Publications

Workshop report of the regional inception workshop 'learning by doing: capacity development approaches at the local level, which took place on 26-27 November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, and was organised by UNDP and SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation), with support from the UNDP Asia Regional Governance Programme (ARGP). The primary workshop objectives were 1) to share lessons learned on capacity development strategies and development efforts aimed at contributing to the MDGs at the sub-national/local level; and 2) identify critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to support sub-national/local capacities for reaching the MDGs.

Over the past two decades Vietnam has achieved remarkable advances in its economic development, progressing from least developed country status to lower middle income, thus becoming one of Southeast Asia’s most rapidly industrializing countries. Vietnam’s geographical position, bordering with China, Laos and Cambodia on the West and the South China Sea on the East, has enabled larger trade of goods throughout the region. However, these results at the national level conceal significant geographical disparities and inequalities between the rural and urban inhabitants. Data indicates that poor people’s access to quality services in the areas of health, water, sanitation and education is still a concern.

This research proposed to analyze the impact of the Biogas Division Project in Vietnam, created in 2003 in collaboration with MARD and SNV. The study aimed at evaluating quantitative figures of biogas masons activity levels. Construction levels indicated that masons are extremely busy despite the seasonal effects of the job. Digester demand is on the high rise. 97% of masons said that they would continue construction levels if the program ceased from existing, confirming and ensuring the self-sufficiency of the biogas sector, something which SNV and BPD aimed to establish. Conclusively, BPD is recommended to upscale and sub-group mason business training programs to better adhere with their mason profiles. Improving training and educational programs will allow for the possibility of concrete SME development within a economically sound Biogas sector.

The seventh meeting of the experts’ network was organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the period April 8-9, 2009. This meeting of experts followed the internal Biogas/Renewable Energy Team Meeting of SNV Asia Region.

The overall objective of the meeting of the network of experts was to share the lessons learned, and to discuss possibilities for improvement on the training activities related to domestic biogas programmes. The discussion focussed particularly on the weaknesses/problems or evident successes of the training activities conducted so far by the different biogas programmes, and the possible solutions to overcome the problems, as well as prospects to share the success. The key
question was: how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of all biogas and bio-manure related training activities?

This external network meeting on domestic biogas consisted of a field visit to provincial biogas office and biogas households in Ha Tay Province near Hanoi (8th April), and a working meeting on biogas training activities (9th April 2009). An overview and evaluation of training activities under biogas programmes in China, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh was given. Further, there were group discussions, presentations and plenary discussions held.

First meeting of experts on domestic biogas promotion: a brief report of activities and outcome of discussions (2006).

The ABP visualizes the establishment and operation of a regional network of experts working in the field of biogas technology. The first meeting of the network of 16 experts was organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, This brief report summarises the purpose, schedule, country presentations and outcome of discussions of the meeting.

The objective was to enhance knowledge on promotion of domestic biogas plants through presentations and experts discussion. The key question for this meeting was: How to create a market for domestic biogas plants?

Activities of the meeting:
• Day 1: Overview of the Phase-I and the proposed Phase-II of the Vietnam biogas programme, field visit to Hai Duong Province, visit of under-construction biogas plant and two
biogas plants under full operation, a cultural excursion and in general observation and discussion.
• Day 2: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Biogas Project Division of MARD, Vietnam, Mr. Wim van Nes, Mr. Son, Mr.Reindert Augustijn, Sr. Renewable Energy/Biogas Advisor from SNV Vietnam, Mr. Hu Qichun from the Biogas Institute, Chengdu, Mr. C.V. Krishna from CREAT, India, Mr. Saroj Rai, Executive Director of BSP-Nepal, Mr. Auke Koopmans, Sr. Renewable Energy Advisor from SNV Laos, Mr. Douangchanh Sirivonga from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Laos, Mr. Jan Lam, Sr. Biogas Advisor from SNV Cambodia, Mr. Md. Zahidul Islam, Investment Officer from IDCOL, and Mr. Guy Dekelver, Biogas/NRM Advisor from SNV Rwanda, all presented a paper.

The outcome revealed that the stage of development of biogas technology differs significantly among the participating countries.

“Support Project to the Biogas Program for the Livestock Husbandry Sector in Vietnam” is a cooperation between the government of Vietnam and the government of the Netherlands. The project aims at developing a commercially viable and market oriented biogas industry and to contribute to avoiding the use of fossil fuels and biomass resource depletion. Until April 2010, 80,000 biogas plants have been installed. With the development of the project, the loan demand of households to build a biogas plant is increasing.

This report presents the findings on two main questions (i) What are the households’ demands for loans for construction of biogas works in 2010 and 2011; and (ii) What are the financial institutions’ capacities for providing loans for constructions of biogas works. The methodologies used are desk study, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The report consists of 3 parts. Part I gives an overview of the study with a background, objectives, methodology and implementation process. Part II elaborates on the results of the survey with information of the households interviewed, findings and analyses on the understanding of biogas, the household’s demands for loans to construct a plant, and the capacity of financial institutions to provide loans. Part III consists of conclusions and recommendations.

