ProBEC Evaluation and Verification of Production and Sales in Manica and Sofala
— Final—
May 2008
Peter E. Coughlin Horácio Gervásio
EconPolicy Research Group, Lda. Av. Paulo Samuel Kankhomba, 1381 r/c Maputo, Mozambique Telefax: 258-21-305131 Cell: 84 317-1080 E-mail:
[email protected]
Report commissioned by the
Program for Basic Energy and Conservation (ProBEC) P. O. Box 13732, Hatfield South Africa 0028 Tel.: 27 11 447 2203
Fax: 27 11 880 8113 Mobile: 27 82 9028907
[email protected]
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Contents 1. Introduction 2. ProBEC’s Structure for Stove Promotion in Manica and Sofala Provinces 3. Kilns and Bread Ovens
1 1 2
Context, 2 Challenges, 3 Technology, 3 Promotion and Sustainability of the Business, 4 Training of Artisans, Institutional Capacitation, and the Level of Satisfaction of the Beneficiaries, 7
Recommendations for Ovens and Kilns, 10
4. Institutional Stoves
11
Coverage of the Study and Numbers of Stoves Reported, 11 Type of Institutions Involved, 16 Comparison of the Technology Embodied in the Mobile and Permanent Rocket Stoves, 16 Reasons for and Levels of Satisfaction with the Institutional Stoves, 16 Factors Determining the Project’s Effectiveness, 19 Promotion and Institutional Insertion, 19 Insertion and Institutional Coordination, 19 Training and Institutional Capacitation for the Maintenance of Improved Stoves, 20
Recommendations for Institutional Stoves, 21
5. Household Improved Stoves Implementation Strategy, 22 Numbers and Status of the Stoves Produced, 24 Sofala, 24 Manica, 25
Level of Satisfaction of Users and the Reasons Therefor, 27 Performance of the Household Wood-Saver Stove, 32 Baseline and Impact of the Household Wood-Saver Stove on Cooking Practices, 34 The Sample, 34 Stoves and Stove Preferences, 35 Learning of Household Management Techniques, 36 Non-cooking Applications for Stoves, 39 Stoves Used to Prepare Bathwater, 41 Fires, Air Quality, Burns and Respiratory Problems, 42 Types and Sources of Fuel, 47
iii
21
Recipients’ Evaluation of the Stove’s Installation and the Training Received, 48
Recommendations for the Household Wood-Saver Stove, 51
6. Conclusions 7. Annexes 8. References
52 54 90
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1. Introduction In central and northern Mozambique, ProBEC’s activities involve improving the designs for institutional wood-burning stoves and others that are installed in homes. In both cases, the program together with its private partner has been (i) training artisans that do the installations, (ii) promoting the stoves and identifying potential clients, and (iii) installing the stoves. According to the TOR, the consultant should provide essential information to help to evaluate these activities. Toward that he should: 1. verify production and sales figures for kilns, bread ovens, and institutional and household improved stoves provided to ProBEC by Adel and Enremo; 2. collect additional information on the impact of the use of the energy efficient stoves by households and institutions; and 3. establish baseline information on kitchen management practices collected from households without energy efficient stoves. The report provides ProBEC and GTZ information crucial for shaping the policy and strategy for their northern program plus a baseline about household management techniques for measuring the project’s impact. As per agreement with ProBEC, in order to reduce the cost and time required to execute the study, the consultant studied the areas along the Beira-Manica corridor, Sussendenga and along the highway from Namatanda up to Caia and over to Sena.
2. ProBEC’s Structure for Stove Promotion in Manica and Sofala Provinces In both provinces, the methodology for the dissemination of the stoves and ovens involves the direct and indirect promotion efforts by ProBEC. The project hires activists to promote stoves and train stove installers in diverse communities and coordinates with builders to makes ovens and kilns. In Manica, ProBEC also works with a local NGO, Enremo, to mobilize the communities and to identify additional organizations that are willing to incorporate stove promotion into their programs. Though only fully legalized in November 2007, Enremo has been in existence for about two and a half years. DED has provided Enremo with a small space for its office. It has 10 members, four of whom are ProBEC employees doing mainly community and office work. For oven construction, ProBEC works with Construção Água Saneamento Energia Lda. (CASE, of Eng. Zana Zitzai), and, till recently, Savepla Lda. It also cooperates with the World Food Program, the Italian
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Food Program (FRO) and CSN, a Danish NGO, for financial support for the installation of stoves.1 In Sofala, ProBEC works very closely with ADEL, a fairly large, well financed and well structured organization, which has an extensive network into numerous communities. Till now, the Sofala project has concentrated only on the promotion of improved rocket stoves for homes. In a complementary effort ADEL (without financial support from ProBEC) is beginning to launch the Mbaula, a small ceramic-steel charcoal stove, and plans to start promoting institutional stoves in November 2007. For the latter, it intends to pay Savepla to construct a permanent rocket stove in Mafambisse in order to teach local artisans how to make it.
3. Kilns and Bread Ovens Context In the study area, the project has installed six bread ovens and one ceramic kiln, plus three other kilns in other areas. One kiln was functional though yet to be inaugurated; three others had reportedly never functioned because, reportedly, individuals had torn them apart to use the bricks. Table 1: Bakery rocket stoves listed by ProBEC and interviewed Bakery rocket stoves Number % Listed by ProBEC 6 100% Interviewed 6 100% Total 6 100% The institutions that have benefited from these ovens comprise one school, one private operator, two women’s associations, and two centers for orphans and vulnerable children. The associations have, on average, 10 members, mostly women who work on a voluntary basis. None of the associations is constituted legally. Operating under ProBEC’s instructions, Enremo built the ovens for the two associations. The only school that has an oven is the Escola Completa de Trangapasso, which has 1,667 students, including orphans and vulnerable children. The school has not, however, developed additional sources of income. The open centers for orphans and vulnerable children (Kubatsirais Nderera and Amatongas) also got bread ovens. The two associations sell bread but also have an informal business selling basic products like salt, sugar, cereals, and maize (Table 2). 1
In January and February 2007, ProBEC Manica had a significant clash with Savepla because, allegedly, the latter had not rectified defects in an oven it had installed the previous December and, after failed requests for the repair, ProBEC Manica informed Savepla that the work would be done by others and, consequently, ProBEC would not pay the remaining 50% for the work. Savepla’s three directors deny ever having received such requests and, instead, they were merely presented with the letter terminating the contract and announcing the non-payment of the second tranche. Since that time, Savepla’s directors report that their company has had direct dealings with ProBEC. However, it continues to work for the project in Manica as a subcontractor via CASE as well as on direct contracts with ProBEC Sofala. Since Savepla is clearly of ongoing usefulness to ProBEC, it may be wise to review and renegotiate this conflict.
