M

ost people view animal excrement with repulsion and disgust. They will usually try to get away from it as quickly as possible, with their mouth, eyes and nose tight shut.  

An exception has to be made, though, for the farmers of the Qaryah Thayyibah Union of Farming Communities (SPPQT) in Salatiga, Central Java, who have managed to turn livestock waste into a viable source of income.

“People often see animal waste as something awful. They don’t want to deal with it because of the terrible stench. If only they knew that animal waste can be turned into money,” CV Qaryah Thayyibah director Turjangun recently told The Jakarta Post.

CV Qaryah Thayyibah is a subsidiary of SPPQT dealing in the development of biogas digesters, which are able to contain methane gas produced by animal waste for domestic usage, including for cooking and house lighting.

“After its methane gas is channeled through the biogas digesters, the residual animal waste may still be utilized as a worm farm, of which the mucus and the saliva can be turned into an organic and odorless fertilizer. The worms may then be used to feed fish,” Turjaun said.

“So, you see, the benefits really do go on and on and on. There’s practically no limit to what you can do with animal waste, once you learn that it has a million purposes,” he said.

The idea of a biogas digester system was first discussed at SPPQT in around 1999, inspired by the abundant waste product from beef and dairy farming. The idea was to think of a waste management system that was cheap enough and simple enough to be built and managed by local farmers.

The solution was the now-widespread biogas digester, which looks a lot like a huge septic tank with pipes to channel the gas to houses.

A minimum of two cows is needed to produce enough dung every day for the biogas digesters.

“Two cows is enough to fill a four-cubic-meter biogas digester, which is enough to provide gas for one household for one day, including four hours of cooking and lighting gas lamps,” Turjangun said.

The cost to establish a four-cubic-meter unit in the first place is quite cheap, only Rp 5 million (US$520). From that Rp 5 million, farmers need to pay only Rp 3 million, as the other Rp 2 million is subsidized by SPPQT with the help of a Netherlands-based organization.

SPPQT has also provided services to establish larger biogas digesters, up to 20-cubic-meter units, of which the initial investment needed is more than Rp 40 million.

The life expectancy of a biogas digester unit is between 15 and 20 years.

From that humble beginning thirteen years ago, SPPQT now manages 350 biogas digester units across 12 cities and regencies in Central Java, from Blora to Cilacap.   

A few months ago, in an energy self-sufficient village competition held by Central Java’s Energy and Mineral Resources Office, Jethak village in Semarang regency won second place for its management of 41 biogas digester units.

More importantly, on Oct. 12, Turjangun himself was recognized by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for his work in developing the biogas digester system.

“I was shocked. I was so sure I wouldn’t win. When the email came, telling me to go to Jakarta and bring a batik shirt to receive the award, I thought it was a joke. I told my wife to read the e-mail. I even called the ministry to make sure if it was not a joke,” said Turjangun, laughing heartily.

The company has an informal motto nowadays: Ra Tuku, Ra Utang, Gawe Dewe, which is a Javanese expression meaning “We don’t buy, We don’t owe people money, We build this ourselves”.

They even have T-shirts imprinted with the words.

People from all over the country have visited Qaryah Thayyibah’s headquarters in Salatiga just to learn about the system, even State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan, who visited in May this year.

“Some large companies have also negotiated with us to try to buy us out. They offer us hundreds of millions of rupiah annually but we’ve refused them,” said SPPQT former chairman Faisol. “We want to maintain our principle that this company is owned by the village people instead of corporations.”