Operation of biodigesters; an opportunity without exploitation of resources

 By CARMEN BENÍTEZ

TRASLATED BY MAYA GREENBERG

Regenerating life is complicated in a world consumed by the system, but it is possible because that was the path we lost, the one we should never have stopped walking.

What we call waste is a stage of matter that has the capacity to regenerate and become a form of clean energy, without exploiting resources, without taking economic benefits from other people’s needs, without generating inequality. We learn all this by using biodigesters.

 The proposal

32 volcanoes is a non-profit association that promotes and accompanies collective processes to achieve greater community autonomy through holistic dynamics based on socio-cultural memory and the sacredness of livelihoods. It carries out actions aimed at restoring the collective memory of production systems, cultural identity and ancestral cosmovision for food sovereignty. Uses formal and informal education as a strategy to address issues related to agroecology, nutrition and health.

These policy actions are carried out from a territorial perspective, since food insecurity caused by the lack of access to arable land, climate change, natural disasters, crop and biodiversity losses and the use of agricultural technology packages limits access to nutritious food; causing high rates of malnutrition in the rural and indigenous population that translates into stunted growth in children under 5 years of age (8 out of 10 in the rural indigenous population), increased risk of maternal mortality, chronic cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes and obesity in adulthood, and premature death (UNICEF, 2023; Alvarado, 2017). All of this perpetuates the cycle of poverty in historically marginalized rural and indigenous populations.

This is why agroecology, as a scientific branch that respects, restores and co-creates more relevant food systems, is a key tool for the design of functional landscapes that respect planetary boundaries where the human community and wildlife can cohabit in harmony in one space.

To this end, it is essential to implement conservation and restoration strategies that contribute to reducing deforestation and the effects of climate change, protecting biodiversity and ensuring the provision of environmental services for the well-being of the communities of the western highlands.

These strategies are based on 1) revalorization of ancestral knowledge 2) conservation of life assets; water, soil, wildlife, etc. 3) biodiversification with ancestral polyculture systems and new designs, and 4) culturally and territorially appropriate technologies.

 32 volcanoes adopt a series of programs through non-formal – participatory – education, to establish previously known technologies, but with greater performance and capacity such as the Community Biodigester.

 As an organization, our overall objective is to contribute to food sovereignty and climate resilience of historically marginalized populations. In addition, we seek to promote the production of nutritious food, encourage healthy eating habits in populations at high risk of malnutrition and promote transparency. 

Producing gas that feeds our stoves

The biodigester is a renewable energy technology. These are a type of energy derived from natural sources that are replenished faster than they can be consumed and are constantly renewed, in addition to being generated by water, solar energy, wind, waste, among others.

 The main objective is to adopt transferable energy technologies such as the community biodigester for soil restoration, increase biodiversity and local nutritional quality of the vegetables planted by the families through two by-products processed from bovine fecal matter (chicken manure, pig manure, cow manure, shredded food waste, or from latrines).

This is made possible by the Bio.bio System, which is a prefabricated modular biodigester package that includes a complete set of accessories and biogas connections. Easy to install and use, our patented high-efficiency biodigesters transform organic waste into renewable biogas and a powerful organic fertilizer. Families can access biogas-fueled machinery.

By transforming animal waste into bioenergy and organic fertilizer, advanced biodigestion technology allows producers to generate their own thermal and mechanical energy, reducing living costs through biogas that allows cooking for up to 4 hours. This reduces the time and difficulty of transporting firewood or propane gas. 

Biol is also obtained from the anaerobic fermentation of manure in the biodigester and contains nutrients of high nutritional value such as minerals and micro flora that stimulate growth, development and production in plants, at low cost and with an average production time of 10 to 30 days.

In addition, studies already carried out by Regional Agricultural Research Consortiums (CRIA) in the western region of Guatemala confirm that it improves soil quality, can be used to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers and, in turn, by reducing the concentration of the same, can be used as a pesticide in doses recommended by the pilots carried out. By increasing not only the production of farmers through intensive soil restoration, but also by reducing the costs of families producing potatoes, onions, tomatoes, etc., it is possible to diversify without losing productivity.

In addition to its social and economic benefits in health and nutrition, this is an advanced technology to capture carbon and reduce the greenhouse effect through the digestion of fecal matter. Despite being a challenge in community social dynamics due to various factors such as time, skepticism, lack of space or animals, this solution is a model of regenerative community development, as we have aptly named “REDEMO” for its acronym in English.

Community biodigesters promote an evolution from decadent, extractive, industrialized food systems to a community-based, ecological, biomimetic, regenerative, disruptive political act that sustains life through collaboration, trust, and a paradigm shift from “waste to resource”.

With this project we seek to conserve areas of forest cover through the implementation of strategies for the prevention and control of forest fires, contributing to the permanence of forests, the protection of biodiversity and ensuring the provision of environmental services for local communities.

In addition, degraded areas are restored through the application of the Adaptation Based on Ecosystems -AbE- approach, promoting the recovery of forests and the improvement of biodiversity. With all this, climate-smart actions are implemented for the adaptation to climate change of the population’s livelihoods, targeting productive initiatives mainly to women and young people.

Likewise, community tourism activities are being consolidated through the diversification of services and products, which allow for the valuation and protection of natural and cultural attractions and the generation of economic income for the communities.

Carmen Benitez is a physician and surgeon, Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, Specialty: Genetics and Molecular Engineering. Postgraduate studies in Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. Founder of 32 volcanoes and integrity earth. She has worked as a researcher and professor at the San Carlos University of Guatemala and URL Ex-scholar of the official program of the government of the United Kingdom: Chevening program.