Biogas utilization in Pakistan

Biogas utilization in Pakistan

Introduction:

Biogas plant is name often given to an anaerobic digester that treats farm or organic wastes. The history of biogas plants goes back to ancient Persia and China. It was observed that rotting vegetables produce flammable gas. In 13th century the Chinese were using covered sewage tanks to generate power. In 1859 first biogas plant was built to process sewage at a Bombay in Indian Sub Continent. The biogas plants can be fed with energy crops such as maize silage or biodegradable wastes including sewage sludge and food waste. During the process the biomass is converted into methane producing renewable energy that is used for heating, electricity and many other operations that use any variation of an internal combustion engines.

Typical composition of biogas:(Compound Chemical Formula %age)

• Methane CH4                50–75
• Carbon dioxide CO2    25–50
• Nitrogen N2                   0–10
• Hydrogen H2                 0–1
• Hydrogen sulfide H2S 0–3
• Oxygen O2                     0–0

Biogas gas is also being used in power generators for electricity production around the world as renewable fuel source. Leo Corporation Pakistan has successfully installed biogas plants to produce electricity using different bio degradable materials in Punjab

In China 30 million rural households that have biogas digesters enjoy the following benefits:

•  Saving fossil fuels
•  Saving time collecting firewood
•  Protecting forests
•  Using crop residues for animal fodder instead of fuel
•  Saving money
•  Saving cooking time
•  Improving hygienic conditions
•  Producing high-quality fertilizer
•  Enabling local mechanization and electricity production
•  Improving the rural standard of living

Pakistan is home to over 160 million head of cattle (buffalo, cow, camel, donkey, goat and lamb). The dung of these livestock can feed five million biogas plants of varying sizes, according to energy experts at the National University of Science and Technology (Islamabad) and Faisalabad Agriculture University This can help plug the yawning gas supply gap. According to government figures, 73 percent of 200 million people (a majority of them in rural areas) have no access to piped natural gas. Such people rely on LPG gas cylinders and fuel wood.  

As per recent livestock census, there are 51 million animals (Buffaloes, Cows, and Bullocks) in Pakistan. Thus, 19.125 Million M3 biogas can be produced daily by anaerobic fermentation of dung through installation of about 3.825 million family size biogas plants, which could meet the cooking needs of about 50 million people. The total population of Pakistan is about 170 million, out of which 68% reside in the rural areas, which comes to be 98 million. Therefore we can meet the cooking / heating requirements of 44% rural masses from this single source of energy (biogas) besides, producing 57.4 million Kg of nitrogen enriched bio-fertilizer per day or 21.00 million tons of bio-fertilizer per year, which is an essential requirement for sustaining the fertility of agricultural lands.

Biogas   potential in Pakistan is widely distributed; its potential may be best developed at the point of generation. However, there are many point sources where large-scale biogas can be generated at one location. The most ready example is Landhi’s Cattle colony, where a 20 MW power project of biogas has been formulated.  There does not seem to be much progress on this plant. There could be several large projects of this size elsewhere in the country as well. Biogas need not be a monopoly of electric power producers; gas companies can and should enter this arena of biogas as well. In fact, they ought to be the primary players. Biogas can be upgraded to pipeline-quality gas.

Policy:

Pakistan has made a policy to add RSE (Renewable & Sustainable Energy) for energy production; Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has been established to contribute 5% energy production from renewable. AEDB is now working on energy production project by using huge resource of biogas near Karachi in Landhi cattle colony to produce 30 MW which is being funded by New Zealand.( New Zealand based firm has completed the pilot phase of the biogas project at Landi Cattle Colony, Karachi where waste from 400,000 cattle in the area would be utilized to generate electricity and high grade organic fertilizer. The full scale plant is estimated to generate up to 50 MW of electricity and 1500 tons of organic fertilizer per day.). , framework for power Co-generation 2013 (Biomass/Bagasse) was approved by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for bagasse/biomass based sugar industry projects. 1500–2000 MW of power is expected to be generated in next 2–3 years   

History:

Government of Pakistan undertook propagation of Biogas Technology early in 1976. Initially, 1200 family size units were installed.  The biogas digesters adapted at that time were known as Indian style digesters. This style is constant pressure type. A deep rounded well is dug in the ground and lined with bricks and cement. A round steel drum is turned upside down and fitted as a lid on the mouth of the well.  Gas is collected in this drum. Gases lift the drum up and after they are used, drum moves downward.  This program could not attract attention mainly because life of the drum was low and daily filling of cow dung was a hassle. Discovery of natural gas was also a hurdle in the promotion of biogas as it was easy and hassle free to use.  Government of Pakistan established Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) which launched another project for installation of 2,500 biogas plants in 2007 with a subsidy component of Rs.17000/- per plant. In two years, despite various financial constraints, about 2,000 biogas units have been installed.   a major drawback in the Indian digesters was the steel drum. Presence of H2S in the produce cracks it within two or three years. Replacement of steel drums is a cost which is difficult to bear just like the cost of batteries in the small off-grid solar solutions.  Its installation also requires high expertise of craftsmanship. It costs round 13-15 thousands rupees per cubic meter. 10, 12, 15 and 20 m3   sizes are commonly used.   High initial cost and high operational cost is the barrier in the adaptation of the Indian style digesters.

