Poultry waste now provides the gas that cooks meals

Joyce Karani ventured into poultry farming in 2019, primarily to generate income through the production of meat and eggs. She began with 200 chicks, but over time, she expanded her flock to 3000 chickens.

As the number of birds increased, so did the amount of waste they produced.

After cleaning the poultry house, Joyce would dispose of the waste, which comprises mainly of bedding material, feathers, manure, and leftover feed, by spreading it on her farm. She believed it served as good fertilizer for her crops, among them maize, vegetables, sweet potatoes, and bananas.

Unbeknown to her, the chicken waste she was applying to her farm was contributing to the formation of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions, a major driver of climate change.

Later, Joyce learned that the poultry waste from her farm is no longer just waste, but a beneficial resource that has since reduced the cost of cooking in her house.

Today, instead of discarding it on the farm, Joyce processes the poultry waste to produce biogas, which she now uses for cooking. This innovative approach has not only helped reduce environmental pollution and GHG emissions but also cut down her household energy costs.

“The poultry waste that could only be used on the farm as manure is what is providing me with a clean, reliable energy source. I no longer use firewood and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which is also costly,” she begins during the interview at her home located in  Kajiunduthi village, Muthambi Ward in Tharaka Nithi County. 

The shift

Joyce recalls the day a youthful woman named Sophia Karwitha, a biodigester distribution agent from Sistema Biogas, visited her village and began training the community on good agricultural practices, smart farming techniques, and environmental conservation.

She emphasised the use of clean energy solutions such as biogas generated from livestock waste, including cattle, poultry, and pigs.

Sophia is one of hundreds of young people who have benefited from Heifer International’s Youth and Peer Empowerment Programmes.

Through these initiatives, Heifer trains and equips youth with skills and knowledge to promote good agricultural practices in their communities. The program also creates opportunities for young innovators to develop and present their ideas, with access to grants that help incubate their innovations.

After attending several village training sessions, Joyce realized that her family could greatly benefit from installing a biogas system.

Joyce explains, “I had heard of biogas from cow dung, but not from chicken waste. So, when l learned that even chicken could produce biogas, and l had plenty of about 3000 chickens, l decided to go ahead and install the system.”

Initially, Joyce used to collect firewood from nearby bushes and, at times, cut her trees or buy from local firewood traders. She also spent a significant amount of money on charcoal and commercial gas, which she shared was costly.

Her family uses a 13kg LPG cylinder that lasted about one and two months. Refilling the cylinder cost her between Sh2500 and Sh3000. So, when Joyce learned that once installed, a biogas system would incur no recurring costs aside from feeding it with chicken waste, she seized the opportunity. Joyce paid Sh180,000 for the complete system, including labour and installation.

“In chicken biogas production, we first introduced bacteria using the cow during the initial feeding. After allowing it to decompose for three weeks and begin producing biogas, we then introduced chicken waste into the system,” Sophia explains.

Since installation over five years ago, Joyce has been cooking using biogas generated from the chicken waste through anaerobic digestion. She feeds the digester with two wheelbarrows of waste every three days.

She confides that the output is more than sufficient for her family’s cooking needs and has significantly reduced their household energy expenses.

Currently, Joyce reveals that the biogas is used only for cooking, but they have plans to expand its use. She hopes to convert into other forms of energy for activities such as lighting the home, heating for poultry brooding and powering a chaff-cutter used to chop and process livestock feed.

“After witnessing how it cooks, I am optimistic about the full potential of biogas in transforming my household and other farm operations,” she says. Joyce currently keeps 600 chickens, while her biogas system only requires waste from just 200 birds to function efficiently.

Joyce collects chicken waste and feeds it into the biodigester, where it decomposes through an anaerobic process. As the organic material breaks down, biogas is naturally produced and captured inside the system. This gas is then transferred to an air bladder, where it is stored for later use as clean, renewable energy.

Processing livestock waste into clean energy, such as biogas, helps reduce the excessive accumulation of waste in the environment, thereby preventing nitrogen pollution and runoff into nearby water resources.

Sophia warns that poultry waste should not be applied directly to the farms due to high concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which can accumulate in the soil and cause imbalances.

The biogas production also plays a key role in mitigating climate change by capturing methane, a greenhouse gas, that would otherwise escape from landfills or manure lagoons.

By converting methane into carbon dioxide during combustion, the system reduces greenhouse gas emissions, as carbon dioxide is up to 34 times less harmful than methane in terms of global warming potential.

Joyce uses biofertilizers, a by-product of the biogas process, to grow her organic vegetables, as well as other crops such as maize, sweet potatoes, beans and bananas.

Her fear of the rising incidence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and heart conditions, often linked to the use of agrochemicals, made her realize the critical importance of food quality and safety.

She shares, “The only way to avoid unsafe foods cause by chemicals, is to grow your own and use biofertilizers. That’s what l do nowadays.”