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Table 2. Additional activities developed by the institutions with bread ovens Organization Additional commercial activities Associaçao Wafunguei Agriculture (Amatongas) Escola Completa de No additional activity Trangapasso Nhacha ya Macadera Household stove promotion and Association selling Juga Mainica Enterprise No additional activity Kubatsirai Nderea Open No additional activity Center Garga Tangue Namo Informal trade (ceramic stoves, Association cold drinks, sugar, salt, soap, maize, vegetables, fruits, etc.), installation of Wood-Saver stoves in homes
Challenges Of the six ovens, two were not operational due to the lack of funds to buy wheat flour and wood. The other four were functioning though one was beginning to suffer significant damage to the oven, which required urgent repair. Table 3: Operational status of the bakery ovens Bakery ovens Operational Not operational
With deficiency
Number Observation 4 — 2 Lack of funds to cover operational costs Many bricks in the bread tray are sinking and flames are entering 1 the oven because the supporting sand below the bricks has begun to fall into the firebox.
Technology Concerning the technological aspects of the ovens, the beneficiaries offered various observations and recommendations:
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• Placement of the wood-feeding hole: The hole for feeding wood into the oven should be placed on the opposite side of the oven, far from where workers have to insert dough or remove bread. If the hole is immediately underneath the tray for the bread, the workers must endure extreme heat for long periods. Reportedly, ProBEC has now modified the design accordingly. • Design of the exit tray for the bread: The oven has almost no tray before the door to prevent bread from falling down while being removed from the oven. One owner had constructed a small receiving tray to prevent these losses. • Inadequate fire-cement for the bricks in the firebox: In the oven owned by the Nhacha ya Macader Association the sand supporting the bricks in the oven had begun to fall into the firebox, so much so that flames had begun to enter the oven. Now the association can only use about twothirds of the oven’s capacity and fears that soon the oven will not be operational. The association’s leaders did not know how to contact ProBEC to arrange for the oven to be repaired nor had they been accumulating funds to be able, when necessary, to repair it. These were the only significant technological observations offered by the beneficiaries. The most experienced baker, a private businessman, affirmed that, compared to his previous oven, the Wood-Saver Oven used roughly half as much wood. Previously he spent 140 MTn/month but now spends 70 MTn/month (i.e., $5.40/day versus $2.70/day). Promotion and Sustainability of the Business Promotion Herein, promotion is considered in terms of the dissemination of knowledge about the advantages of the Wood-Saver oven’s technology to interested parties, especially private operators, be they individuals or associations. Being private operators, they will want to control and maintain their principal asset, the oven. In fact, the failures that we observed with ovens and kilns occurred when that incentive was absent and no one or group felt that the asset was theirs. Lacking true owners, such assets were either pillaged or fell into disuse. Designed to produce large quantities of bread, the bakeries are somewhat complex and need a business-oriented organizational structure. The oven incurs costs that must be covered by sales. Thus the sale of bread requires a realistic assessment of the market and how to penetrate into new areas to increase sales. This requires motivation, flexibility and dynamism rarely evident in bureaucratic organizations. Where the oven and kiln project failed, it had departed from this principal. ProBEC’s choice of which individuals and groups to support does not seem to have been consistently inspired by the notion that, to succeed, the bakery must become commercial and, hence,
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the owners must be commercially motivated and possess some minimal competence in running a business. Partly recognizing this problem, ProBEC has recently begun to teach the owners how to maintain some minimal accounts and estimate costs and prices. But it still needs to rethink its entire strategy for the selection of potential recipients and to stop supporting any group that does not have significant promise to be able to function commercially and, hence, to become fully sustainable. Instead, the project has supported centers for orphans and vulnerable children, which, normally, are institutions dedicated to social and non-profit activities. They have little ability to adapt easily to profit-oriented activities. During the fieldwork, however, we encountered private restaurant operators, managers of commercial enterprises, construction works and other economic entities who expressed interest in these types of ovens though they had never heard of them before. If efforts to divulge the advantages of this technology were done widely, interested entrepreneurs would appear who could easily adhere to the project and be able to contribute to its expansion. Management and Profitability of Ovens and Kilns A quick reading of the profile of the institutions covered by the project reveals a significant lacuna in institutional capacity. Few of bakeries had a clear managerial structure with the exception of the Garga Tangue Namo Association in Chitunga, which had managerial procedures and structures possessed by few others. Though exceptional, this was a success story (Box 1). Nevertheless, the general pattern is that: • In all the cases we observed, the ovens were perceived as projects that would continue on the basis of on-going donations. As a result, some ovens were non-operational or in urgent need of repairs because funds had not been set aside for such needs. • Before building the ovens, ProBEC did not do sufficient preparatory work with the institutions in order to make the project’s objectives very clear, emphasizing the need for the business to adopt an appropriate structure and become commercial, profitable, responsible for maintaining and paying for eventual repairs to the oven, and not reliant on continuing financial support from ProBEC. • The bakeries need to develop more aggressive marketing strategies that will allow them to fully utilize their productive capacity. At present they use half or even less of their productive capacity (Table 4). Inadequate financial management also constrains the bakeries’ ability to increase production and sales though, given the present demand for bread, the market could easily absorb more production.