In 2010, Rural Support Program Network (RSPN) initiated Pakistan Domestic Biogas Program. This program aimed to develop the domestic biogas sector   the project was designed to put down a robust foundation for the establishment of a commercially viable domestic biogas sector. The proposal used a time horizon of four years to strengthen the commercial biogas sector. Although the project aimed to promote an approach in which government, non-government and private sector organizations assumed their roles in a complementary fashion that intrinsically fit their character; this did not catch eyes of the masses. Only 5000 dome type digesters were constructed in addition to training about 500 local masons.
Dome type digesters are made of bricks and cement and involve fixed volume principle. No drum is used as a lid in this technology. Cost of such digesters range from 8 to 10 thousands rupees per cubic meter which is cheaper than Indian style digesters. However these digesters also require highly skilled craftsmanship and are built in 20-25 days. Common designs are in 6, 8, 10, 15 and 20 cubic meters. Leakage and seepage are frequently encountered problems but can be corrected with good maintenance and training. However once the digester leaks or seeps, it is difficult to be rectified.
Punjab has also launched a program to subsidize 20000 biogas plants of 30, 50 and 70 cubic meter for the farmers to supplement their diesel engines for water pumps. The design submitted by the consultant is of both Indian and dome type digesters.  The cost for system installation is 12-14 thousand rupees per cubic meter which is quite high. The construction time is around 25-30 days per team for one  

Assessment:
High cost, time consuming construction activities and requirement of high quality craftsmanship are major barriers in the adaptation of dome type digesters.  Stakeholders are enmeshed in a supply and demand context in which the supply side should ensure “off-the-shelf availability” of the technology while the pluralistic demand side organizes the beneficiaries, provides microfinance, promotes the technology and integrates it into rural development activities. For this purpose, many Chinese companies have established a soft type digester.  A tank is dug in the ground as per desired dimensions according to size of the digester. Construction of tank does not require skilled workmanship and even a normal mason can accomplish the task. The soft type digester can then be fixed in the tank. This installation takes only four days for tank and two hours for digester fixation. The cost is 5-6 thousand rupees per cubic meter. A Chinese company has installed many demonstration digesters in Pakistan A Chinese company has also decided to establish an office in Lahore

National Rural Support Program-Pakistan (NRSP-Pakistan) Initiated in 2009 by the non-governmental organization, PBDP was financed by the Netherlands Embassy in Pakistan and technical support was extended by Winrock International and SNV (Netherlands-based nongovernmental development organisations). As a part of sustainability of the biogas program, 50 local biogas construction companies were been set up. International technical experts trained nearly 450 people in construction, maintenance and repair of the biogas units. The biogas program aimed to establish a commercially viable biogas sector. To that extent, the main actors at the supply side of the sector are private Biogas Construction Enterprises (BCEs) providing biogas construction and after sales services to households. At the demand side of the sector, Rural Support Program organized under the RSPN will be the main implementing partners, but will also include NGOs, farmers’ organizations and dairy organizations. 5,600 biogas plants are now saving nearly 13,000 tons of fuel wood burning worth two million dollars and 169,600 liters of kerosene oil for night lamp use Implemented at a total cost of around 3.3 million dollars, the biogas plants have helped reduce the average three to four hours a woman spent collecting fuel-wood and cooking daily. These women now get enough time for socialization, economic activity and health is returning to households thanks to the biogas plants… which provide instant gas for cooking, healing and dishwashing ,.more significantly, the program   is helping avoid nearly 16,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually 

UNDP assisted (2012) a non-governmental organization to set up 150 biogas plants under a project funded by the United Nations Development Program and the Japanese government for the rehabilitation of the people affected by 2010 floods. Families supplied biogases earlier were spending between Rs5000 and Rs6000 on buying and transporting wood every month to their homes.  They also experienced improvement in crop productivity with the use of slurry, a by-product of biogas. The slurry had replaced urea to a great extent as it is comparatively much cheaper and a lot more beneficial in terms of crop productivity. It not only helped improve the quality of crop, but also reduced its harvesting period. A total of 27 biogas units had been installed in the village. One beneficiary stated “Earlier, we used at least three to four bags of urea for one acre of crop that could either be banana, wheat or sorghum. The price of urea has increased but a few months ago it cost Rs1,700 a bag. So you can well imagine how much we are benefiting even from the by-product of biogas,” said a beneficiary, adding that banana plants grown with the help of slurry had matured 10 to 15 days earlier as compared to those given urea

Tube Well Conversion to biogas:

