Milk chilling with biogas: How green TVET skills are improving lives

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

Milk production is a key resource for smallholder farmers in farming areas of Zambia. However, milk spoils quickly in warm condition. Since the cold chain for milk is not reaching remote dairy farmers, it results in limited supply of high-quality milk to dairy processors from a large portion of smallholders farmers in the country.

Stakeholders are stepping in to avert such problems and impart skills that enable farmers store their milk longer without getting spoiled. A Dutch NGO, SNV working with SimGas, Mueller and BoP Innovation Centre are training and supporting the development and market introduction of the first biogas-powered milk chiller for smallholder dairy farmers in Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. The training and supported target the farming groups that face limited access to market since most of the farmers live too far from the milk collection centres and are off the national power supply grids.

When delivering milk for the previous evening the following morning, farmers face the risk of milk rejection due to spoilage, which negatively impacts their income. SNV and its partners have thus designed a milk chilling system that uses biogas energy through absorption cooling, supporting farmers to make their milk production more sustainable, and to increase their sales. The biogas-powered milk chiller provides a solution to this problem by cooling 10 litres of milk from 35°C to 4°C within 3.5 hours. The cooling level is within the standard milk cooling standard. The milk chiller capacity is tailored to the availability of surplus evening milk at smallholder dairy farms with 2-10 cows. A 10 litre capacity chiller is sufficient to serve more than 80% of the target group. The milk chiller runs on biogas, produced from any type of domestic biogas system.

In Zambia, SNV has since trained 42 masons (men and women) in bio-digester construction, maintenance and marketing. In addition, 8 bio-digesters have been constructed in Copperbelt, Lusaka, Western, Central and Southern provinces for demonstration. These achievements have laid the groundwork for SNV to commence developing a market for biogas in the country and to mark this decision. The NGO held field day at Lusunga farm in Chilanga district to demonstrate the possibilities of bio-digesters and biogas to government officials, cooperating partners, representatives from financial institutions and farmers in the area.

Bio-digester plants convert animal manure into combustible methane gas known as biogas. SNV is a leader in Biogas programming and has installed over 500,000 digesters across the world – primarily in Africa and Asia. Since January 2013, SNV Zambia has been working as part of a multi-country, public-private partnership to further the use of Biogas for Milk Chilling together with world leaders in the development of chillers. Prototype milk chillers developed by the NGO and its partners (SimGas and Mueller BV) has been since launched in Zambia. The technology supports off-grid, smallholder dairy farmers who need to chill their milk overnight before delivering to the milk collection centres, and provides additional benefits in bio-slurry – an organic fertilizer that improves crop and fodder production, and also energy for lighting and cooking on-farm.

SNV has also i) started working with financial institutions to support the possibility of developing financial products that can support farmers to procure bio-digesters and, ultimately, milk chillers; ii) partnered with the Dairy Association of Zambia and other players in the industry to promote the technology and ensure it is of the highest standards; iii) called upon cooperating partners to consider supporting the development of the biogas sector which will provide poor rural farmers with much needed energy that will enhance their productivity levels.

The possibilities of biogas are endless. Biogas cannot only provide energy for milk chilling, but for piglet warming, production of heat for improved rearing of chicks, energy for hot water to improve milk collection and safety by sterilising milk collection and storing equipment, as well as the bio slurry that enhances agricultural production without further damaging and degrading the environment. About 40 dairy farmers are expected to sign contracts with masons to construct digesters and more are expected to visit the demo sites to witness the technology in action. The foundation for the biogas market has been set and can only grow with a dedicated and supportive multi-actor approach.

How will it improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers by reducing food waste and spoilage?

This is the question many can put forward. Drivers of open innovation platforms that encourage solving community challenges for social good contend that there abundant ideas to the question. One of the responses resulted into designing of the Biogas-Powered Milk Chiller designed being used in Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania. The Biogas Milk Chiller provides off-grid biogas-powered milk cooling on-farm, allowing smallholder dairy farmers without access to electricity to store and sell the highest possible quality of raw milk and increase their income. This bottom-up approach is new to the dairy industry; instead of focusing on processors who are on the top of the cold chain, the biogas-milk-chiller approach focuses on filling the gap at the bottom (on dairy farms) where the problem originates.

Biogas plants (biodigesters) convert animal manure, human excrement and other organic materials into combustible methane gas, known as biogas. A household family with just three heads of cattle or seven pigs can generate sufficient gas to meet their basic domestic and/or productive energy needs. This is clean cooking, powering and/or basic lighting energy that is resonate with green economy values.

In addition, the residue of the process (bio-slurry) can be used as a potent organic fertilizer to enhance agricultural productivity and sustain soil fertility. The market potential for household digesters fed by animal manure is estimated at 155 million. Bio-digesters can also be used by institutions, businesses and communities. Niche markets for medium-scale digesters are emerging in middle-income countries, also addressing environmental pollution.

Today one of the most important goals is to transform existing economies to green economies that seek the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). A green economy refers to an economy that result in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. Another important feature of green economy is the emphasis on the “regeneration-of individuals, communities and ecosystems”. Green economy embraces green design, green buildings, materials and construction products, waste management, waste-to-energy are part of almost any sector directly or indirectly including woodworking and furniture industry.

It is evident that the green economy can only be achieved in a society where education and innovation are accepted as the “prime movers of sustainable growth in green economies, where innovation, green skills and the capacity to cope with change will be significant drivers of each economic sector”. Transition to green economies then requires re-configuration/re-structuring the formal and non-formal education in which not only themes related with sustainability but also critical thinking should be taught.

In this context well-trained professionals who can cope with this paradigmatic change in the economy and society will be the backbones in this transformation. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) should also be revised not only to provide skills needed for an occupation to be green: green skills but also skills necessary to adapt professionals to changes and new technologies in order to sustain themselves. Greening TVET is described as “prepares learners for fields of work and business such as construction, waste management and agriculture, many of which consume enormous amounts of energy, raw materials and water. Green TVET helps develop skilled workers who have knowledge of (and commitment to) sustainable development, as well as the requisite technical knowledge. Greening TVET is crucial for making a transition from energy and emissions-intensive economies to cleaner and greener production and service patterns”.

TVET goes beyond promoting skills development for employability. It empowers young people and adults to develop skills for work and life. Green TVET therefore means more than developing technical skills for green employment (such as eco-tourism, renewable energy and recycling). It also means developing ‘soft’ green skills such as enhancing problem-solving skills in everyday situations (life skills education), education for sustainable consumption and lifestyles, and entrepreneurial learning. Green TVET ensures that all workers are able to play appropriate roles, both in the workplace and the broader community, by contributing to environmental, economic and social sustainability. The roadmap for greening TVET necessitates the inclusion of subjects related with sustainability and thus revision of the existing curricula promoting the use of cleaner energies, waste management, green technologies, developing skills to cope with new technologies, promoting entrepreneurship and innovative way of thinking, matching theory and practice through work based learning/apprenticeship, emphasizing the needs of the sector.

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http://www.snv.org/country/zambia