The increasing demand for farm animal products leads to higher pressure on the effective treatment of animal waste. Based on practice from other countries, biogas systems offer several significant advantages in terms of energy, environmental and economic development. Therefore, this paper investigates the potential development of small-scale biogas systems and their suitability in rural parts of northern Sumatra. A baseline field survey using semi-structured personal interviews based on questionnaires was carried out among randomly selected rural households (n = 196) in northern Sumatra in July-August 2014. The follow-up field visits to verify the results from the first stage were organised in August–September 2016. The findings show that only small individual farmers, who own 2–5 cattle heads spread on pastures, face difficulties to collect the dung. Other farmers report enough cattle manure to cover feedstock for biogas production. The calculations show sufficient animal waste feedstock supply and consequently estimated potential of energy from biogas (845 TJy⁻¹) in the region. Nevertheless, the respondents manage animal manure only with composting (65% of respondents) and with sun-drying for fuel purposes (6%); often they leave manure fallow. The surveyed households use mostly a combination of subsidized LPG and electricity as a primary energy source for food and feed preparation, supplemented by fuelwood as the secondary source. Only half of the respondents have some knowledge about biogas technology and its benefits. The potential for small biogas systems development in the region is supported with a sufficient amount of animal manure as feedstock and suitable designs of biogas digesters on one hand; and on the other hand, impeded by challenges related to low information accessibility and investment power of rural households.

对农场动物产品的需求不断增加，对有效处理动物废物产生了更大的压力。根据其他国家的实践，沼气系统在能源，环境和经济发展方面具有许多重要优势。因此，本文研究了小型沼气系统的潜在发展及其在苏门答腊北部农村地区的适用性。2014年7月至2014年8月，在苏门答腊北部随机选择的农村家庭（n = 196）中，使用基于问卷的半结构化个人访谈进行了基线实地调查。后续的实地访问以验证第一阶段的结果是：该组织于2016年8月至9月举行。调查结果显示，只有2至5头牛的小型个体农场主散布在牧场上，面对收集粪便的困难。其他农民报告称，牛粪足以覆盖沼气生产所需的原料。计算结果表明有足够的动物废物原料供应，因此估计了来自沼气的能源潜力（845 TJy^-1）在该区域中。然而，受访者仅通过堆肥（占受访者的65％）和晒干作燃料来管理动物粪便（占6％）；他们经常离开粪便休耕。被调查的家庭大多将补贴的液化石油气和电力结合起来用作食物和饲料制备的主要能源，辅以薪柴作为辅助能源。只有一半的受访者对沼气技术及其益处有一定的了解。一方面，有足够数量的动物粪便作为原料，并通过适当的沼气池设计，为该地区发展小型沼气系统提供了潜力。另一方面，由于信息获取能力低下和农村家庭的投资能力受到挑战而受到阻碍。