Domestic biogas provides a sustainable way for individual households with livestock to reduce their dependence on firewood and expensive fossil fuels. A biogas digester converts the dung into biogas that can be used for cooking and lighting. And the bioslurry that is produced by this process is an excellent organic fertiliser that can be used to improve soils and crop yields. 

Domestic biogas benefits not only households, but also society at large. People - especially women and children - save time and money by no longer having to collect firewood or purchase fuel for cooking or chemical fertilisers for farming. Broader advantages include reduced deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and improved public health as indoor air pollution - a major cause of illness and premature deaths - is reduced.

Farmers using bioslurry on their farm also benefit from improved soils. Production is diversified and more resilient to the impact of climate change. They also sequester carbon in the soil, another contribution to mitigate climate change. This project addresses simultaneously mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The Indonesia Domestic Biogas Gold Standard Programme was started in 2009 and aims to install 20,000 small-size biodigesters at rural households throughout Indonesia before the end of 2016. At least 80% of the households with a biodigester will use bioslurry on farm plots.

Participation in the programme is entirely voluntary. The biodigester technology is affordable as the programme offers a subsidy, hereby allowing poor households to invest in a personal biodigester either from personal savings or through the offering of a loan. The users are trained on how to use and maintain the biodigester once installed, which is safe and straight forward. The operation of the technology mainly includes daily feeding of the installation with a mixture of manure and water.

The users also receive training on how to use the bioslurry. The Gold Standard Agriculture programme aims to improve further the use of bioslurry and farm practices so that soils and crop production are improved further. People, particularly women, tend to grow more vegetables, improve diets and sell more products in the local markets. 

• Bioslurry has important benefits. These include:
• replace expensive chemical fertilisers, reducing production cost of small farmers;
• improve soil fertility, increase productivity and reduce vulnerability to droughts and climate hazards;
• facilitate growing vegetables nearby the house, improving diets (food nutrition)
• Biogas has multiple benefits. These include:
• replace expensive fossil fuels such as kerosene and LPG, freeing up household finances;
• replace firewood, freeing up time spent to collect the wood and mitigating impact on deforestation;
• reduce household air pollution, one of the major causes of premature deaths in Asia;
• Indonesia Domestic Biogas Programme provides training and creates job opportunities in for local people;
• Indonesia Domestic Biogas Programme delivers a high quality product with a product guarantee, after sales services and also offers subsidy money and loans to facilitate the investment by the household.

• A supreme fertilizer & helps reduce mineral fertilizer – it can help to transition to organic agriculture
• Particularly effective if applied as compost
• Carbon sequestration potential of several tons C02e / ha / year  (between 2 and 5 tons, depending on the method of application)