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Table 4. Capacity utilization rates for bakeries
Garga Tangue Namo Association Nhacha ya Macadera Association Juga Mainica Enterprise
Utilized capacity* (a)
Potential capacity* (b)
260
1000
% capacity utilization (a/b) 26%
350
600
58%
2000
4000
50%
* as reported by the owners
• In some zones where the associations are, the demand for bread is large and merchants have requested to sell their bread. For example, in Chitunga, the bread produced sells out quickly. Nevertheless, two associations admitted having no idea about how to expand production to satisfy these requests though they had plans to expand production by 10%, an amount far below their capacity. • No bakery has considered reducing costs by using maize, sweet potatoe or cassava flour as a substitute for a portion (say, 10% to 20%) of the wheat flour (Sayre 1918; Palomar, Perez and Pascual 1997).2 This is especially important because wheat flour conprises more than 80% of the input costs for bread production. ProBEC’s promoters did not know about or promote such possibilities, including the recipes, to increase the sustainability of these ventures. • In the present circumstances, the schools and open centers are evidently not prepared to run the bakeries profitably. They lack an adequate structure to manage and expand production and sales and are not prepared to deal with all the complexities of inputs, repairs, financial management, and sales in these micro-industries. Moreover, nearly all the operators are having serious difficulties dealing with the recent surge in the price of wheat flour. The open center of Kubatsirai stopped producing bread, the Association of Wafunguei has not been able to begin its activities, and the associations in Chitunga and Macadera have reduced their production levels though, reportedly, bread making is profitable (Table 5and Table 7). • Even if the ovens remained on school property, a better model would be to promote small private operators, who could function along the lines of the social centers that have been recently rented out for management by small private businesses people, while, in no way, interfering with the schools’ social objectives.
2 In the 1990s, by using a mix of 20% cassava flour and 80% wheat flour, Philippine bakers decreased costs by 5% in the 1990s (Loreto and Orias 2000). With the recent surge in wheat prices, the reduction in costs may be much more now.
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Table 5. Input costs to produce one bread
Wheat flour Yeast Salt Oil Butter Firewood Total input costs to make one bread Average price of one bread Gross profit
Macadera Garga Tangue Namo Association (Manica) 2.9 26.4% 0.2 1.8% 0.01 0.1% 0.9% 0.1 1.8% 0.2 0.1 0.9% 3.51 11
Nhacha ya Macadera Association (Vanduzi) 1.0 0.1 0.01 0.07 0.0 0.07 1.25
50.0% 5.0% 0.5% 3.5% 0.0% 3.5%
2
100%
100%
Training of Artisans, Institutional Capacitation, and the Level of Satisfaction of the Beneficiaries The relationship between the institutions that “own the ovens”, ProBEC, and the companies that build the ovens lacks clarity. Seemingly, there has been no discussion about the questions related to monitoring, guarantees, and technical assistance for those institutions. In many cases, the ovens were built and inaugurated but no technical assistance was provided and, when problems arose, they were not taken care of in a timely fashion. Moreover, by contract, the builders commissioned by ProBEC or Enremo do not guarantee the ovens they build and, in the event of defects, do not have to and often do not repair them. This is a major source of dissatisfaction among the beneficiaries and should be of grave concern to ProBEC, which pays for the ovens. Nor has the program trained any of the beneficiaries to make minor repairs when the need arises. On the contrary, lack of demand is definitely not a problem (Table 6). Table 6. Problems reported about the improved ovens Respon dent
Defecti ve ovens
1 2 3 4 5 6
3 3
Lack of technical assistance and monitoring 3 3 3 3 3 3
Unclear relations with ProBec
Price of wheat
3 3 3
3 3 3 3 3 3
3 indicates a problem; a blank, its absence.
7
Inadequa te demand for bread
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Box 1. Garga Tangue Namo Association’s Bakery: A Success Story Gargatangue Namo Association is one of the few associations we visited that was very well organized. It has organized accounting (at least an elemental book of accounts showing cash flows), a clear division of labor, an accountant, two bakers, a manager, six salespeople, and other workers. The structure clearly identifies who is and who is not a volunteer meriting a tiny subsidy. The accountant has passed an elemental course in accounting and, as a volunteer, gets a small subsidy. Though the association could use the bakery’s capacity far better, it has not incurred losses. In fact, since July 2007, sales and profits have been climbing despite the surge in the price of wheat flour. Table 7: Net profit from Associação Gargatangue Namo (Manica) June
July
August
Total income (sales)
24,445
33,764
41,976
Total costs
15,020
19,684
28,008
Net profit
9,425
14,080
13,968
Crucially important is the association’s approach to marketing. For example, the bakery makes specialized breads, e.g., large loaves, tiny cake-shaped breads, and normal bread. The shapes are creative and the bakery recently introduced a crocodile-shaped bread that is quite popular with lady customers despite it being the most expensive that the bakery sells. The small breads are spiced with various ingredients (e.g., milk, butter, sugar, garlic), which increases demand. The association plans to start to make wedding cakes. The members’ efforts to look for profitable markets is noticeable. The bread sells not only in Chitunga town (where the association is located) but also in villages up to seven kilometers from the town. Awaking before dawn, the salespeople go by foot. To be ready for sale in the morning, the bread is prepared the night before. Among its constraints, the association reports it has an insufficient number of bread pans, lacks vessels for kneading the bread, needs a solar panel to illuminate the bakery at night, requires better knowledge about how to manage a business, and needs to become a formal, legal entity and, for commercial sales, begin to use well controlled invoices. Figure 1. Sales, costs and profits after wheat prices increased Sales, Costs and net profits Associacao garga tangue namo 45,000 41,976
40,000 35,000
33,764
Values
30,000
28,008
25,000
24,445
20,000
19,684
15,000
15,020
10,000
9,425
14,080
13,968
5,000 June
July Sales
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Total variable costs
August Net profit
Recommendations for Ovens and Kilns Besides the recommendations for design changes already advanced in the section about Technology (p. 3) and the need to identify the causes for the problems with the oven owned by the Association Nacha ya Macadera, it may be useful to consult the owners further about how the oven might be improved. Many of them had fairly clear suggestions. As for the project for ovens and kilns, it should be oriented more toward development rather than just a donor program that cultivates financial dependence, stanches initiative and, in the end, negates sustainability. To promote development, real development, the project should divulge information about the ovens far more widely through the mass media and development-oriented organizations. The purpose is to spur interest among small private business people, encouraging them to adhere to the project with full knowledge of the risks, challenges and possible profit that they will encounter or achieve as private operators. The project, especially in Manica, has established a very inadequate system for monitoring the businesses and ovens it has helped to create. Partly due to the lack of follow-up technical assistance some of the bakeries have become non-operational. The project needs strategies differentiated according to the type of institution targeted. We visualize two scenarios: • Scenario 1: Promotion with profit-oriented companies or institutions This group should be prioritized. During the fieldwork we met owners of restaurants, construction companies, bars, bakeries, and other operators plus leaders of associations who were interested in the ovens though they had never before heard of them. The advantage of working with such operators is that they have more resources and are more adaptable since business is their vocation. However, shifting ProBEC’s focus to support commercial, profit-oriented businesses implies a shift in strategy and, consequently, in ProBEC’s structure. • Scenario 2: For social institutions such as schools, open centers, and others, the activities are more complex since such bodies are not dedicated to the management of micro-industries like bakeries. For such institutions, two options arise: o Option 1: Even if the ovens are located on these institutions land, ProBEC could emphasize reliance on private operators with proven entrepreneurial skills to run the bakeries similar to the way that social centers are now being set up. They would rent the oven or buy it through negotiations that do not bring disadvantages to the school. o Option 2: ProBEC could also give the oven to the school’s management to run. This option is, however, more difficult and probably more costly to implement because it requires rather profound work to restructure the school’s financial and
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administrative structure in order to manage the oven as a production unit. It would also involve lobby the Ministry of Education to define the oven as an alternative to improve the schools’ diet and promote additional income.
