Against the grain: Turning rice husks menace into soft and friendly matter

Samuel Rigu displays biochar made from rice husks at Wang’uru town in Kirinyaga County on September 22, 2021. PHOTO| JOSEPH KANYI

At his factory outside Wang’uru shopping centre in Kenya’s central region, 34-year-old Alex Kabiru is busy emptying sacks of yellowish grain-like material around a metallic circular chimney.

Above, a small, whitish smoke goes up into the air as the materials continue to burn, while a group of young men help him offload more of it around the burner forming a huge heap, which they keep turning using shovels.