Bhoumadeepam aims to reduce methane gas emission in Kerala

Twenty dairy farmers to be given ₹24,000 each to set up bio-gas plants at Cheruvannur

The Animal Husbandry department is encouraging dairy farmers to set up bio-gas plants in a bid to reduce methane gas emission, a major contributor to climate change.

A scheme titled Bhoumadeepam was recently launched in Cheruvannur grama panchayat in Kozhikode. It will help farmers use methane as cooking gas.

“Dairy cattle like cows, buffaloes, and farm animals contribute to methane, a major green house gas,” says the Kerala State Action Plan on Climate Change, brought out by the State government in 2014. The plan envisaged encouraging bio-gas plants to utilise the methane gas produced for energy resource as Methane Farming Project.

Under the scheme, ₹5 lakh is allocated to one grama panchayat in each district as a model panchayat. Cheuruvannur was chosen for the 2021-22 financial year. According to department sources, 20 dairy farmers will be given ₹24,000 each to set up bio-gas plants. They will get technical assistance from the Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT). The plant will cost ₹48,000. The subsidy amount will be credited to farmers’ bank accounts once the plants are set up. As many as 40 kg of cow dung will be used a day to produce cooking gas. The aim is to produce cooking gas equivalent to that is contained in 12 LPG cylinders a year.

“If we calculate the cost of one LPG cylinder as ₹1,000, the farmer is thus able to get an economic benefit of ₹12,000 a year. They will also be able to make use of the scurry as bio-fertilizer.

One of the advantages of the project is that it encourages the use of methane, a green house gas causing climate change, for cooking,” the sources said.