4. Institutional Stoves Coverage of the Study and Numbers of Stoves Reported In the area covered by this study, ProBEC reports that, in Manica, it has installed 26 mobile improved stoves and 26 permanent ones. In the study area in Manica, we visited all reported institutions except four, three because neither Eng. Charles Chitatariso from the company that installs stoves nor ProBEC’s Manica director or social worker knew where these institutions were though they were reported as possessing stoves. The statistics furnished by ProBEC Manica proved unreliable. ProBEC Manica reported that some institutions possessed stoves but, in fact, had none, for example, the Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (MICOA) and Africare promote but do not have stoves. Similarly, the Escola Independente 16 de Junho-Mussarife never got a mobile stove. In Manica, of the 25 mobile rocket stoves reported for the institutions we visited, we confirmed the existence of merely 9 stoves (36%) and for the permanent rocket stoves, merely 15 (58%) (Table 8). ProBEC also reported that 10 stoves had been given to the Provincial Health Directorate though ProBEC’s officials had no idea where these stoves had gone to and told us that their contact in the directorate had left Chimoio. We, however, we able to talk to him and he furnished a list of the locations where each stove supposedly is. Since these were all outside the study area we did not try to visit those sites. Besides the large discrepancy between the numbers of stoves that reportedly had been installed in the study area in Manica and the number that we verified as actually having been installed, we found that only 44% of the mobile stoves were functional and even less (33%) were being used (Table 8). Of the permanent institutional stoves that we saw in the field, 93% were functional but only 67% were actually being used often because the pans the schools possessed were too big (e.g., 120 liters) for the stove (100 liters) though the World Food Program had indicated the specifications for the stoves and was also supposed to buy pans for the schools. In Sofala, the ProBEC managers were unaware that institutional mobile and permanent stoves had already been installed in some areas of the province since they had scheduled to launch their program for institutional stoves only in November. Nevertheless, to verify the numbers reported to us in Manica about 45 permanent institutional stoves that the World Food Program had commissioned Xana (through Savepla, which has often cooperated with ProBEC) to install in Sofala, we randomly selected and visited 10 schools alone the road between Namatanda and Caia. Of the 10 permanent institutional stoves reportedly installed by Savepla in the selected
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schools, we confirmed that they all 10 exist, 9 are functional, but only seven (70%) were actually being used. To our surprise, we also found during the visits that the selected schools had 17 mobile institutional stoves that ProBEC Manica, ProBEC Sofala, and Xana did not know about. Reportedly, some if not all of these stoves had been furnished by the World Food Organization. Moreover, most beneficiaries were vague about who had actually installed the stoves, none had received any technical assistance after they stoves were installed, and none knew how, in case of technical difficulties, to contact the company that installed the stoves. Comparing the two provinces, it seems that the beneficiaries stop using the mobile rocket stove fairly quickly, especially in Manica. In Sofala but not in Manica, we observed that cooks complained that the mobile stove was not sufficiently stable to endure safely the heavy mixing required for xima. Hence, they tended to use the permanent rocket stove for xima and the mobile one for stew (caril).
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Table 8. Number of institutional stoves reported by ProBEC vs. those observed in the study area within Manica Province Institutions
Mobile rocket stoves Number Confirmed visually of during the fieldwork Number Function In stoves al us reported confirm ed e by ProBEC*
Stoves and institutions visited within Manica study area ADPP - Formacao de Professores 3 2 ADPP - Formigas do Futuro 4 2 Centro Aberto Batsiraia 1 1 Centro de Desenvolvimento 2 0 Sustentavel (MICOA) Centro Aberto Madzicuera 1 0 Escola independente 16 de junho, 1 0 Mussarife Escola de Artes e Oficios 1 1 Centro Aberto Taremba 1 0 Centro Aberto Nhamatsane 1 1 Centro Internato Chinhamapere* 1 1 EP1 Trangapasse 0 0 Anda-Manica 0 0 Associacao Pembenuca 0 0 EP1 Maguiguiane 0 0 EPc Inchope 0 0 EP2 Ganhira 2 0 0 Kulima-Chimoio 1 0 Africare-Chimoio* 3 0 DED-Chimoio 1 0 EPC Matica 0 0 Intituto Agrario de Chimoio (IAC) 1 0
Permanent rocket stoves Number Confirmed visually of during the fieldwork Numbe Function In stoves r al use reported confirm by ed ProBEC*
2 0 1 0
0 1 1 0
2 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0
0 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 2 1 2 2 4 2 0 0 0 2 1
0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 2
0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 2
0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2
Stoves and institutions reported by PROBEC though neither Eng. Chitarariso (of CASE) nor ProBEC's Manica director or social worker knew where these institutions were.** Centro Inchope 0 0 – – 2 0 – Centro de Chimoio 0 0 – – 2 0 – CSF Chimoio 2 0 – – 0 0 –
– – –
Stoves and institutions seen but without an interview in the Manica study area – – EP2 Manhene 1 1
0
13
2
2
2
Institutions
Mobile rocket stoves Number Confirmed visually of during the fieldwork Number Function In stoves al us reported confirm ed e by ProBEC*
Grand total % of confirmed vs. reported stoves % of confirmed stoves that were functional % of confirmed stoves that were in use
25
9 36%
4
3
Permanent rocket stoves Number Confirmed visually of during the fieldwork Numbe Function In stoves r al use reported confirm by ed ProBEC* 26
15 58%
14
44%
10
93% 67 %
33 %
* The mobile rocket stove’s walls had buckled and most of the bricks for insulation had fallen out. In practice, this stove differed little from a three-stone fire and, hence, was registered as non-functional. ** Since no one associated with the project knew where these institutions were, we deemed these to be invalid reports and have counted them as zero.
