China provides 300 bio-digesters worth USD 0.4m to Cambodian rural households

On June 16 2014, Monday, at Takéo Province, Cambodia, a ceremony was held to officially mark the handover of 300 sets of bio-digesters to Cambodian households. The bio-digesters was provided by the Chinese government as part of the country's continuous effort to assist Cambodia in its development as well as to reduce poverty in the country. Sar Chetra, deputy secretary general of the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, signed to receive the donation from Song Xiaoguo, economic councilor at the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia. Nheb Sron, director of Takeo provincial agriculture department, said that of the 300 bio-digesters, 250 have been building in Takeo province and 50 in Kandal province. "So far, 71 bio-digesters have been installed for households and the project will be completed by the end of this year,"he said. The total cost of the 300 bio-digesters is US$400 000 (based on the CDC report, found in the resource section below). The project was approved by the Cambodian government on 1st June 2011. It was also reported by CDC that the installation of the 300 bio-digesters is completed on 2 June 2014. The conversion of pesticide wastes and livestock manure into fuel through the bio-digesters was said to directly benefit the farmers, as the farmers no longer need to cut firewood for cooking, and thus have more time to do other things as well as help to cut their expense on cooking gas, fuel wood or charcoal. In addition, the fuel can be used to generate electricity for lighting.

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