Date: 21/09/2023
Time: 12:00-13:00 (BST)
Generating energy from agricultural waste in Nigeria: A case of Abakaliki rice mill cluster
In this webinar, Commonwealth Scholar Prince Anthony Okoro will discuss how his startup, ‘Bebeque Energy’, uses an innovative solution to generate energy from agri-residues to support the activities of a rice processing cluster in Nigeria.
Agriculture is a key sector of the Nigerian economy that employs approximately two-thirds of the national labour force and is the main source of livelihood for many. The sector is dominated by small-scale farming, low productivity, and low income. At the same time, agriculture generates large amounts of waste/residue that are often disposed of unsustainably through on-site burning and dumping on land, which releases high levels of emissions contributing to climate change, air pollution, respiratory diseases, and contamination of the soil and water.
In this webinar, Prince will discuss the ways in which Bebeque Energy offers rice processors access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy, can improve the quality of their processed rice, and increase the net income of rice farmers and millers. He will also highlight the potential of the innovative solution in reducing food insecurity and environmental and health risks associated with current agricultural methods. The overall benefits of the solution could contribute to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and GDP per capita and increase export and export earnings, all of which lie at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
This webinar will address the CSC development theme, Science and technology for development.
The webinar will last for approximately one hour, including a Q&A session.
Open to all Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni, the monthly webinars will address one of the CSC’s six development themes and provide an opportunity for attendees to engage in real-time Q&A discussion on the topic presented.
You can watch previous webinars on the CSC’s YouTube channel.
Prince Anthony Okoro is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the start-up, Bebeque Energy. He is the inaugural winner of the British Renewable Energy Award, 2022, in the Future Game changer in the field of renewable energy and technology category. He was a 2019 EnergyNet Student of Africa at Lisbon’s Energy Forum.
Prince Anthony Okoro is a 2017 Commonwealth PhD Scholar from Nigeria. He is completing his PhD in Bioenergy in Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University.
