Forget pricey cooking gas, here comes biogas of a kind

Susan Nunda says the plant is a source of income while keeping their environment clean. [File, Standard]

Ann Ogola, a resident of the populous Nyalenda slums in Kisumu County has been spending as little as Sh20 to prepare meals in a communal biogas plant where human and animal waste is turned into cheap, renewable energy.

The initiative by a group of women dubbed ‘Smart Women’ has come in handy on the back of escalating cost of firewood, charcoal and pricey cooking gas which is also in short supply. The high cost of food and essential household goods has not made life any easier in the slums, but the centrally located biogas plant has been an ideal ‘communal kitchen’ for the 60 women.