Table 9. Number of institutional stoves reported by ProBEC vs. those observed in the study area within Sofala Province Institutions
EPC Amilcar Cabral (Caia) EPC 4 de Outubro (Caia) EP1 Sobreiro (Caia) Epc Savane (dondo) EPC 12 de Outubro (Nhamatanda) EPC Muda Mufa (Nhamatanda)** EPC Metuchira Pita (Nhamatanda) EP2 Subue (Maringue) EP2 Maringue-sede (Maringue) EPC Nhampoca Total
Number of stoves reported 0 0 0 0 0
Mobile rocket stoves Confirmed visually during the fieldwork In use
Permanent rocket stoves Number of Confirmed visually during the stoves fieldwork Number Functional In use reported*
Number confirmed
Functional
2 1 1 5 1
2 1 1 5 1
2 1 1 5 1
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 1
0
7
7
5
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 1
1 1
1 1
0 0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
17
17
15
10
10
9
7
14
confirmed
% of confirmed vs. reported stoves % of confirmed stoves that were functional % of confirmed stoves that were in use
n.a.
100% 100%
90% 88%
70%
* These numbers were reported to us by Charles Chitarariso of xxx, the company that installs stoves in Manica for ProBEC. ** EPC Muda Mufa has two permanent stoves with one mouth each. Since, normally, the stoves come with two mouths, those at Muda Mufa were counted as one stove.
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Type of Institutions Involved In the zones covered by the study, we visited 21 institutions that reportedly had mobile stoves and 22 that had permanent ones. There are, however, six types of institutions that benefit from the rocket stoves: primary schools, training centers, associations, open centers for orphans and vulnerable children, government organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The other organizations became involved as co-implementors promoting the project’s stoves. The schools and centers for orphans and vulnerable children directly involve the beneficiaries. In fact, most of the schools run boarding schools for orphans and vulnerable children, which is one of the reasons that the stove are supplied, namely, to help to minimize the problems in feeding these social groups. Comparison of the Technology Embodied in the Mobile and Permanent Rocket Stoves Though the mobile metallic-brick stove costs about 6,500 MTn whereas the ceramic-brick permanent stove costs 6,000 MTn from Enremo and 4,515 MTn from CASE, the mobile stove is in many ways inferior to the ceramicbrick one, which is sturdy and long-lasting. With the present design of the metallic stove, its metal walls have a tendency to buckle with the heat and this causes the insulating bricks to fall out. The mobile stove is also less stable, especially when cooking and forcefully stirring xima. Since we saw many mobile stoves that had become rusty and developed holes or become completely unusable, we conclude that its life expectancy is almost certainly far less than the permanent ceramic-brick rocket stove, only one of which in our survey had become unusable. Moreover, all the cooks interviewed whose permanent rocket stove was functional far preferred it over a three-stone fire or other stoves that they had previously used. They claimed the permanent rocket stove was economical and easier and more convenient to work with. Even CASE’s Eng. Charles Chitarariso reported to us that the company had concluded that it might be better to discontinue that line due to the problems encountered. Nevertheless, when we interviewed the owners of Savepla, which works under instructions from CASE, we found them making these metallic-brick stoves. Reasons for and Levels of Satisfaction with the Institutional Stoves In general, the institutional stoves are deemed to be a significant innovation with many advantages, namely: a. b. c. d. e.
a big reduction in the use of wood; fast cooking; reduced smoke; cleaner pans; fast heating; and
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f.
big capacity to insulate the fire while also accumulating heat into the stove’s body, which is partly released during the later stages of cooking.
Though all the institutions mentioned most of these advantages, the first four (a, b, c and d) were mentioned most. Aspects such as a long life expectancy of the stove were not mentioned, perhaps because nearly all the institutions had been using the stoves for less than a year. In all cases where the institution possessed a functional permanent rocket stove, the interviewees were satisfied (4) or very satisfied (12) and preferred that stove over what they had been using before. Moreover, in all four cases where the interviewees were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, their permanent stove had developed a major defect (1), they only had a mobile metallic rocket stove (1), or, though they possessed a new permanent stove, they had been unable to use it because the pans were not the right size (2 cases). Few institutions were able to furnish data about the firewood saving the rocket stoves allowed them to achieve and when they did the data was only an approximation, not a well documented figure. For those that did furnish data, the average saving, whether measured in quantity or value, was roughly 60%. This is somewhat lower than the 80% saving that CASE and ProBEC claim the stoves save. Still, it is a big saving. The school’s frequent inability to furnish data about saving is partly due to the government’s new policy of insisting that school children bring firewood to school but is also symptomatic of the weak monitoring system in place. Moreover, the savings under the rubric of firewood purchases either revert to the state at the end of the fiscal year or are filched by corrupt school administrations. In either case, they will not be used to benefit the school in other ways. Hence, the school administrators, if honest, have little motivation to inform themselves about the savings or, if dishonest, would prefer not to discuss them. The present fiscal system gives school administrators no way to apply savings to apply savings to improve their schools.
17
Table 10. Savings realized by the improved institutional stoves Units
Before Quantity Mtn/ / month month
Now Quantity Mtn / / month month
% reduction Mtn/ Quantity / month month
Carted loads Truck loads Truck loads Truck loads Truck loads
8,100
2,025
75%
n.d.
