Inclusive Business Analyses
Climate & Environment
India
Dairy
Living Income

Inclusive Business Analysis: Sistema.bio, India

English
French
Spanish
19 Dec 2024
by
Catherine Highet,
Vishnu Reddy,
Leena Datwani,
Aseema Amol Sulakhe

A case for biodigesters supporting renewable energy and empowering rural women

Sistema.bio is a global social enterprise that promotes biodigesters for smallholder dairy farmers to increase their household incomes, promote women empowerment and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through clean energy.

Sistema.bio was founded in 2010 in Mexico, registered in India in 2018 and as of 2023 is present across 31 countries with their presence in East Africa, India and Latin America. Sistema's largest operations are in India where 80% of its 120,000 global biodigester installations are completed.

They own the world’s largest biogas manufacturing facility with a capacity to produce 100,000 biogas units per year. Their vision is to serve 300,000 farms in the next 2-3 years. Sistema.bio has acquired Inclusive Energy in 2024 to contribute to the digital monitoring, reporting and verification of its biodigesters’ usage.

This study aims to analyse the impact of biodigesters on the life of rural households and especially women.

Some of the key observations from the report are

  1. Sistema.bio’s innovative design of the biodigester encompasses prefabricated structures with lightweight and long-lasting materials that are easy to transport and maintain by a rural household on a day-to-day basis.
  2. The biodigesters empower the women and their communities through:
    1. Saving cooking fuel costs which can then be allocated to other needs or investments such as the children’s education.
    2. Reducing indoor pollution leading to better cooking conditions for the women and reduced respiratory illnesses.
    3. Frees up the time spent collecting firewood which is then spent by the women spending more time with the kids and elders.
    4. Reduced expenses and dependency on chemical fertilizers as the slurry from the biodigester acts as an organic fertilizer promoting soil health and better crop quality.
  3. An average household using Sistema.bio’s biodigester (4-5 persons cultivating sugarcane on 2 acres of land) can expect an increase in their household income (USD 180-280) on account of the savings from usage of biogas for cooking instead of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and slurry.
  4. Sistema.bio’s biodigester could potentially help close up to 75% of the living income gap (USD ~300) to achieve a basic but decent living income of USD 3,812 per household per year through the savings from the biodigester. The remaining 25% can be closed through partnerships with dairies to support farmers with improved milk yielding cattle varieties.
  5. Sistema.bio works with several partners to reach farmers. These partnerships (on account of their strong relationships with farmers) play an important role in promoting biodigester adoption, access to finance and improving farmer incomes.
  6. Sistema.bio leverages the power of carbon credits, corporate partnerships and government subsidies to reduce the price of biodigester to make it affordable to the farmers (from its original price of USD 500 to a price point withing the range of USD 70 to 250)
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