Family counts benefits from biogas and bioslurry
Sereba shows fodder for his cows that he grows with the aid of bioslurry as a fertiliser. Photo by Freddie Kakembo
You do not need very many cows to produce organic fertiliser for your gardens as John Sereba, 80, is doing in Natete, Rubaga Division, Kampala. He uses bioslurry to fertilise his crops and biogas for cooking as well as lighting.
“My cow gave me twin calves. This means more cow dung for the digester, which has a 3,200-litre capacity,” he says. “And the gasholder capacity is 3,000 litres. In the beginning, I filled it with 1,500kg of cow dung and 1,500 litres of water, which were mixed together. Since then, I just add 40kg of cow dung and 40 litres of water and stir every morning and evening.”
This way, besides getting biogas for domestic use, there is also bioslurry everyday. “We used to spend more than Shs200,000 per month on firewood, charcoal and electricity which is now saved,” says Sereba.
Savings
“Technically, the bioslurry flows out of the digester and gets stored in a container giving me full control of how, when and where to use it on my farm.”
Generally, the Sereba family’s fortunes have consequently changed for the better as their dependence on either charcoal or electricity has dropped.
His wife, Lucy, remarks: “We no longer use firewood in the kitchen. Teary eyes and coughing kitchen is now history. We save what we would have spent on charcoal or firewood.”
She adds, “When we use bioslurry, we get faster germination, more yields per crop, better colour of the fruits and vegetables. This is in addition to improving the crops resistance to diseases.”
The other benefit from bioslurry is enabling increased food value in the fodder grown for the animals. This happens because, the fodder helps the production of vitamins B12 and amino acid which are good for the animal growth. The more food eaten means better nourishment of the animal. Thus boosting the availability of nutrients in the soil increases the quality and quantity of the crops grown.
