4.2. Location: Orissa/Central India

The biogas plant stands somewhere on the farm, often near to the kitchen. The cattle are tethered in the open air. Many farmers have their own wells, or the village well is in the near vicinity. The women collect the dung with their hands from the ground and dilute it with water mixing the substrate - also with their bare hands. This method is only possible because cow dung is seen as being "clean". There is a long tradition of plastering the floor in the house and the terrace with cow dung every week. Dried cow dung is common as fuel. A biogas plant is very welcome as the dung can be used as a source of energy and also provides nutrients for the plants, which is not possible when the dung is burned. Collecting the dung daily and touching it with bare hands is the tradition in farm households. Where societies are not Hindu, this methods encounters great prejudice. The cattle are taken to the river to drink. This means they only leave small quantities of urine on the farm. In the summer months it is so hot and so dry that the slurry cannot be channelled to the fields in open ditches as it immediately dries up. The slurry flows into a depression where it is covered from time to time with agricultural or kitchen waste. During the preparation for seeding, the "compost" is transported to the fields by ox and cart. Biogas dissemination is possible here since the operation of a plant can be smoothly integrated into previous working procedures. In this region, plant dissemination is carried out mainly by one highly professionalised non-governmental organisation which employs approx. 500 permanent members of staff. There are approx. 2,000 trained masons available for construction at given points. Thanks to the integration of biogas technology in the administrative structures which considerably facilitates the acquisition of customers and the handling of finance matters, to the state subsidy programme and to the financial involvement of foreign donors who cover the costs of overheads, the organisation today disseminates approx. 8,000 plants annually.