Punjab government had designed a plan to convert about 100,000 agriculture tube wells from diesel to biogas in five years (2013 -2018) in a bid to save energy resources and promote biogas technology in the province. According to agriculture census 1.1 million tube wells are installed across the province for irrigation, 900,000 of them are run on diesel. On the other hand 32 million cows and buffaloes are owned by small and big farmers in the province which producing 117 million tons of dung annually. If half of this amount is used to produce gas then the waste will produce 2.93 billion cubic meters of gas annually. With this plan the Government hopes to save 288 million liters of diesel and 30 billion Rs ($ 280 mil.) annually. According to officials work on the project would start next year, and the provincial government will bear 50% of the conversion costs, inviting expressions of interest from interested companies, while leaving it to the farmers to select the company and pay directly to the technology provider. Moreover biogas plants installed with tube wells will help produce organic manure rich in nutrients, which will save the money spent on fertilizers.

WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) had achieved the target of setting up 2,000 biogas units in 13 districts of Punjab, Sindh and KP.“The purpose was to help improve lives shattered by the floods in a way that is not only sustainable but also eco-friendly. We have provided one biogas unit to one household as our experience has shown that the involvement of multiple families could create conflict and result in project’s failure.”The biogas unit could be run by a family even if it has only one buffalo. One unit of an average size of six to 15 cubic meters costs from Rs70,000 to Rs80,000 further one bag of dried slurry replaced nine bags of urea Local people were involved in its construction so that they could handle any problem in repair later    A few people in villages in Punjab were running generators on biogas after making changes in its design on a self-help basis,” 

Proposed plants:

Letter of intent was issued for 12 MW power plants established for utilization of agricultural wastes in Jhang and 9 MW plant is going to be installed at Pak Ethanol Pvt. Ltd., Sindh. In coming years 5000 biogas units will be installed all over the country by Pakistan Counsel of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET). Government has invested 356 million to import 1400 biogas plants  Biomass/ Waste-to-Energy Following Biomass/Waste-to-Energy projects are in various stages of implementation under IPP mode: M/s SSJD (12 MW) Sind. M/s Lumen Energia (12 MW Shahkot).Punjab M/s Biomass Power Generation Limited (12 MW), Faisalabad M/s Green Sure Environmental Solutions (12 MW), Mardan, KPK

Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy at NUST (CAS-EN) is working on project entitled; “Biomass Resource Availability Study” funded by International Finance Corporation a subsidiary of World Bank Group (IFC-WBG) 

Government of Pakistan has asked PCRET to launch mega project on the biogas technology by installing 25,000 biogas units all over the country to not only cater the needs of cooking but also for agriculture and commercial purpose in order to meet the shortage of gas and electricity in the country. The project is still under evaluation and appraisal 

Conclusions:

Biogas intervention strategies, guidelines and facilities for the supply and use of anaerobic biogas digesters, in rural communities for producing cooking gas and organic fertilizer need to b devised through public and international financing and technical assistance.

Biomass has been used as an energy source for thousands of years by the humankind. Traditional fuels like firewood, dung and crop residues currently contribute a major share in meeting the everyday energy requirements of rural and low-income urban households in Pakistan. An average biomass using household consumes 2325 kg of firewood or 1480 kg of dung or 1160 kg of crop residues per annum. There are good prospects for using biogas energy in rural areas through a network of community biogas plants

CPEC and Agriculture

CPEC and Agriculture

Introduction:

CPEC has been called a game changer and has many aspects one of which is the agriculture component. The CPEC plan reveals, thousands of acres of farmland will be leased out to Chinese enterprises in Pakistan.  Chinese enterprises will be allowed access to large tracts of Pakistani farmland, either by lease or purchase. On that land, they will allegedly be permitted to operate their own farms and processing facilities, backed by robust capital grants and loans from Beijing and the Chinese Development Bank. Keeping in view the fact that agriculture sector accounts for around 20 per cent of Pakistan`s GDP and employs over 40pc of the country`s labor force, both Pakistan and China have agreed to enhance cooperation on agriculture under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),

China and Pakistan have an agreement to promote the transition from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture in the regions along the CPEC to effectively boost the development of local agricultural economy and help local people get rid of poverty and become better off, strengthen the up-gradation of agricultural infrastructure, promote the construction of water saving modern agricultural zones, and increase the development and remediation of medium and low-yielding land to achieve efficient use of resources

Due to shortage of arable land and freshwater resources in China, the country needs to import land-extensive crops (such as wheat and rice) to feed its population. Further, with rising living standards, the Chinese demand for agricultural imports is gradually moving up, which is likely to create agro-based trade opportunities in countries having substantial potential in agriculture produce. China`s demand for cotton yarn and rice imports is met by the emerging economies of Asia, such as Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and India.  

