Green Tanzania cookstove programme

More than 90% of the population in Tanzania use wood or charcoal as their main source of energy for domestic use. In rural areas, this percentage is even higher with almost all households using open fires as a cooking tool and wood as fuel, sometimes combined with traditional charcoal stoves that have low energy efficiency rate, consuming large quantities of fuel.

The widespread use of inefficient cooking methods among the population is determined by the lack of accessibility to more environmentally friendly alternative cooking methods. The main barriers limiting access to more advanced cooking technologies are consumers lack of knowledge and awareness and the low households purchasing power in rural areas, which cannot afford to buy more efficient cooking technologies.

The widespread use of wood and charcoal for domestic use and inefficient cooking and space heating methods has a multi-dimensional negative impact:

• At the environmental level, there are increasing levels of deforestation due to the cutting of natural forests by rural communities to procure firewood and to produce charcoal to use especially in urban and peri-urban areas where charcoal stoves are more widely used. A study carried out by the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania in 2021 showed that on average each household uses about 6.7 kg of wood and 3.3 kg of charcoal per day for cooking. From 2010 to 2021, Tanzania lost about 11% of its forests (Global Forest Watch) due to deforestation.
• The use of inefficient methods for cooking food results in the release of substances that are harmful to health. The FAO estimates 3 million deaths a year worldwide from respiratory diseases caused by the constant and prolonged inhalation of smoke from combustion generated by inefficient cooking systems. According to data from the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, some 33,000 people die annually from this cause in the country. Women and children are the main victims of this problem, spending a lot of time in the kitchen. In addition, women living in rural areas are at risk of sexual violence on their way to collect wood.
• Due to heavy deforestation, not all households have easy access to forests now also in rural areas so they are forced to buy wood or charcoal from traders. Especially in the rainy season, the household budget allocated to the purchase of wood and charcoal increases because the availability of dry wood to collect decreases, contributing to poverty.
  The national penetration of ICS in Tanzania is only 5% and is even lower in rural regions of the country. Lack of agents in rural remote areas, long distances and poor road conditions, lack of finance for the producers who are small scale artisans are among the reasons for the low penetration.
  In order to overcome those challenges, OffgridSun has developed the Green Tanzania Cookstove Programme to promote clean cooking in rural Tanzania. The Green Tanzania Cookstove Programme aims at contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions derived by the use of fossil fuel for cooking and deforestation through the promotion of alternative clean cooking among rural households. The traditional stoves mostly used by rural households will be replaced with locally-made, portable, modern firewood cookstoves with high thermal efficiency (approx. 35%) that help to reduce up to 70% the wood consumption.
  The first activity within the Programme is the project “Protect the Environment, Use Clean Cookstoves” VPA1 that is going to be implemented in Tanga Region whereby OffgridSun collaborate with the local NGO INUKA Youth Development Organization and will foresee the distribution of 10.000 improved cookstoves and small tree plants to the population in Handeni District.
  The cookstoves will be sold at a subsidized affordable price to facilitate the access of the poorest families. Sensitization campaigns on clean cooking and environmental conservation will be also provided to the targeted communities. Local youth will be trained to become local agents to sell the cookstoves within the villages. The programme aims to reach areas where no such activities are implemented previously. In case of interaction with other similar initiatives/programmes, the project stoves can be identified with their design and unique IDs.