Willingness to pay for biogas as cooking energy in the local communities of hadejia valley, northern nigeria

Abstract

The majority of poor households in Nigeria depend on firewood to cook with dramatic impacts. The smoke of firewood use is known as the “silent killer” causing more than 95000 annual deaths (WHO, 2012) while illegal and uncontrolled logging to meet the demand of the growing population is leading to deforestation. There is an urgent need to look for sustainable sources of biomass and Typha Project[1] has developed a biogas technology making use of Typha biomass, an invasive plant that extends over thousands of hectares in Hadejia Valley (Northeastern Nigeria). In this context, the objective of this work is to assess adoption and estimate the willingness to pay for this novel biogas technology A logit model has been used to analyze adoption of biogas by households considering the information gathered in the focus groups and a field survey. The most relevant factor triggering adoption is related to health issues and the experience of respiratory diseases. We also observe that among those ...