Woodstove dissemination in Eastern Africa – a review

The energy sector in Eastern Africa is heavily dependent on biomass. Over 70% of the energy requirements of the region are met by biomass and 60% of this is consumed by the household sector, mainly for cooking. Since woodfuel gathering was thought to be the primary cause of deforestation in the region (although the importance of other factors is now recognised), improved cookstoves have been long known as a major imperative for reducing deforestation. Besides, the household smoke concentrations due to traditional stoves have been a great cause for health concerns, and the importance of the energy efficiency of improved stoves in alleviating the energy crisis is self-evident. After a phase of research and development lasting roughly till 1986, various agencies including NGOs have been working towards dissemination of the improved designs developed. Although absolute figures of dissemination look impressive, they are small in comparison with the numbers of households that are the target of the programmes. A major difficulty that has been encountered is the fact that traditionally rural households have paid for neither fuel nor stove, which is often home-made. Therefore, NGOs and others involved in dissemination programmes have had to establish reliable systems for the production, distribution and installation of improved stoves, in which such factors as training artisans to produce them according to the specifications have been crucial. Kenya's Maendeleo stove programme is one which has established itself as self-sustaining. With increasing awareness of the health benefits of improved cookstoves, the future prospects of the dissemination programmes look better.