You might have heard of people using biogas for cooking purposes. But a commercial farmer in Tsirang has taken the use of biogas a step further. San Man Subba is the farmer’s name and he has been using biogas to maintain room temperature on his 4,000-bird poultry farm. Our Tsirang reporter, Pema Tshewang, visited San Man Subba’s farm in Tsirang Toed Gewog.
Thirty-eight-year-old San Man Subba’s poultry farm has 4,000 layer birds, broilers and chicks.
Maintaining a huge farm like this is not energy efficient and San Man Subba ends up paying a hefty sum in electricity bills.
But in June of last year, San Man had enough of electricity bills and switched to biogas to maintain room temperature in his poultry farm.
Making the best use of manure from his piggery and dairy farms, San Man Subba constructed a mega biogas plant. The plant is almost as deep as an Olympic swimming pool, which can easily sustain 7,000 birds.
“Last year, during one of the winter months I had to pay around Nu 60,000 in electricity bill. So, I had to think about an alternate way to warm up my poultry farm and reduce expenditure. So, in this way, I can use the amount saved for other purposes,” said San Man.
However, owing to the size of his farm and the higher temperature requirement for chicks, he had to rely on electricity this winter.
Maintaining room temperature in a poultry farm is crucial for the development of chicks and to prevent them from dying.
“The required room temperature for chicks is around 32 degree Celsius but it was quite difficult to maintain the required temperature with biogas heating, especially during the peak winter season. So, I had to depend a little bit on electricity. But for adult birds, biogas heating is enough, since they require only around 18-20 degree Celsius,” said San Man Subba.
San Man and his family depend heavily on biogas used to prepare meals and to cook cow fodder.
The use of biogas saves his family about Nu 40,000 every month. San Man now plans to use biogas to heat his piggery farm in the coming months.
Another arrow in San Man’s biogas quiver is to refill LPG cylinders from his plant.
“If the government could support me in procuring a compressor machine, I have the plan to expand the existing biogas plant. This is because the plant has the potential to refill liquefied petroleum gas cylinders. This could at least help residents of Tsirang to refill LPG cylinders.”
Initiatives like San Man Subba’s will go a long way in making Bhutan an energy-efficient country, while giving hard-working farmers like him a decent income.
