This collaborative effort will promote biogas plants and create a value chain that will improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers
NDDB Mrida, a wholly owned subsidiary company of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) signed an agreement with Sistema.bio, India’s leading biogas company, to work with smallholder dairy farmers, provide sustainable solutions in waste-to-energy, and open avenues of generating additional income for farmers. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB & NDDB Mrida and Piyush Sohani, MD, Sistema.bio India graced the occasion.
The primary objective of this partnership is to improve the socioeconomic stature of dairy farmers, particularly smallholder women dairy farmers, through the usage of biogas plants. Sistema bio through carbon financing will provide affordable modern flexi biogas plants to dairy farmers in NDDB’s rural network.
The plan is to reach out to more than 25,000 farmers with biogas plants this year, with a vision to serve 3,00,000 dairy farms in the coming 2-3 years. NDDB Mrida will also promote the usage of bio-slurry produced directly or as an organic fertilizer through the sale of slurry-based products for agriculture in an enterprise mode.
NDDB Mrida and Sistema bio will jointly work with dairy cooperatives, dairy federations, milk producer organisations and other farmer-centric institutions to install modern flexi biogas plants for small and medium dairy farmers of India and disseminate knowledge about the same and about manure management and bio-slurry applications as well.
This collaborative effort will promote biogas plants and create a value chain that will improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers and at the same time contribute towards the Swachh Bharat Mission and encourage the generation and use of green energy. NDDB has first-hand experience working with Sistema Bio while developing the Zakariyapura Manure Management Model, which is now part of the Gobardhan Scheme in Gujarat.
This partnership perfectly synergises the capabilities and focus of both organisations. This initiative will successfully help promote organic manure leading to a reduction in the usage of chemical fertilizers as well as endorse clean cooking energy at the rural household level. At present, 40,000 farmers use biodigesters developed by Sistema bio to create value from waste.
