Biodigesters provide a source of renewable energy and organic fertilizer that will be used in Bolivia to increase the production and quality of milk. With financial support from Hivos and the technical support of SNV, this project will benefit more than 900 dairy farmers who provide milk for ANDIL (Asociación Nacional de Industrias Lácteas), the Bolivian association of milk producers.

Biodigesters contribute to increasing food security and climate smart agriculture. This technology converts dung into biogas that can be used for cooking and lighting. The slurry left over from this process is an excellent organic fertilizer that will be used in Bolivia to increase the existing pasture yield and improve grass to feed cows, thus boosting the productivity and quality of Bolivian milk production.

Planned to last until 2016, the project will enhance the dairy farming practices of more than 900 small producers and provide 450 of them with a domestic biodigester.

The proyect will also strengthen mechanisms for access to credits for better infrastructure and help create a more effective relationship between the small producers and ANDIL.

Hivos has biogas programs running in Africa (African Biogas Partnership Programme), Asia (Indonesia Domestic Biogas Programme and National Biogas Programme in Cambodia) and Latin America (Biogas Programme Nicaragua). In all these countries we partner with the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation for their technical assistance. We also work closely with the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, national governments and with rural development NGOs to carry out these multi-stakeholder programs.