Over half the world’s population cooksprimarily with wood, charcoal, coal, crop waste, or dung.This share is currently increasing or stagnant in mostregions. Dependence on solid fuels is one of the world’smajor public health challenges, causing more prematuredeaths than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.The use of solid fuels and stoves also imposes significanteconomic costs on societies that can least afford them andcontributes to adverse environmental and climate changeeffects. Traditionally the area of improving access tomodern energy services has fallen in the realm of energyexperts. However, a new study conducted by the World Bankbetween 2017-2019 asks the question: Does Agriculture have arole to plan in improving access to modern cooking services?The report: “The Power of Dung: Lessons Learned from On-FarmBiodigester Programs in Africa” examines on-farm biodigesterprograms in selected countries in Africa and examines thesuccess factors of the programs. One of the report’s mostimportant findings is that reframing the promotion ofbiodigesters from one providing clean cooking solutions(energy) to one providing improved fertilizers (agriculture)increases the attractiveness of the solutions among farmers.
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