A press release from the Inter-American Development Bank reads:
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the IDB Group, has partnered with the Nordic Development Fund and two Dutch NGO’s, Hivos and SNV, to launch a $ 6.3 million initiative to develop a biogas market to provide renewable energy to small farmers in Nicaragua and will contribute to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Biogas is a renewable energy technology with proven results that allows millions of farmers and rural families throughout the world to turn agricultural waste into methane gas fuel in order to meet their energy needs. This project, the first to be approved under a comprehensive program aimed at small biogas farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean, will bring renewable energy to 6,000 farmers in Nicaragua.
"The initiative will adapt and transfer knowledge, practices and successful business models from biogas programs implemented in Asia, where biogas is widely used," said Zachary Levey, head of the MIF project team. "The program will create opportunities for economic and social progress in rural slums in Nicaragua through the development of a market for the renewable energy technology at relatively low cost."
Biogas technology has great potential to improve access to energy in rural Nicaragua. Biogas plants can generate electricity and heat, and produce high quality solid and liquid organic fertilizer, When used for cooking, biogas can help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution inside homes, compared with other traditional fuels like charcoal.
Source: Inter-American Development Bank
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