Each year about 140 billion metric tons of agro-waste is generated in the world and this large quantity has great potential of being converted into renewable energy source. Pakistan is largely an agrarian economy and has significant amount of agricultural waste generated from different crops such as cotton, rice and sugarcane that is widely available at almost each district and village level.

WWF realized the potential of generating renewable energy from the abundant available quantities of agricultural waste. Therefore, with the financial assistance of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), WWF successfully implemented “Agro-waste Community Enterprise for Provision of Alternate Energy for Households and Small Businesses” project from 2017 to 2018, to promote alternate energy solutions among off-grid rural communities and small culinary vendors. The project was implemented in over 30 villages of of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where more than 500 agro-waste gasifier units were disseminated among communities and vendors. WWF also built the capacity of the recipients on gasifier usage through training workshops. However, provision of gasifier units was subject to tree plantation in the respective area; this initiative enabled communities to plant more than 5000 plants in their vicinities, which reiterated communities’ commitment towards nature conservation.