This year the Chinese government will fund 2.6 million more
rural households to build methane pits, which provide clean energy
and protect local environment, according to the Ministry of
Agriculture.
Wei Chao'an, vice minister of agriculture, said that the 2.6
million rural households would be selected from the western and
major grain producing regions in the country.
The government will grant a subsidy ranging from 800 yuan
(US$103) to 1,200 yuan (US$154.8) for each household to build one
pit in view of their locations, Wei said.
Governmental statistics show that a total of 18 million rural
families had each built a methane pit by the end of 2005.
An eight-cubic-meter methane pit can provide 80 percent of the
energy used by a four-member family in cooking annually. The 18
million methane pits produce energy equivalent to 10.9 million tons
of coal and save 3.96 million hectares of forest.
Since the 1970s, China has been promoting the use of methane
pits to process rural organic wastes.
Dunghill, which was common in most of rural China in the past,
is no longer seen in places where people have built methane
pits.
Wei said, methane pits changed human and animal wastes into
"treasure." The gas generated in the pits is piped out for cooking,
heating and even for lighting.
In the mean time, methane pits also serve as an important method
to control spread of schistosomiasis and pig-borne bacteria
Streptococcus suis as well as other diseases in rural areas,
Wei said, adding that test shows methane pits can completely kill
schistosome eggs.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there would be 50
million methane pits by 2010.
According to plan, the ministry will select 10,000 villages to
conduct pilot energy recycling projects, which are expected to
popularize the use of clean energy and raise the treatment of
wastes in the countryside.
(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2007)