The recent trade war between USA and China will possibly hurt both parties but it does present opportunities to others Chinese imports from the US are mostly agricultural produce. Pakistan is a natural agricultural country. Its climate and hard-working workforce are a blessing for the nation. China faces a decreasing agriculture output per capita since there is a rural to urban migration, economic growth has brought about significant increase in family food budgets, urban wages are significantly higher than rural wages, and the levels of demand are not being met with by domestic sources.

Trade Balance between Pakistan and China:

Trade between Pakistan and China is lopsided. To address this gap the agriculture potential can be utilized .The low volume of trade between Pakistan and China is not reflective of the economic size of two neighboring countries. This indicates there is a huge untapped trade potential in both countries.

China is the world’s largest importer of agricultural products. In 2015, China imported $160 billion worth of agricultural products. However, Pakistan’s share in these exports was minuscule — less than half a percentage point — despite having a large agrarian base and a shared border with China. With a population of 1.3 billion people, China consumes almost $1 trillion worth of food every year. With increased urbanization and rising incomes, Chinese consumption patterns are also changing, and demand for high quality imported food items is growing at a pace much faster than population growth. Therefore, the domestic consumption is expected to grow by another $500 billion in the next 10 years. it takes about one acre of arable land to feed an average US consumer. With present population, China only has about 0.2 acre per citizen, which is going to be far short of future requirements, considering the evolving demand.

China, the world’s largest importer of vegetables, gets 50 of these imports from the US and Brazil. In the world of international trade, shorter distances can provide a strategic advantage through lower transportation costs. But for perishable items like food, such proximity can translate into yet another edge. During transit over long distances, food items face higher risk of spoilage and contamination. Because of this, not only additional cost is incurred for preservation and packaging but often exporters have to make use of extra pesticides to increase shelf-life of food. Pakistan, being China’s neighbor, therefore enjoys a unique advantage and CPEC provides an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on that.

Initiatives already under way:

Various agricultural projects have been initiated to get maximum benefit of the CPEC initiative, which include: Fruit processing industry in Gilgit-Baltistan: The climate and fertile soil of Gilgit-Baltistan offer ideal environment for producing fruits like apples, peach, cherries, almonds, apricot, etc. According to an article published by the Asian Development Bank, farmers in Gilgit-Baltistan produce over 100,000 tones of fresh apricots a year. Setting up the fruit processing industry in the region would help boost the country`s fruit exports.

Meat production and processing facilities in KP: Setting up of meat production and processing facilities in KP would help increase Pakistan`s meat exports to China, as well as, to Afghanistan and Central Asian market. KP-China Sustainable Donkey Development Program: To increase the donkey population in Pakistan so as to ensure interrupted backward supply for export of live animals and raising income of donkey breeders and traders. 

Under CPEC, efforts are being made to strengthen drip irrigation technology for water efficiency, strengthen cooperation in the fields such as crop farming, livestock breeding, forestry and food growing, and aquatic and fishery, with the highlight on technical exchange and cooperation in the fields of development of comprehensive agricultural production capacity, construction of farmland water conservancy facility and agricultural products circulation facility.

The CPEC Agri sector is also focusing on improving post-harvest handling, storage and transportation of agricultural products and innovates in marketing and sales models, Improve water resources operation and management, strengthen development of pastoral areas and desert, and promote application of remote sensing technology.

The key cooperation areas focus on strengthening production of agriculture inputs particularly pesticides, fertilizer, machinery and support services including agriculture education and research, collaboration in forestry, horticulture, fisheries and livestock medicines and vaccines as well as strengthening production of horticulture products.

Rationale of Intervention:

Pakistan is among the top 10 producers of many crops such as rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, milk, meat, mangos, chickpeas, and citrus fruits. But because of a poor economy and lack of modern techniques and technology, it has not been able to exploit its strength in the agriculture sector fully. However, China’s experience in agriculture has been very successful, and the progress it has made in this sector during the past four decades is amazing.

China was facing food shortages just 40 years ago, but with its reforms in the agriculture sector from 1978-84, it successfully turned shortages into surpluses, and began exporting produce to other countries and generating foreign exchange. China pulled around 500 million people out of poverty within just six years of its reforms in the agriculture sector. Chinese scientists, technologists and farmers worked very hard, developed new varieties and new techniques, and the country modernized its farming patterns. Now Chinese agricultural enterprises are mature, experienced and financially strong.

They could enter Pakistan’s huge untapped huge market and make joint ventures with local entrepreneurs to exploit the real potential of Pakistan’s agriculture sector. This would help Pakistan’s economy to take off and would also be a good opportunity for Chinese entrepreneurs to make good profits as well as compensate for any disturbance caused by US export of agricultural produce  

Coordination Efforts:

Sino-Pakistan Hybrid Rice Research Centre at Karachi University: Both countries have recently initiated research to produce high-yielding and high-quality rice. Setting up a rice research centre is a right step towards achieving the objective.

