The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure and Lovemore Kadzura
NECESSITY has always been the mother of invention, and as a means to cope with inadequate and erratic supply of power, urban and rural dwellers have resorted to the use of tsotso stoves, given their low labour and energy-saving attributes.
The project that seeks to improve the environment and living standards of low-income earners is being implemented by the Agriculture Advisory and Rural Development Services (AARDS) and Development Aid from People to People Zimbabwe (DAAP Zimbabwe), with 50 000 units expected to be set up in Makoni, Mutasa and Chimanimani districts.
A tsotso stove is a fuel-efficient stove made from sheet metal.
It has a fire grate and a removable bottom grid made from wire.
The body of the stove is filled with vermiculite to increase the heat and provide more stability.
A unit costs around US$15, which is within the reach of the majority of the low-income earners, and only needs a few twigs to make a fire for cooking or heating.
A bundle of the sticks can cook about six to 10 meals, thereby saving energy and labour in the process.
Production and adoption of these fuel-efficient stoves reduce dependence on forest resources by minimising the amount of firewood required to meet household needs.
The roll-out is being done at a time when the country is grappling with power cuts, with load shedding schedules sometimes lasting even 12 hours per day in some areas, thereby forcing low income earners to resort to firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating.
As a result, deforestation is worsening.
Statistics from the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe shows that about 300 000 hectares of forests are lost to deforestation and veld fires, annually, hence the need to improve resilience and adaptive capacity of urban and rural families to climate change related challenges like energy insecurity.
With fuel-wood’s share in the national energy mix at around 53 percent, according to data from the Zimbabwe Electrical Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings, it is clear that forests are rapidly dwindling.
The stove requires half the amount of wood needed – something that should help in the fight against deforestation, given the rapid rate at which musasa, mupfuti, muunze and munhunga trees are being cut down daily.
Firewood poachers are ready to pounce and feed the need for energy, thereby making deforestation unstoppable.
Traditionally, low-income households have always depended on firewood which chews up loads of firewood and endangers the environment.
Studies indicate that 61 percent of citizens are not connected to the electricity grid, and urban households consume between one and five tonnes of firewood per year, while their rural counterparts require double that.
Apart from saving trees, tsotso stoves could also be what the doctor prescribed to improve beneficiaries’ health by reducing hazardous smoke from traditional open fires.
The stove produces less smoke, thereby protecting families from respiratory diseases.
It is claimed that the first tsotso stove was developed by Mr David Hancock in Zimbabwe in the 1980s, who reported an efficiency of about 25 percent.
The stove was a result of three years of research work, at first on an individual basis by Mr Hancock, and later as part of project work conducted by the University of Zimbabwe Development Technology Centre (DTC).
“This technology is being used as a climate change adaptation tool in severely deforested areas, where priority is placed on saving wood. Efficiencies in the region of 23 percent were achieved and this satisfied our ambition of creating a fuel-saving stove.
It also burned more cleanly than the open fire and was very fast.
“We then moved on to field-test the stove in one of Harare’s high- density suburbs over a period of four months.
“These results confirmed the laboratory test. However, during follow-up work, some interesting facts emerged. By far, the most impressive thing about the stove for the women using it was its speed – it boils 3,3 litres of water in about 12 minutes. Saving time is apparently of much greater importance to women than saving wood,” stated Mr Hancock.
DAPP project leader, Mrs Majecha Ruzvidzo said they are targeting districts with high levels of deforestation.
“We are addressing global warming and climate change issues through the adoption of firewood saving stoves. The goal is to construct 50 000 stoves in the three districts.
“The idea is to have a community that understands the effects of carbon emissions into the atmosphere and their contribution to global warming, climate change and health effects caused by living in polluted environments,” she said.
Mrs Ruzvidzo implored on the communities to understand the importance of trees in carbon sequestration and providing nutrition for families.
“Tsotso stoves have plenty of benefits such as reduced carbon emissions into the atmosphere, reduction of time spent by villagers, especially women, in fetching firewood.
“The stoves also address health hazards for women as they involuntarily inhale an average of about 30 cigarettes per day when cooking.
“The firewood saving stoves are made from eco-friendly materials that are locally available in all the communities. The materials required to build one stove include six shovels of sand soil, six shovels of clay and two shovels of cow dung,” she said.
Environmental activist and president of the Save the Environment and Climate Foundation Trust (SECFT), Mr Learnmore Nyaruwanga said all avenues that can help in preserving the environment must be pursued with vigour.
“Only about 13 percent of rural population has access to electricity and this put pressure on our forests. Rural areas depend on solid bio-mass for their thermal needs and this must be minimised,” said Mr Nyaruwanga.
National trees ambassador, Mr Never Bonde said drastic action must be taken against firewood poachers, while simultaneously promoting alternative efficient cooking stove technologies that save firewood.
“Communities have to be trained to embrace energy-efficient tsotso stoves as part of the broader strategy to combat deforestation. Only a few twigs can cook a meal for the family. lt it also hygienic and environmentally friendly,” he said. Mr
Bonde is also lobbying for the use of green fuels, bio-degradable and environmentally friendly methods of treating farm produce.
He says relying on firewood for energy is having a strong bearing on Zimbabwe’s environment.
