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Lighting their lives

by Shanika Sriyananda

A wonderful 'Light' has now illuminated their lives, giving them new hopes. Far away from the National Grid, the poor farmers never experienced the joy of switching on an electric bulb at night.

Small, risky, kerosine oil lamps were their only means of light at night. Frequently attacked by the wild elephants, most farmers spent sleepless nights for years guarding their families and cultivations. On days that they sensed an impending attack the women with small children spent the nights in the wild to escape the wrath of wild elephants.

These nightmarish days are now gone forever, never again to haunt them It has brought happiness to over 60 farmer families in Pokunuthenna, a remote village in the Moneragala District. Until the day their houses were illuminated with electricity from the small Gliricidia Wood Electricity generator, these villagers had never given much recognition to this wonder plant, that grew along their fences and was abundantly available in their chena cultivations. The only benefit that they knew the plant had was, the power of its leaves which enriched their crop yield. This was a rich fertilizer, that was more effective than even Urea.

The five kilo-watt Gliricidia Wood Electricity Generator has given a commercial value to this plant given. Most farmers use the plant for fencing and it was known as 'wetamara'.

Today it has generated jobs to the village youth. Some young girls, who worked in factories, now earn a good income by selling wetamara stems to the power project. They have become permanent wetamara growers, and are supplying.

Now villagers are not using wetamara for fencings, but are growing acres and acres of this plant to keep the wood generator going and ensure an uninterrupted domestic power supply.

Not only farmers in Pokunuthenna but also on the Kohombe Estate and Wadakahakiwula and the small tea estates and other factories like coir, fibre, tiles and bricks which faced difficulties in getting electricity from the National Grid, are now proudly electrified with dendro power projects powered by 'gliricidia sipium' - the wetamara wood.

The simple truth is that the ability of electrifying rural homes and factories with bio-mass, was hidden, knowingly or unknowingly. Despite the efforts and scientific evidence of the local scientists, which showed that Off Grid consumers could be given electricity successfully through dendro power, it took nearly two decades to recognise and give value to their efforts. Finally the Government recently declared wetamara as the fourth commercial plantation crop after tea, rubber and coconut.

It is indeed a happy occasion, that the Government has at last realised that there is some 'relief' to the present power crisis and the financial burden of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Promoting alternate energy resources to electricity is a cause for satisfaction. Sri Lanka has spent Rs. 23 billion to import oil, diesel and petrol in 2003, and this accounts for 47 percent of the country's revenue.

However, according to latest statistics, which show a huge expenditure on oil exports, Sri Lanka cannot depend on thermal power any more. Energy experts warn that in the absence of harnessing locally available alternative energy resources, the country's foreign exchange earnings from the traditional exports of tea, rubber and coconut will be spent to import fossil fuel to meet the growing electricity demand by 2010.

At present, Sri Lanka's energy solely depends on two main energy sources - hydro and oil based power generation and with these energy security cannot be guaranteed due to certain limitations. However, coal power, which is the best available option for the country, will take at least another five years to add to the main Grid.

In such a situation, electricity generation from bio-mass will be a wise option to reduce the burden on the CEB and also to prevent imposing 'dark hours' due to poor electricity generation in the future.

At a recent conference organized by the Bio Energy Association, the Minister of Power and Energy, Susil Premajayantha explained the gravity of the problem saying that a barrel of oil was US $ 32, 15-months ago, but it shot to US $ 66 now. He said that the present power crisis was mainly due to the non implementation of hydro power, coal power and by not introducing alternative energy resources in the last two decades.

However, according to Minister Premajayantha, the Government has plans to increase the 70 percent who have access to National Grid electricity to 80 present, through Off Grid connections, by introducing bio mass and other renewable resources.

In the absence of any proven fossil fuel resource availability in Sri Lanka, bio mass energy, which is still used in rural households for cooking, and factories like tea, brick and tiles for heating, is the best option for indigenous, renewable and cheap sources of energy, to cut down the high dependency on the sky rocketing fossil fuel based power generation.

Sri Lanka is blessed with Sustainably Grown Fuel

Wood (SGF) varieties that can be used successfully as sources for energy generation. With less environmental pollution and being renewable, the main variety that has been identified as the best fuel wood for bio mass energy generation is the Ginisiriya.

Now the much popular Ginisiriya plant was brought to Sri Lanka from Mexico 300 years ago, and due to its multiple benefits the rural masses call it by different names like wetahiriya, ladappa, nanchi, sevana and kola pohora.

Well-grown in rural areas, especially in tea and coconut plantations, it is one of the most useful plants that has multiple uses. The stems of the plant are used for fuel, the leaves for fodder for animals and also as organic fertilizer. The main advantages of growing this plant as fuel wood were its resistance to any weather conditions, ability to grow in any soil conditions, and resistance to pests.

The important characteristics of this plant are the continuous harvesting, rapid regeneration, easy transport, ability to grow in high densities and that it could be used as nutritive fodder. More thermal power generation would pollute the environment.

But the bio-mass is relatively a less polluting source of energy generation compared to others, and helps to increase the forest cover. When trees grow they absorb atmospheric CO2 and release oxygen to the environment, and when the wood is burnt it releases the captured carbon dioxide.

Encouraging farmers to grow ginisiriya plants, will help to reduce rural poverty and generate more employment opportunities.

A farmer with a hectare of ginisiriya plantation can generate 25 to 30 metric tones of wood per year and will be able to earn Rs. 50,000 to 160,000 per hectare. Apart from growing ginisiriya as the main crop, this plant can be grown as inter cultivation in coconut lands. It will take only two years to reap the harvest in full ginisiriya plantations, but in inter cultivation in coconut lands the cash flow will be started from the third year of planting. Ginisiriya in coconut plantations will increase moisture and soil fertility.

Kohombe Estate is a good example for coconut plantation inter cultivated with ginisiriya. Over 35 kilograms of ginisiriya foliage has been able to reduce the 800 grams of urea used for the coconut plantation annually.

Meanwhile, with the declaring of Ginisiriya as the fourth national commercial crop, the Ministry of power and Energy has decided to install 100 MW bio=mass power plants within the next three years to promote wood as a source of energy and also as a means of poverty eradication.

www.ceylincoproperties.com

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