The basmati rice grown in Pakistan’s Punjab province is long and slender-grained. It is aromatic, fluffy when cooked and, in classic Pakistani dishes, pairs well with lentil and gravies made from chickpea flour and spices. At market, it draws double the price, if not more, of non-basmati, long-grain rice varieties.

In recent years, however, basmati revenues have slumped in Pakistan amid low-yield harvests and uneven quality. At the Sino-Pakistan Hybrid Rice Research Center in Karachi, Chinese and Pakistani scientists are working to reverse this trend. Using state-of-the-art genetic technologies, they are developing high-yield, high-quality, and pest-resistant rice varieties, for both domestic sale and export.

The $1.3 million research facility is a harbinger of many changes soon to come to Pakistan’s agriculture sector under the ambitious development scheme known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC  For agriculture, CPEC promises technology transfers, infrastructure upgrades, and extensive cooperation between Chinese and Pakistani farming enterprises.

 A group of Chinese hybrid-rice researchers and experts along with local scientists has visited more than 100 rice farms across the country under the `Travelling Rice Seminar `initiative.
The travelling seminar was designed by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and Chinese Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Company and aims to boost hybrid rice cultivation in the country.

According to Program Coordinator and Member Plant Science PARC Dr Anjum Ali, the experts also visited research stations, agricultural universities and seed outlets of different companies to exploit the cultivation of hybrid rice. The Chinese experts travelled to Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan in order to create awareness about the cultivation of hybrid rice among growers. ‘This was a month-long activity in which a group of hybrid rice researchers from China comprising 12 scientists trained the local scientists, seed producers and field extension departments of the provincial governments,` he added.

He said the main aim of this joint initiative is to enhance per acre crop productivity, increase profitability and produce surplus commodity for exports enhancement. ‘In order to further enhance the local rice output, China and Pakistan have decided to work together for conducting joint awareness programs to adopt hybrid rice seeds,` he added.

The Chinese scientists trained 30 Pakistani agriculture scientists who were selected from across the country. Dr Ali said the Chinese experts will also impart training to the members of the provincial field extension departments on hybrid rice cultivation. In addition, the activity will also help in capacity building of local experts from all over the country in order to promote hybrid rice techniques.

Road-shows and field visits were organized across rice-growing areas to address issues and challenges faced in promotion of hybrid rice seed, he added. He further said a revolutionary hybrid rice seed has been developed recently by the Chinese researchers, which would help Pakistani farmers to enhance significantly their per acre yield, hence the country would be able to export more rice, he added

Challenges Faced by Pakistan Agriculture:

Firstly, the fertility of soil is decreasing day by day. The thickness of fertile layer of soil in Pakistan is more than 6 inches but the average yield is lower than other countries where layer of fertile soil is only 4 inches; water wastage is very high in our country. The archaic method of flood irrigation is still in practice in whole of the country which wastes almost 50 to 60 percent of water; owing to old methods of cultivation and harvesting, Pakistan has low yield per acre that means the average crop in Pakistan is just 1/4th of that of advance states.  Nepal, India and Bangladesh, are using modern scientific methods to increase their yield per acre. For this purpose, these states are using modern machines to improve their yield; small farmers are increasing in our country as the lands are dividing generation by generation. So, there are large numbers of farmers who own only 4 acres of land. These small farmers do not get credit facilities to purchase seeds, pesticides, fertilizers etc; water logging and salinity is increasing day by day. As the storage capacity of the dams is decreasing so the water availability per acre is also decreasing. Therefore, the farmers are installing more and more tube wells to irrigate their crops. This is why salinity is becoming the major issue in most parts of Punjab and Sindh; focusing more on land, crops and yield problems the man behind the plough is always ignored. While formulating the 5 or 10 years plan, no emphasize has been laid on the importance of solving the problems of farmers. Most of the farmers are illiterate, poor and ignorant.

Infrastructural problems:

 Inadequate rail and road networks are one area of concern.. Pakistan is also facing grain storage problems at large scale throughout the country. The people often store their grains in godowns, which cause time to time damage to the seed. Thus, hundreds of thousands of tones of crops have to be stored in temporary facilities that afforded inadequate protection and pilferage. The hazards may occur because of improper ventilation, lack of control over temperature and humidity, high moisture content in seeds, lack of control over rain due to broken walls, floors and ceilings, spoil and un-cleaned godowns, lack of spray and fumigation etc. That results in increase number of dormant seeds, sprouting and rotting, increase of insect damage and bird contamination.

Cold storages:

All fruits and vegetables require specialized post-harvest treatment, appropriate temperature and relative humidity for their storage. Establishment of cold storage provides refrigerated storage and preservation facilities for different fruits, vegetables as well as flowers. Special licenses are required for food items like milk, meat etc & can be studied in the. Because of technology advancements and logistic strategies, the cold storage of perishable items has become an important stage in the distribution between manufacturers / processors and retail locations. The cold storage will ensure the increased availability and improved quality of high value perishable fruits and vegetables for both export and local sale, which would otherwise perish or deteriorate.

