Creating Renewable Energy from Agricultural Wastes in Nigeria and Enabling Policy and Legal Framework

Abstract

Agricultural wastes will continue to rise as the demand for agricultural produce continues to increase to feed the growing world population. The processing of the agricultural produce and the management system of the wastes require energy, making it imperative to look for the energy source that will reduce the dire environmental consequences of fossil fuel. This study therefore aimed to estimate the renewable energy (electricity) that will be available from agricultural wastes in Nigeria, while the objectives are to review literate to identify the types and quantities of agricultural wastes, estimate the biogas potentials of the identified agricultural wastes, to determine the energy equivalent in firewood, for kerosine, and electricity generation from the biogas, as well as review the enabling policy and legal framework that empowers corporate bodies and individuals to generate electricity from biomass. This study relied on current available secondary data. Results from this study revealed that crop residue from maize, cassava, rice, sorghum represent 16.4%, 22.3%, 12.1% and 19.3% respectively; millet contributed (7.2%); cowpea (4.9%); others ranged from 0.1% (wheat) to 3.0% (yam). The estimated biogas potential in billion m3 year-1 revealed that cattle manure represents 47.9%, followed by crop residue (15.5%). Abattoir wastes represent 11.1% while goat manure represents 10.5%. Others are sheep (6.48%), poultry (6.28%) and pig (2.3%). This study further reported 578.4 million tons year-1 from cattle manure, 44.5 million tons year-1 from sheep manure, 72.1 million tons year-1 from goat manure. In terms of crop residues, this study reported a waste of about 6.2 billion tons year-1 in total. The value of biogas potential from this study revealed about 19.1 billion m3 from cattle manure, about 2.6 billion m3 from sheep and about 4.2 billion m3 from goat. In terms of potential electricity generation from these wastes, this study found about 18.7 billion kwh of electricity will be available for utilization. This study therefore recommends that Nigeria should consider the use of biomass as one of the ways to address her energy challenges, preserve her environment and become a self- reliant economy.