Agriculture & Fisheries
MAF installs first Israeli HomeBiogas Technology System in Samoa
Press Release, MAF
APIA, SAMOA – 11 APRIL 2022: The Crops Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) has successfully installed a HomeBiogas 4.0 System at Nu’u making Samoa the first Pacific country to have installed this innovative Israeli technology.
The HomeBiogas System decomposes food scraps, waste and animal manure and produces renewable energy in the form of bio-gas for daily cooking and bio-slurry fertilizer for healthy soil and plants. By re-using bio-organic matter, the innovative system can produce up to three hours of cooking gas per household after feeding it with 12 kgs of kitchen waste or animal manure. In addition, the installation reduces carbon emissions and strengthens climate resilience by reducing waste and dependence on firewood.
CEO for MAF, Tilafono David Hunter says the donation of two (2) HomeBiogas units to Samoa is part of the activities under the Israel Pacific Food Security Alliance (IPFSA); an initiative that resulted after a summit meeting in February 2020 between Pacific country leaders and the State of Israel.
“At the Summit meeting in 2020, Pacific country leaders and the state of Israel agreed to strengthen further cooperation to support efforts in addressing sustainable development challenges by drawing on the unique experience and innovative skills of Israel in the fields of public health, food security, water management, renewable energy, climate change adaption, and mitigation among others,” said Tilafono.
“We would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the continuous support from the State of Israel through Israel Ministry as well as the HOMEBIOGAS representative in Fiji, Pacific Grow for the financial support in funding this project not only for Samoa but other Pacific island colleagues.”
ACEO for Crops Division, Tanu Toomata said the first HomeBiogas unit has been installed at Nuu on a site where the Ministry plans to renovate an existing building to accommodate a seeds production laboratory.
“Two complete sets of HomeBiogas units were received and one has been utilized for the implementation of the system by the teams for the first trial in monitoring and testing the progress of the system before it is promoted to farmers, with the second unit to be installed at SROS to scientifically assess its effectiveness and efficiency for its intended purposes, as part of MAF-SROS collaboration on technological research,” said Toomata.
“The HomeBiogas unit acts as a smart waste management tool which will complement our work in processing vegetable and fruit seeds. All the left-over food waste will feed the seeds production laboratory while benefiting from the sustainable clean energy and organic fertilizer produced.”
The HomeBiogas was installed two weeks ago by Crops Advisory Officer, Ioelu Iosefa who is now a certified trainer after successfully completing the 10-week IPFSA regional training program for trainers facilitated by the Fiji based company, Pacific Grow, in October 2021.
“What I’ve learned from my experience in the Biogas training is that this system from Israel is very easy to install and I’m very excited to transfer this new agriculture technology know-how to our farmers in the near future,” said Iosefa.
The end result
“This new system serves 3 main purposes and that is to provide gas for cooking and even liquid fertilizer which is much needed by our local farmers. I think it can help to uplift the standard of living especially in these times that we are facing the difficulties of the Covid-19 disease and also the impacts of the Climate change.”