Value added Sector:

Livestock revolution enabled Pakistan to significantly raise agriculture productivity and rural incomes in 1980s. Economic activity in dairy, meat and poultry sectors now accounts for just over 50% of the nation's total agricultural output. The result is that per capita value added to agriculture in Pakistan is almost twice as much as that in Bangladesh and India. Although Pakistan's value added to agriculture is high for its region, it has been essentially flat since mid-1990s. It also lags significantly behind developing countries in other parts of the world. For example, per capita worker productivity in North Africa and the Middle East is more than twice that of Pakistan while in Latin America it is more than three times.

Conclusions

 Agricultural development is one of the seven areas of cooperation under CPEC, wherein China is specifically interested to explore areas like cotton productivity, efficient irrigation and post-harvest infrastructure along the CPEC route, a gateway for enhancing agriculture exports to China. Where infrastructure can undoubtedly serve in allaying the bottlenecks in the agriculture sector, this progression requires economic and political reforms by the government and private sector. The government should consider removing tariff and non-tariff barriers for agricultural trade with China, renegotiating the Pak-China Free Trade Agreement for better returns on its agricultural exports. The private sector and agriculture entrepreneurs should explore viable market opportunities and partnerships in the Chinese market and with international firms. Most importantly, a modern agricultural policy needs to be formulated to work in tandem with CPEC and support the rights of the local farmers.

  The private sector and agri-entrepreneurs should become the trailblazer and start exploring viable market opportunities in the Chinese market and forge partnerships with international firms to get a foothold. The government and private sector should jointly invest in research and development and post-harvest technology to improve product variety and quality. Last, but not the least, value chain expansion should be prioritized. Fruit processing, for instance, can fetch greater value with far simpler SPS requirements and more stable demand.

Update

During Prime Minister Imran Khan`s visit to China, Islamabad and Beijing inked a few initial agreements on agriculture; on the basis of which detailed frameworks of cooperation in the field of crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry will be developed and implemented. Officials say that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during Mr Khan`s visit provides the basis for attracting Chinese investment and Chinese technical assistance in all sub-sectors of agriculture.

`From strengthening the seed sector, increasing crop yield, modernising livestock and fisheries and enlarging our forest cover, there is a long list of areas in which Chinese funds and technical cooperation will be coming in,` says a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

`Whereas it`s true that we`ll develop detailed frameworks for implementation of the PakistanChina cooperation agreement, it`s wrong to assume that none exists right now. A number of such frameworks are already in place since 2015 when the CPEC master agreement was signed and implementation on them continues,` he said.

Officials, however, are tight lipped about the critical issue of land acquisition in Pakistan by Chinese state-run or private firms for furthering cooperation in agriculture. That was an important feature of the CPEC long term plan.


Chinese companies have already been engaged in development of hybrid paddy and wheat seeds in Pakistan. Sinochem Group Agriculture Division, for example, has been running pilot projects at 200 sites in Pakistan including experimental bases and local farms.

A hybrid rice variety developed and cultivated by a Pakistan rice research and exporting company in collaboration with Yuan Long ping High-Tech Agriculture Co, has already been exported to the Philippines. In the seed manufacturing industry, Syngenta Pakistan is aggressively increasing its market share after China took over the Switzerland-based Syngenta in the middle of 2017, industry officials say. it would be naïve to expect that Chinese investment will start pouring into our agriculture sector automatically,` says a Sindh government official working on the province`s long-term agriculture policy.

`Chinese companies that are already here are all working in active partnership with local companies or federal or provincial institutions. They will continue to take this relationship one-notch further every time they decide to increase their level of cooperation. This effectively means we must prepare ourselves to work with them,` he opined.

Sindh is about to unveil its agriculture policy for 2018-2030 and officials working on it say that similar to Punjab, where Chinese and other foreign companies have been actively engaged in agricultural development, Sindh also wants to seek greater international cooperation. 

About three years ago, the Pakistani and Chinese governments had identified a couple of areas for cooperation in agriculture and China had promised to build agriculture demonstration centres across Pakistan and supply seeds and machinery to Pakistani farmers.

Authorities have so far not shared with the public how many of such demonstration centres have been built and the arrangement under which the Chinese are supplying seeds and agriculture machinery.

According to an MOU signed in this regard in October 2015, Pakistan was to use Chinese capital, technology and experience to improve irrigation, reduce post-harvest losses and enhance water use efficiency.

Officials with background knowledge of agricultural programmes under CPEC say work is progressing on the above-mentioned and several other areas of agriculture development and poverty alleviation. Currently it is difficult to say how much of the Chinese funding we can expect in state grants and loans, and how much through foreign direct investment of Chinese companies,` a federal government official explained.

