The bulk of the rural population in Africa have no access to electricity. According to World Economic Outlook (2010), only 14% of sub-Saharan African has access to electricity. It is thus estimated that 582 million rural people in sub-Saharan Africa did not have access to electricity in 2009 (World Economic Outlook, 2010). North Africa is an exception because 98.4% of rural population is electrified and only 2 million did not have access to electricity in 2009 (World Economic Outlook, 2010). Biogas is a potential off-grid, clean energy fuel solution for rural areas of Africa (Amigun and von Blottnitz, 2010), that can provide energy services such as cooking, heating and lighting.

1.1.1 Environmental benefits

commercialized (Hiemstra-van der Horst and Hovorka, 2009). The high dependence on woodfuel in the sub-Saharan Africa has resulted in an alarming rate of tree felling and deforestation (cited in United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2007). According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (2011), nearly half of the forest loss in Africa is due to removal of wood fuel. The estimated deforestation rate in Africa is twice the world rate (AfriNews, 2008). More than 15 million hectares of tropical forests are depleted or burnt every year in order to provide for small-scale agriculture or cattle ranching or for use as fuel wood for heating and cooking (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2004). Some alarming and worrying deforestation facts in Africa include (AfriNews, 2008): loss of over 90% of West Africa’s original forest — currently, only a small proportion remains; between 1980 and 1995, an area of 1.1 million ha was cleared every year; only one tree is replanted for every 28 trees cut down. In Uganda where 90% of the population lives in rural areas and directly depends on land for cultivation and grazing, forestland has shrunk dramatically. In Nigeria, it is feared that the country will be left without forest due to the present level of deforestation activities.

Forests are required in order to build a resilient natural ecosystem as they moderate climate, act as water reservoirs and are habitat to wildlife. The loss of ground cover due to deforestation thus results in secondary problems such as exposing the soil to erosion during heavy rainfall, flooding, increased evaporation, drought, and increase in the greenhouse gas emissions. Familiar country specific example is the recent frequent droughts and floods experienced in East African countries, particularly Kenya, Somali, Uganda and Ethiopia, that have been associated with deforestation (IRIN, 2006; Mekonnen, 2006). Similarly, the declining rainfall in the West African countries is also attributed to deforestation. The use of alternative energy such as biogas has a potential to reduce the demand for wood and charcoal use, hence reducing greenhouse gas emissions improving water quality, conserving of resources — particularly trees and forests — and producing wider macroeconomic benefits to the nation (Amigun and Blottnitz, 2010) due to reduced deforestation. In addition, the slurry and waste from the biogas plants provides a high quality fertiliser that can be used to improve the soil fertility and increase productivity in agriculture dependent rural communities in Africa.