​Biogas Technology Practices and Opportunities in Selected Districts of Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Rural households in Ethiopia are dependent on biomass for their energy needs and this exacerbates deforestation. Therefore, building small-scale biogas is one of the abating means of these challenges. The objective of this study was to assess the practices and opportunities of small-scale biogas technology in selected Districts’ Hadiya zone, southern Ethiopia. Methods: To achieve this objective, fifty-six informants were selected from the seven districts of Hadiya Zone, semi-structured questionnaires and field observations were used as the instruments to collect the data. Result: This survey revealed that small-scale biogas technology in the study area is recent and it needs certain requirements for its construction and due to the stopped feeding, most of the biogas plants were non-functional. Despite this, the presence of many cattle and optimum climate are among the essential opportunities to expand biogas distribution in the study area. Therefore, farmers and the concerned stakeholders should use the available opportunity to maximize the distribution of biogas technology in the study area.