Some projects like those of farm-to-market road networks that are connected with storage, packaging and processing units, fall under infrastructure development in CPEC wherein long-term state funding can rightly be expected.But both state-run Chinese institutions and companies will be involved in other projects like construction of modern slaughter houses or pulses, tea and oil seeds crop cultivation or deepening of agricultural research programmes

Impact of Wind turbine vibrations on Ground water and Shale

Impact of Wind turbine vibrations on Ground water and Shale

Ground water contamination has been reported from Canada, from areas where the bedrock is comprised of shale,. This needs to be investigated as in Pakistan we have areas where wind is feasible and the bedrock or geology is shale based. Large wind turbines are getting larger and therefore require a large pylon to support the machine. This requires to pile-drive a massive steel beams into the bedrock. The problem is that the bedrock may be  made of shale and is known to contain uranium and arsenic. Vibration from the pile-driving breaks up this toxic shale below the groundwater and contaminates it. Area residents can’t drink, bathe, or wash their clothes because of this. Water wells are being poisoned  . Construction of wind turbines continues even though scientific tests at several farms show that well water has been contaminated.

Canadian users of ground water, attribute contamination of ground water to the wind turbines being built nearby and the companies developing them.  A large number of local rural residents who believe the problems with their well water owe to the interaction between local wind farm development and the area’s unique geology. The sedimentary bedrock — dark in color and fine-grained — lurks beneath most of Chatham-Kent. It’s known to contain sulphur, carbon, and toxic heavy metals. A resident says that his well was drilled by his father half a century ago and had always run clear — until sediment clogged it last October. Now, the water is the color of tea and when poured and small particles sink to the bottom of a glass. 

Ensuing government research debunked some of the claims. A 2014 health federal health study, for instance, showed that “annoyance” was the sole condition found to increase as levels of wind turbine noise increased. (The report did note that community annoyance was statistically related to health effects such as migraines, blood pressure changes, tinnitus, and stress.). But events in Chatham-Kent raise the possibility that the massive wind catchers pose unique and under-considered risks to the region’s environment, and the health and safety of its residents.  

Spokesman for Water Wells First and an area farmer says the concern is that vibrations — either from pile driving during the construction phase or, eventually, the everyday operations of the turbines — might disturb the fragile Kettle Point black shale bedrock and contaminate the ancient aquifer that serves as the local source of well water. The worry was justified: It is well established that vibrations from pile driving can damage nearby structures. As for ordinary turbine operations, one recent Canadian study found a relationship between the vibrations and ground material within 100 meters of the structure.

Moreover, Water Wells First contends that the company and ministry didn’t take the special characteristics of the local geology into account. Residents realized their worst fears as the project began the construction phase last summer. Nineteen wells began to experience sediment problems, nearly a third of the 64 wells that the group members had tested at their own expense. Bill Clarke, a hydro geologist for Water Wells First who gathered and analyzed the samples, says follow-up testing showed the affected wells experienced changes in water turbidity, amount of particles, color, and rate of flow. While he says some of the changes were marginal, others were alarming. In one instance, the black shale particle count jumped from 47 particles per milliliter to 681,939 — with nearly half of the particles being as tiny as those found in cigarette smoke.

Tiny particles are potentially dangerous because they can be too small to settle to the bottom of a well, nor can they be controlled using conventional water filtration systems. A medical geologist based in Ingersoll, says the acidic atmosphere in the stomach can break down the binding between a clay-based shale particle and any heavy metals attached, allowing the metals to settle in other areas of the body rather than to pass through our digestive system.

“What is actually happening out there as best as I can put together,” Clarke says, “is that there are vibrations that are happening down around the 20-metre level, where the top of the shale is taking place.” The vibrations  from pile driving, and later, from the turbines’ operation create waves like the ripples that fan out in water when people throw rocks into a pond. When the waves from different turbines intersect, they can either cancel each other out, he says — or amplifies the effect.

“If you have a well at that intersection where waves are really reinforcing each other,” it means the shale at the base of the well is being shaken as hard as it would be in an earthquake. That kicks up the particles, and you’re “going to see your water go a [dark] color.”The water: ‘certainly unappealing,’ but is it also dangerous?

Pattern Development, which is developing the farm with Samsung Renewable Energy, defends the preparatory research on the project. Jody Law, a Pattern project developer, says the environmental assessment to obtain the renewable energy approval was rigorous. The developer monitored wells and vibrations during the construction phase, which Law says is a new requirement from the ministry. Sensors were used to monitor vibrations on some (but not all) turbine locations as they were being planted into the ground. The developer inspected all of the complaints it received (16, according to North Kent Wind’s website), and has determined pile driving isn’t to blame for any problems local residents are having with their well water.

This month, the ministry supported those conclusions  and also declared the water was safe to drink despite the sediment. “Water containing fine particles could appear cloudy or turbid,” a ministry representative wrote in a Feb. 1 letter to Paul and Jessica Brooks, the property owners with the especially high black shale particle counts. “Turbid water is certainly unappealing but according to the Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health, in the absence of bacterial contamination there is no health hazard from un-dissolved particles in water.”

