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According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture of China (MOA), by the end of 2010, biogas will be supplied to an estimate of 40 million farm households or 33 percent of the national total with proper conditions for biogas use; the number of biogas works will exceed 60, 000 (including over 20,000 small-scale ones like animal farming communities and more than 4700 medium and large-sized ones), benefiting 155 million people; the biogas industry will continue to grow in scale with the number of biogas workers and production/service enterprises exceeding 270,000 and 4000 respectively and its annual output value topping 26 billion yuan.
Rural biogas, closely connected with crop and animal farming as well as farmers’ daily life, has remarkable comprehensive benefits: it could not only provide high-quality energy for their daily life and optimize the energy-consumption structure, but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development of low-carbon economy. The annual output of biogas in rural areas has amounted to 16.4 billion m3 (about 13 percent of national yearly consumption of natural gas) which could equal nearly 18.4 million tons of standard coal and help to reduce CO2 by over 50 million tons, helping to meet the national control targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In rural areas, nearly 400 million tons of organic fertilizers could be produced during biogas generation. Ecological cycle models such as “pig farming-biogas generation-fruit (vegetables, grain and tea) production” and some supporting measures could help reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers by over 20 percent, improve 80 million mu (5.33 million ha) of farmland, raise the quality of agricultural products and promote the development of eco-friendly animal farming and high-efficient crop farming.
http://english.agri.gov.cn/ga/news/201101/t20110105_2626.htm