This document reviews the existing DGIS/DMW/KM programme implemented under the PPP-JI called “Support Project to the Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector in some Provinces of Vietnam”. The intention of this mission is to get acquainted with the progress of the programme towards its objectives, to compare it with the experience in Nepal, and to learn more about the possibilities for a future biogas regional programme. The report is a result of a three-day mission in Vietnam, during which the consultant assigned conducted meetings with several people and spent most of the time on field visits.

The document provides a description of the programme with the project objectives, main actors and responsibilities. The findings are organised according to the project activities and their relation to the project objectives. The recommendations designed are presented per project activity. The project activities elaborated on are: promotion and marketing activities, provision of subsidy, subsidy level, credit schemes, quality control mechanisms, R&D and standardisation, training activities, extension activities, and institutional support. Other findings include: suppressed demand, GHG reduction and possible credits, commercially viable and market oriented, and contribution of the Provinces. The report concludes with a comparison of the technology and the institutional and market approach in Nepal.

Biogas Project Division has conducted this research, which aims at assessing actual effect of available products potentially influence methane production and to give advice of how to utilise the products best to users. 

There are biogas digesters that do not produce gas or gas production is little or it takes long time for gas production with low gas quality. This happens more frequently in winter and in areas with low temperature. An explanation from scientific point of view is that fermentation and methane production are affected by different elements like anaerobic environment, temperature, pH degree, input contents (ratio of C/N, powder substance), toxics and retention time. The change of one or all of these factors somehow will make a significant impact on fermentation and methane production of biogas digester. On the other hand the incorrect operation of households also influences the process of gas production. 

Being faced with such situation, scientists, organisations and individual have studied and promoted products that can strengthen fermentation for organic digestion and methane production in biogas digester. All these products are promoted and advertised with highest efficiency in facilitating methane production. Nevertheless, no comprehensive evaluation of these products was conducted so that users can rely on and further promote them. 

The research products: Penac G, Microphot, and Bicat were used for testing the effect on digestion, fermentation and methane generation. Specific tests were aims at CH4, H2S, CO2, pH, COD, BOD5 and SS. Research and sampling methods are explained and a brief conclusion is provided.

The SNV Domestic Biogas Newsletter provides interesting short articles on SNV-supported countries worldwide. The seventh issue (September 2012) presents:

• Production rate of biogas plants increased
• International workshop on domestic biogas in Asia
• SNV and FAO release Myanmar biogas feasibility study
• Rwanda: charging your phone with cow dung
• ISO certificate for Bangladesh biogas
• Renewed online Renewable Energy library launched
• Knowledge networking of domestic biogas in Asia
• Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme newsletter released
• The Arusha Tale
• Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector in Vietnam
• Biodigester Programme wins first Energy for Life Award
• Innovative microcredits for Cambodian biogas users

This study presents the set-up and progress of the Support Project to the Biogas Programme (BP-I) for the Agricultural Sector in some Provinces in Vietnam. Despite the favourable biogas conditions in Vietnam and the numerous biogas programmes launched through the years, success in large scale dissemination has not been achieved which is why BP-I has been established with the objective of further developing the commercial and structural deployment of biogas.

The Department of Livestock Production (DLP) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV-Vietnam) were chosen as implementation partners. Although the project proved to be successful in some provinces at its early stages, many more provinces were not granted participation in the project.

BP-I operated through a comprehensive programme establishment to improve results of the early stages. Activities included marketing/promotion, investment subsidy, quality control, etc., where the specific goals and achievements of each activity are comprehensively presented in the report (see section 2.4). Further, BP-I has gone through 5 external evaluations (review of BP-Vietnam, mid-term evaluation by interministerial delegation, biogas user survey, evaluation of the management and implementation by the Asia Institute of Technology Centre in Vietnam-AITCV, and an audit by STT Company) which showed large positive outcomes of the programme, where the main quantitative achievements of the project can be examined in the report. Because of the overall success of the programme, MARD, SNV, and Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) have initiated a second phase of BP (outlined in the report).

In 2006 the Biogas Project Division (BPD) felt a need to strengthen the technical capacity of technical staff members in delivering services related to training and quality control of biodigester installation and proposed for the input of the Flexible Senior Biogas Advisor from SNV to provide the required assistance to the BPD. The objective of the assignment was to assist the Biogas Project Division (BPD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in the training of newly recruited technical staff, and in the development of training, technical standards and quality control.

The general observations and recommendations concern the training of technicians (supervisors), training of masons, and quality standards and quality control system. Next the document goes into the general concept of quality control (QC) with:
• The responsibilities of BPD technical personnel
• The responsibility of QC activities for biodigesters
• QC activities to construction works of biodigesters with the components training and BTs tasks in the construction
• Quality control types like the QC of training events
• The QC for construction works, QC - acceptance (construction completion)
• QC of operational biodigester and complaints; and quality standards and tolerances.