4,000
2,600
600
Manica ADPP - Formigas do Futuro ADPP - Formação de Professores Centro Aberto Madzicuera Centro Internato Chinhamapere EP1 Trangapasse Centro Aberto Batsiraia
77%
4
8,400
1
4,200
75%
50%
1
9,000
0.5
4,500
50%
50% 85%
Sofala EPC Muda Mufa (Nhamatanda)
8,000
% average saving
6,000
25% 63%
60%
Despite the advantages of the improved stoves, all the institutions were seen using three-stone fires in addition to the improved stoves though they consider the permanent rocket stove to be far superior to a three-stone fire.3 The mobile rocket stove, however, received many criticisms. Some institutions use the permanent rocket stove plus one or more three-stone fires while letting their mobile institutional stove idle despite still being in good condition. The continuing use of three-stone fires is due to both general and specific reasons: General Reasons • insufficient number of improved stoves in relation to the number of meals being prepared; • pans too big to enter the improved stoves; • limitations of the mobile rocket stoves: Besides being very heavy and difficult to carry every day to and from where it is stored, the mobile rocket stove reportedly heats the food too slowly perhaps because of insufficient air. Many interviewees reported that, for them, 3
The interviewees in Muda Mufa reported that “between the permanent stove made with bricks and the metallic [mobile] stove, the best one is that made with bricks. The reasons are various: • The permanent stove is faster. For example, when I start to cook beans on it, say, at 7:00 o’clock, they’re ready at 9:00 but on the metallic stove, they’d cook till 11:00 o’clock;
• The permanent stove lets the fire escape less and when it heats up and stays that way. But, if I compare the metallic stove to a three-stone fire, the latter is faster though it uses more firewood and creates a lot of smoke. If we are in a hurry, we prefer to use the permanent stove or a three-stone fire. The metallic stove would be my last choice. Even in terms of costs, we can see that the permanent brick stove saves a lot.
18
the loss in time was more important than the inefficient use of firewood. Moreover, since the base for supporting the pans is relatively small, the pans slide around while cooking. Specific Reasons • Some stoves have defects that make handling them more difficult. Some let flames shoot out away from the pans and do not secure them well when they are stirred. (CA of Madzicuera and ADPP-Formação de Professores). Others do not heat up well (mobile stoves at DAPPFormigas do Futuro); • The stove is sometimes placed in an inappropriate spot, for example, (i) outside without a roof to protect it against wind and rain (contrary to the designer’s instructions) or (ii) against a wall, which hampers the handling of firewood. • Both the mobile and permanent institutional stoves have holes for the fireboxes that many cooks deem too small because that means then have to split the firewood, work that many cooks cannot or will not do (ADPP-Formigas do Futuro, Madzicuera, ADPP-Formação de Professores, Centro Internato Chinhamapere). Factors Determining the Project’s Effectiveness Promotion and Institutional Insertion Promotion is seen here as the dissemination of information about the stoves’ advantages to interested parties. As with other components of the project, it seems that the work in this respect has not been sufficient. For example, few organizations in the study area know about the existence of the improved stoves. During the fieldwork, the team often stopped by schools that, though very near to one covered by the project, knew nothing about these stoves. Apparently, ProBEC’s promotional efforts have been very narrowly focused. Insertion and Institutional Coordination At the level of the schools and institutions covered by the project, the promotion work seems to have been shallow. The schools look on the project as a donation instead of a major opportunity to save resources that could be applied elsewhere. Hence, few school administrators have a clear notion of the stove’s advantages for the school, especially if and where firewood is purchased. The cooks mention the stove’s advantages for them, but the administrators usually cannot demonstrate how the stove’s have benefited the entire school. In fact, no administrator was able to inform us how the stoves had improved their school’s life. In many cases, the directors do not know the contacts of the stove builders or know how much the construction cost.
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The lack of institutional coordination is also revealed by the frequent failure to use the new stove because the pans the school possesses is too big. This happens even when the pans were acquired by the World Food Program (WFP) after the stove was installed though that program is a major promoter of these stoves. So, ironically, the efficient new stove sits idle while logs burn nearby in three-stone fires. These gaps have various implications: • If the director does not know who built the stove, he cannot request additional stoves even if he wants to purchase them for cash. • So long as the schools, especially their political organs, do not perceive the advantages arising from the project (including the multiplier effects), they will not give it much priority. This will slow the expansion of the project. • If the schools cannot demonstrate clearly the beneficial effects that the stoves have on their social and academic activities, it will be difficult to persuade the Ministry of Education to introduce a budget line for the construction of improved stoves or, alternatively, to redefine the budget line for the purchase of firewood to also be used to buy Wood-Saver stoves. • If the pans cannot fit into the stoves, the latter will remain idle. Training and Institutional Capacitation for the Maintenance of Improved Stoves None of the institutions where we conducted interviews had the ability to maintain the stoves. In some schools, the project had trained some of the students to use (but not maintain!) the stoves. However, the training of students does not augur sustainability because they are constantly changing their studies, classes and study shifts, which often requires them to transfer to another school. Thus, the failure to train local personnel to maintain the stoves accentuates the schools’ dependence on the builders, an overly expensive solution.4 As a result, some schools stop using the stove when it develops even fairly minor defects that, with training, could be rectified by the schools themselves. Though CASE affirmed that it trained the cooks how to use the stove, including additional kitchen management techniques to save energy, no school in our entire sample had, in fact, been taught kitchen management techniques (e.g., soaking beans, using lids, using only dry wood, saving leftover wood and charcoal) and kitchen hygiene. Moreover, ProBEC’s two promoters, who on occasion accompanied us in Manica, and the two principal promoters in Sofala had only a partial knowledge of the additional techniques that can be used to save energy. Since these techniques can
4 For example, soon after the Centro Internato Chinhamapere got its permanent rocket stove, it split down the middle and could not be used for several months since they did not know how to contact the builder. Finally, in desperation, the school principal hired a local artisan to improvise a partial solution.
20
save much firewood, this oversight is a major defect in the project’s approach. Recommendations for Institutional Stoves The project should improve its organization and emphasize: • A shift in the project’s strategy to include a major emphasis on promoting commercial sales of the permanent ceramic-brick rocket stove to private and non-private companies or organizations that want to reduce their fuel bills, especially those that have large kitchens; • Lobbying the Ministry of Education to encourage nationally schools to use wood-saving permanent ceramic-brick rocket stoves and, toward that end, to permit the budget line now allocated to buy firewood to be used also to buy such stoves.5 • Preference for the permanent rocket stove and discontinuance of the mobile one since they are short lived, too costly, and prone to defects; • Insistence that the producer provide a two-year guarantee for the stoves, including the provision of free post-installation repairs; • Creation of a more consistent package for stove promotion and the training of personnel so as to create a basis for these institutions to accept the project while fully accepting its advantages and their own responsibilities; • Amplification of the scope of the promotion efforts including the recruitment of additional interested organizations that can incorporate stove-promotion into their program of activities; • Clarified synchronization with the World Food Program concerning the size of the pans or, possibly, the introduction of more than one size for the stove so that, if a school has large pans, a larger reception area will be constructed to accommodate them; • Monitoring: create and maintain up-to-date informative about the status of the stoves in the beneficiary institutions (especially applicable to Manica) and their need for technical assistance; and • Training, within each institution, of a semi-permanent team able to make minor repairs to the stoves.
