates a lot of pig waste.
“This is a very good initiative as now I can turn all the pig waste into biogas.”