This comprehensive article introduces the SNV-supported domestic biogas programme in Vietnam. Large-scale programmes on domestic biogas are a promising approach to fight poverty and address the urgent energy needs of rural households. With financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), SNV works with local partners to set up and implement the programme. Private companies are supported as well as credit facilities via trainings, financials incentives to meet the increasing demand for domestic biogas in Vietnam

The article discusses several programme features, starting with the technology and achieved multiple benefits for biogas farmers (e.g. saving of time, rural job creation and improved sanitation). On a World scale the Vietnamese biogas programme has contributed to a reduction of GHG. After three years, in 2006, the amount of CO2 emission reduced (by 25,000 constructed plants) equals half a million people flying from Amsterdam to Bangkok.

The goal of the programme is to further develop the commercial and structural deployment of biogas, at the same time avoiding the use of fossil fuels and biomass resource depletion. The success of this programme depends on the interaction of a chain of actors from management to household level, and involves many factors. One weak link can frustrate the balance between supply and demand, either within the programme's group or outside its scope. In Vietnam, support of the public sector (Ministry of Agriculture), lobbying and proper communication, are paramount, as well as international donor support. In 2007, the programme won the Energy Globe Award.

To safeguard the quality of biodigesters, it is important that effective quality control mechanisms are formulated and properly enforced. The quality of construction, operation and maintenance of biodigesters has to be a major concern and supervisors have to play vital role in this regard.

In the process to build the capacity of local artisans especially the masons and supervisors, by imparting them detail technical knowledge and skills on methods of construction and supervisions of the household Biogas Plant, a Training of Trainers (TOT) has been felt needed. The overall objective of the TOT is to build capacity, especially within provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Offices, to conduct quality training courses on the Construction and Supervision of Biodigesters. The participants of TOT are expected to organise and conduct technical training programs to masons and supervisors in the future.

The document contains the following chapters:
• Background
• Training objectives
• Expected output
• Participants
• Training venue and duration
• Training contents
• Training events and process
• Programme overview
• Installation modality
• Training evaluation
• Closing ceremony
• Training schedule (session plan) – Phase 1 : theoretical training
• Activity schedule - Phase 2 (practical on-the-job exercise)
• Training plans
• Conclusion

The training is divided into 29 sessions, each with its objectives, training methods and aids, time of training and steps to be taken.

The objective of this experimental study is to estimate the effects of using bio-slurry in fish ponds and identify methods (e.g. diet of bio-slurry and pellets; substitution rate of bio-slurry for organic manure; substitution rate of bio-slurry for chemical fertiliser; points of attention when using bio-slurry for fish farming) for using bio-slurry for commercial fish pond and benefits for this practice. 

Other objectives: to calculate economical, environmental and safe product benefits; develop manual on using bio-slurry for commercial fishpond.  The use of bio-slurry shows good influence to growth of fish. Especially, Grass Carp and Black Carp which prefer living in clean water, show significant growth when using bio-slurry. The survival rate was the lowest considering treatment with the use of pig manure (85,83%). The highest rate of survival is 89,29% in treatment with a mixture of bio-slurry and pellets. Common Carp shows highest survival rate of 94,15% and lowest one is in Grass Carp being 78,61%.  

The feed converting rate shows considerable increase during the experiment period, that is lowest at 1.42 in method of mixing bio-slurry with pellets and highest at 1.55 in control. Phytoplankton in pond using bio-slurry is abundant, in which 222 species of algae were defined.  Zooplankton was also isolated with 26 species in 3 groups named Cladocera with 8 species holding 30,76%, Copepoda and Rotatoria with 9 species for each occupying 34,62 %. Epidemic diseases happened in Grass carp and Black carp. Epidemic disease happened strongly in the trial adding pig manure.

green mustards and lettuces at Dinh Quan district, Dong Nai province, Vietnam, in order to give farmers better advice.  From August to December 2009, four experiments on two vegetable kinds, green mustard and lettuce, were conducted. The first two experiments were to identify the best formula (slurry combined with chemical fertilisers) for green mustard and lettuce crops. The second two experiments were to identify abilities of replacing a part of chemical fertilisers in that formula (s) by bio-slurry.

 A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) method with three replications, 5-6 treatments and 25 m2/plot were used in experiments. It was concluded that: (i) the levels of heavy metal element of Hg Cd Pb and As in all three samples were lower than those in standards of water for safe vegetable production and water for daily use of Vietnamese; (ii) E coli and Salmonella were not found in all three analysed samples of slurry; and (iii) if the biogas plant is properly managed, and bio-slurry is stored in good conditions (for example under a roof) the slurry will meet standard for safe vegetable production. Further recommendations are provided in the report.