5. Household Improved Stoves The Wood-Saver household stove is made of clay, bricks and ash and, according to ProBEC, saves 80% of the wood otherwise used in a threestone fire and creates less smoke. Being more enclosed, it is also safer for children. The stove’s construction requires, however, training and it must be maintained with minor repairs every two weeks. 5
This may well require a new name or designation for that line.
21
Implementation Strategy According to ProBEC’s strategy, the promotion of this type of stove is done by identifying and training, on average, 10 artisans. In Manica, ProBEC has reportedly trained 26 groups of artisans (23 in the study area) and in Sofala 16 (11 in the study area). In nearly all the sites visited these people work as volunteers visiting almost exclusively homes, often those of widows or orphans. In the latter cases, the installation is considered a work of charity and done for free. Rarely has ProBEC encouraged the artisans to engage in the installation of stoves as a commercial activity and, with merely one exception (in Vanduzi), did we see that they had installed the stove in a small café and bar where many people came. As a result, that group actually began to sell the stove to people who saw and liked it and wanted to acquire one even though, in Vanduzi, firewood still does not have a price. The artisans work with no salary and few groups have been able to sell the stoves. Nor has ProBEC encouraged them to approach cooks in local markets, who should have a keen interest in reducing their fuel expenditures. If ProBEC’s approach were commercial, such cooks should be deemed prime clients because they have, need to save on fuel purchases, and will give the stove high visibility. During our interviews, artisans in several locations (almost exclusively in Sofala) also complained that ProBEC’s representative had promised them tee-shirts, capulanas with stove’s emblem, and bicycles, which they never got. In fact, only rarely do the promoters receive anything even from their customers though, ideally, recipients should pay 50 MTn to 200 MTn per stove,. The interviewees unanimously complain of the lack of financial and material incentive for the work and the low numbers of stoves installed reflects the impact that this has on their motivation. In some cases in Manica, the activists belong to that already work in a target area, focusing on other social issues. In these situations, the artisans have some organizational structure and their efforts to promote the stove become integrated within their routine activities. The principal organizations that use this approach are: • • • •
Pembenuca; Africare; Nhyacha ya Macader; and Association Wafunguei.
In some cases (mainly in Sofala), however, the groups were led by certain community leaders who were partisans of a political or religious group and allegedly discriminated against others and, hence, hampered efforts to promote the stove more widely. Involving such groups is not bad, but not as the only ones in charge of stove promotion in a certain community. Where this occurred it created a bad environment for the project and caused people to question its strategy.
22
Elsewhere the artisans who were trained do the promotion though they are not members of a social organization. In these cases, they have no functional organizational structure. Despite the election of group leaders, the groups quickly loose cohesion and motivation and, in fact, install very few stoves. At present, most groups lack dynamic leaders, connections and institutional support and soon fall apart. They complain about the lack of incentives to continue the work and have no operational plan and no prospects for consolidation in the future. Nor do they understand the dynamics of the market for such stoves and typically fail to achieve the target, agreed upon during the training, of installing 10 stoves. Nowhere have these groups been robustly successful. Poorly organized and quickly discouraged, they soon stop the work. This brings into question the methods that ProBEC uses to enter a community (especially in Manica). The strategy should be to reconnoitre the community, identify key leaders and organizations, persuade them to make stove promotion a part of their activities, and then, together with these organizations, select dynamic and well connected people for training to become stove promoters and salespeople. Though possessing a social component, the group of artisans, thus, would be primarily commercial. Thus, • for the installation of stoves in the homes of widows and orphans, the group would sell its services to churches, NGOs, schools, and local governments; • for installation in other homes, it would target individuals most able to pay in cash or kind (e.g., with materials, food or services involving repairs, transport, farm labor, or other activities); and • for installation in small restaurants or barracas, prices would be set for stoves of different sizes and number of mouths. Thus, to guarantee motivation, sustainability, and wider dissemination than at present, the groups should be mainly commercial though clearly also achieving social and environmental goals. In both provinces, the strategy for the geographic focus of the efforts at stove promotion needs to be rethought. The intervention zones are very distant one from the other and this dramatically increases promotion costs while reducing the time available for the promoters to actually work with the people rather than being in transit. Much time and considerable transportation costs are spent to get to each site and train the artisans, who, in the end, build very few stoves. Many of the stoves also become destroyed due to the lack of maintenance or for other reasons. For example, many had been built placed against the side of a house where the roof does not extend enough to fully protect the stove against the rain. Moreover, though the artisans are supposed to revisit the homes where they had installed stoves in order to help the people overcome specific difficulties and ensure that they are doing the maintenance correctly, this follow-up only happens in a minority of the locations visited. 23
Due to these diverse constraints, the impact of the promotion efforts has been tiny. Considering the efforts and expenditure, relatively few stoves have been installed. Between 2004 and 2006, the program reports that it trained 759 artisans installers for the Wood-Saver household stove and actually installed 916, i.e., little more than one stove per trained artisan. That is 1.2 stoves per artisan. If the goal is to popularize the use of this type of stove, the present strategy and promotion methods virtually guarantee the project’s failure. Though in both Manica and Sofala, the projects leaders recognize that the areas where they have experienced some success are typically those near urban centers where fuel wood has to purchased and where, due to that, many people are shifting to charcoal. In such zones, people have a financial motive to want to decrease their consumption of fuel wood. Despite this recognition, in both provinces, ProBEC has not radically reshaped its strategy to concentrate on high-population centers where fuel wood has a price. Such a focus would decrease travel times and costs, target populations with a higher propensity to adopt and maintain the stoves, and increase the likelihood that the artisans might actually sell their stove-installation services to tiny cafés and households. Numbers and Status of the Stoves Produced Sofala In Sofala, ProBEC reported built 182 Wood-Saver household stoves, of which 169 (92%) were located in the study area, which included 11 areas in four districts.6 Table 11. Sofala: Artisans trained and household stoves installed, February to September 2007 Study Total area province Installed during the 26 32 training Installed after the 142 137 training Total installed 171 182 Total artisans trained
110
170
Moreover, the stoves reported by ProBEC coincided exactly with the numbers reported by the artisanal groups we interviewed in the field and, in all cases, when we checked on four randomly selected stoves, they proved to exist and be in daily use. Besides that, our interviewers went to an 6
In Beira district: Nhangau (sede); in Dondo district: Cerâmica, Savane, and Mafambisse; in Nhamatanda district: Tica (sede), Tica-Maringue, Nhamatanda (sede), Mocumbuze, and Siluvo; and in Caia district: Caia (sede) and Sena.
