Segemik self-help group Kenya. [photo/farmafrica.org/]
A little-known village in Kuresoi North constituency within Nakuru county has taken a leading role in environmental conservation through biogas production.
Segemik Self-Help Group got into the initiative in 2013 with the financial support from the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project Phase II (LVEMP II-Kenya) under the Community Driven Development (CDD) initiative.
After being registered as a community-based organization in 2012 with a membership of 20 comprising 11 men and nine women the group settled on environmental conservation with the aim of improving community livelihood.
David Kilel, the group’s treasurer, says with about Sh1.35 million, LVEMP II first fund disbursement, the group constructed biogas digesters, zero-grazing units and bought six dairy cows. Segemik produces biogas from recycling cow dung, hence saving the environment from the threats of degradation through cutting down trees.
“The biogas project is a big boost to the environmental conservation. We no longer have to cut down trees for firewood or charcoal as was in the past,” says Kilel. The process goes through three different stages, which comprise the intake, biogas digestion (production) and consumption stages. The production starts with the fermentation of cow dung, which is put into the intake tank for further processing.
This is followed by passage of the organic materials; in this case cow dung through the intake tank into the biogas digester a large tank filled with bacteria that eats (digests) organic waste and produces a flammable gas.
At the end of the process, Segemik group produces renewable methane gas, which its members use as an alternative energy source at home. Kilel says since its inception the project has contributed to a significant transformation in the community in terms of environmental conservation and agricultural production.
Besides helping conserve the environment, the initiative also has economic benefits to the group members. Additionally, they generate organic manure from the by-products, which they use in their farms to improve soil fertility.
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