Potential of Biogas Technology in Achieving the Sustainable Developmental Goals: A Review Through Case Study in Rural South Africa

Abstract

More than half of the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) target group are rural poor dwellers from developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, who normally live on subsistence agriculture. Thus, securing a productive and profitable agricultural sector for the rural areas becomes a fundamental component in accelerating the achievement of the SDGs by 2030. One in eight people worldwide still remain hungry and under poverty. So this paper reviews progress in the achievement of the SDGs in rural South Africa and the potential role appropriate technologies played and/or could play, in particular biogas technology, in the achievement of these SDGs. Questionnaires, interviews, field trips, and community engagement were used to establish both the baseline and the impact of biogas use in the improvement of livelihood. Through the use of the biogas technology, agricultural production was improved, and all the chemical fertilizer was replaced by bio-slurry from the digestion process. More economic activities were witnessed through enlargement of the crop farming to make use of the produced slurry raising the need of additional manpower and thus enhancing economic opportunity by creating jobs in the sector. A fair reduction of pressure on local forests was witnessed in the case studied. Thus the use of biogas has impacted positively to the accelerated achievement of some of the SDGs in the communities studied, and this technology presents real solution to the sustainable development of poor communities.