“Cow dung's key role in India's energy industry”

Geography Case Study

45.5% of the workforce in India are employed in agriculture, and yet only produces 15% of the nation’s wealth.

68% of Indian farmers own less than 1 hectare of land , leading to each farming family receiving an average annual income of less than U$300.

India is the World’s largest milk producer, its dairy herds create (deposit?) 730 million tonnes of manure every year!

So what can be done?

This resource includes a variety of lesson activities to pick and choose:

Photographic Analysis: Maharashtra Farmer making ‘cow cakes’ to dry in the sun before burning as fuel. (Photo & worksheet)

Which energy keyword is the odd one out?

Which chemical compound is the odd one out?

(Both activities promote discussion and thought processes)

Lateral Thinking about Cow dung! (Find ways to link the four images… Then write three sentences to explain your ideas)

Several slides to project to help set the scene (Dezi the Cow from Maharashtra)

Indian Cow Dung Hexagons. (Explain what is NO so good about manure)

Concept Map: ‘Manure to Energy’ - 35 facts to sort and colour code (Locations; Causes; Effects; Management; Supporting Data)

Geography Web: ‘Manure to Energy’ - Using knowledge learned so far, make links between six features (eg Indian dairy farmer, climate change, British citizen) and then explain the links.

Link to video: ‘Biogas: From Grass to Gas’

Annotate the diagram: ‘Dung Power!’ - Two-sided worksheet: a) information to be sorted; b) diagram of an anaerobic digester / bioreactor.

Teachers’ Background Information: Includes links to original BBC article, academic articles