In an email responding to TVO’s written questions, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change responds in part: “The ministry takes concerns about groundwater quality very seriously and we are actively holding the company accountable for addressing complaints related to changes in well water quality and/or quantity.”

Jakubec says there are ways to fix the problem — if the group can ever convince the ministry the vibration issue exists. Adding dampeners to problem towers is one way, or, once a well is affected, specialized filtration equipment that can handle small particles could be installed.

Three days after his water disappeared, North Kent Wind’s developers began supplying him with huge water containers of non-potable water and jugs of drinkable water. Law says that Pattern has been delivering the water to other residents who have complained about well water quality since construction began. They’re being good neighbors, he says. After the ministry sent its letter to the Brooks, however, Pattern announced it would stop the water deliveries.

Vibrations from wind turbines, a phenomena known as seismic coupling, is being blamed for sedimentation in more than 20 water wells in this southwestern Ontario municipality. More than 460 rural residents have signed a petition, which was presented to the municipal council Aug. 22, asking for a moratorium on further development. The controversy concerns those in the former Township of Dover just east of Lake St. Clair and a new project, North Kent Wind One, headed by Pattern Energy and Samsung Renewable Energy.Jakubec said developers were informed of the concern at a public meeting last November but have yet to respond.

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has acknowledged there may be concern. Under the Renewable Energy Approval, Pattern and Samsung are to test well water if residents complain, offer an opinion as to whether turbines are to blame, and supply bottled water until the issue is resolved.  Jakubec said well water issues are often first noticed when piles are driven into the earth to anchor the giant machines. In some instances, problems clear up but in others they continue. There have even been cases of turbidity levels fluctuating in relationship to the direction and intensity of the wind

Wade said turbines can be retrofitted to dampen vibrations and alternative anchoring systems are available, but those would cost more. The water table is fragile in Dover, part of a geological area stretching from Lake Huron to Chatham-Kent. There are just 50 to 70 feet of overburden in most places covering black shale bedrock.  

Jakubec and Stainton said there are studies from Scotland and Italy that have identified seismic coupling. Jakubec, a green energy researcher, said impacts tend to be felt from 1.5 to five kilometers away from turbine locations. Geological engineer Maurice Dusseault wasn’t surprised to hear that Chatham-Kent water wells were contaminated in the wake of pile driving for wind turbines.“Pile driving emits a lot of low-frequency energy, and it is not at all surprising to me that there could be related groundwater effects. The concept of large-amplitude, low frequency excitation as an aid to liquid flow is reasonably well-known,” the University of Waterloo professor said. “Low frequency deformation waves are absolutely known to lead to fluctuation in ground water levels as well as changes in the particulate count in shallow groundwater wells.”

In addition, Dusseault said affected residents were well-advised in having their wells baseline tested prior to construction last summer. It’s the type of evaluation he recommends. Before and after tests sent by the Water Wells First citizens’ group to RTI Laboratories in Michigan show an exponential increase [in] turbidity among the 14 affected wells, including [a] large proportion that can be attributed to Kettle [Point] black shale particles that are known to contain heavy metals, including uranium, arsenic and lead.

That’s not the conclusion reached by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, as outlined in letters recently sent to affected well owners living near the North Kent One project in the northern part of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. Whilst there’s been an admission that wells have indeed been contaminated.  That contamination can only be attributed to “unidentified factors.” Pile-driving activities associated with wind turbine development are not to blame, the MOECC maintains.

The MOECC, in coming to its conclusion, relied upon the vibration evaluations prepared for the developers Samsung and Pattern Energy, by Golder Associates Limited. Golder measured changes to particle velocity as a measure of vibration intensity created by pile driving.

“The ministry has reviewed Golder’s assessment and agreed with the conclusion that any pile driving -induced vibrations at your well would have been much lower than those created during common daily activities around the homes,” a letter to one of the affected families states. The parameters used by Golder, however, may be flawed….

“This is a complicated issue because there is reason to believe that it is the very low frequencies that may perturb the aquifer, whereas higher frequencies have no effect. Thus, if their vibration sensors are not picking up the low frequencies (lower than one Hertz), it would be difficult to make general comment about the vibration,” Dusseault said.

Heavy equipment was used to drive steel beams to the black shale bedrock, located 50 to 70 feet below the soil surface, to anchor each of the North Kent Wind turbines. The aquifer from which most well owners in the area draw their water is located just above the shale. The same type of vibration could be created by the operation of the turbines, “if there are continued low frequency but reasonably large-amplitude excitations set up by the wind turbine through the connection to the foundations seated in the rock … and of course this is based on direct evidence (earthquake-induced effects), not indirect inference (peak particle velocity) for which there is not a proven causality,” he said.

The concerns have been dismissed by Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health who concluded that there is no health risk from undisclosed particles in water when no bacteria are present. Jakubec, however, said there are at least two potential pathways through which the heavy metals in black shale particles can enter the human body.