Abstract
The very high degree of dependence on wood and agricultural residues for household energy has impacts on the social, economic and environmental well-being of society. Adoption of biogas as alternative source of energy has many advantages including creation of local jobs, improving agricultural production, financial diversification and provision of cheap reliable energy, reduce pressure on forests, women work load and indoor air pollution. Biomass energy contributes 92% of the national energy requirements and is expected to remain the main source of energy in the foreseeable future. The purpose of this study was to identify the determinant of biogas technology adoption.
The study was carried out in in Guraghe Zone Sodo Woreda. Descriptive survey research design was used. Sodo Woreda was purposely selected from the rest of Guraghe Zone’s Woredas. 58 kebeles were found in the woreda. 34 kebels were purposely selected because of the suitability of the area to implement the bio gas technology. 5 kebeles was randomly selected from 34 kebeles. A total number of 324 households head were sampled. 60 biogas adopters were purposively selected that had already installed the system. While 264 non- adopters were randomly selected from the study population based on the administration boundaries. Primary data was derived from field surveys using questionnaire, focused group discussion, key informant interview and direct observation. Analysis of the data was done by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics as well as logistic regression were used to establish relationships between variables. Having all this, the study revealed that income of household (p<0.001), level of education (p<0.04), and number of cattle (p<0.001), significantly influenced the uptake. In addition to the above findings the peoples had better understand level of awareness and attitude towards the biogas technology. Finally, the involvement of government institution were not fully engaged in users training gaps maintenance service gaps, loan access gaps, the supply and accessories of spare part gaps and the activities of steering committee gaps and also nothing non-governmental organization were involved in promoting biogas technology in the study area. The study recommends that the following: the Sodo woreda administration should improve level of education of the households, improve female participation the ownership of biogas technology, create conducive environment for households to access loan from financial institution, Standby biogas technicians who can give immediate maintenance services should be assigned at ‘woreda’ level in the earliest time possible, supply spare parts, giving training to the users. The government should create enabling environment to participate the non-governmental organization to promote the biogas technology, and the steering committee should play a great roll in giving training to the biogas adopter, follow the quality of building digester, and follow the managements of biogas adopter.
Keywords: Biogas utilizer, renewable energy, Binary Logistic Model.