24
additional 41homes (though not randomly selected) mentioned by the artisans and, in all cases, the stoves were there and in daily use. Not once in 85 observations were the stoves non-existent or ruined. Hence, we confirm the reliability of the data produced by ProBEC Sofala. Table 12: Sofala: Number of stoves reported by ProBEC, affirmed by the artisans, and visually observed during the fieldwork
Nhangau – sede Savane – Dondo Mafambisse Tica Nhamatanda – sede Mocumbeze Siluvo Maringué – sede Caia – sede Sena – Caia Murraça - Caia Total number of stoves
Stoves reported by ProBEC
Stoves affirmed by the artisans in the area visited
10 17 13 20 7 4 12 16 32 28 12
10 17 13 20 7 4 12 16 32 28 12
% of stoves being used from among the random selection of four stoves in each location 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
171
171
44
In Sofala, the Foundation Against Hunger operates in eight zones (including Mocumbeze and Siluvo where ProBEC also operates) and, reportedly, has installed 84 improved household stoves quite similar to the Wood-Saver stoves promoted by ProBEC. The foundation organizes this work is a very differently from ProBEC. While, except during the training period, ProBEC gives no financial or material incentives to its artisans, the foundation pays them and provides them with bicycles. On the contrary, the foundation does not charge for the stoves because it gives them to needy and vulnerable groups with little purchasing power, e.g., families with vulnerable and orphans and children, people living with HIV/AIDS, victims of floods, droughts and hunger. Manica In Manica, the way the artisans are organized differs greatly from that of Sofala. In Manica, the groups often comprise individuals who live great distances from each and rarely communicate among themselves. Moreover, the lack of involvement of community structures also inhibits the flow of information from one sub-area to another. Thus, it was often impossible to meet with enough artisans from all the sub-areas within a zone to obtain reliable information about the total number of stoves that the entire group had installed. In fact, due to the lack of systematic monitoring, the personnel 25
assigned to our team from ProBEC-Manica often lacked information about what was happening in the remaining sub-areas. Also, in some cases, the artisans from one or more of the sub-areas had disbanded and no one knew how to contact them. For this reason, it was not always possible to create data from the field that would be comparable to ProBEC’s production estimates. As seen in Table 13, however, we were able to sample the lists of installed stoves provided by the artisans, who presumably are the source of information for ProBEC’s production reports, and confirm that, in 96% of the cases, the stoves, in fact, existed and 85% were in use.
26
Table 13: Manica: Number of stoves reported by ProBEC, affirmed by the artisans, and visually observed during the fieldwork Stoves reported by ProBEC
Stoves % of stoves affirmed being used from by the among the artisans random in the selection of four area stoves in each visited location Areas where the data should be comparable to ProBEC’s data Agostinho Neto/Chimoio Amatongas/Gondola Bairro Matsinho/Chimoio Macadera1
7
100%
100%
6
100%
100%
6
100%
100%
17 7
Vanduzi-sede
% of stoves being used from among the random selection of four stoves in each location
n.a.
n.a.
100%
100%
Areas where the data may well be an underestimate and not comparable to ProBEC’s data 16 de Junho/Chimoio 25 de Junho/Chimoio 7 de Setembro/Chimoio2 Chichira/Sussundenga 3
Inchope
1
100%
100%
9
100%
100%
53%
53%
7
100%
100%
6
100%
50%
3
100%
33%
5 113 —
100%
100%
96%
85%
30
Gondola-25 de Junho Munhinga/Sussundenga Total stoves Weighted average %
10
—
Though we interviewed the artisanal group in Macadera, this community was not on the list of areas selected randomly where we administered the questionnaires for the baseline and to measure the project’s impact. 2 In this, the first location we visited, we looked at all reported stoves but could only verify 16 of the 30 that the artisan reported his group had installed. He was exaggerating and, even the stoves that were in place, many were dilapidated. 3 The maximum number of stoves we could sample in this location was three.
Level of Satisfaction of Users and the Reasons Therefor In general, the household Wood-Saver stoves are deemed a significant innovation with various advantages, especially because they: • • • •
are thought to save wood; produce less smoke during cooking; cook the food; and do not dirty the pots so much as a three-stone fire.
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Still, the stoves have few people who have actually acquired them. The main reasons concern (i) the organization and strategy for the promotion work and (ii) the limitations of the chosen technology. Organization and Strategy of the Promotion Work • Lack of motivation by the artisans. This seems to be a major reason for the failure to gain a big number of people to adhere to the program. At the time of their training, the artisans always expected to receive some form of compensation once the work commenced. In many cases, especially in Sofala, they insist that they had been promised by the organizers tee-shirts, capulanas, and other incentives, including sometimes, bicycles. Largely due to this lack of a financial or material incentive, the groups achieved an average of barely more than one stove installed per artisan. • Lack of commercial orientation for the work. Though the organizers suggested that the artisans should try to charge 100 MTn for installing a stove, they did not, in practice, help them to focus and organize the work as a commercial venture targeting organizations and individuals that have money or are able to pay in other ways for stove installations. Lacking an informed commercial strategy, the artisans tried arduously to sell stoves door-to-door, a time-consuming and frustrating task, especially in rural or semi-rural zones where most people are impoverished. The project apparently did not diagnose whether the beneficiaries would be willing to accept the stove and be willing to pay for it. In all the zones in our study areas, the people approached by the artisans the targeted populations are rarely willing to pay for the stove. The only zone were the prices were reasonable was Vanduzi, where the association Naacha ya Macadera had sold 11 stoves for 150 MTn each. In the other areas in Manica and Sofala, the artisans report that the population is not even willing to pay 50 MTn. • Weak orientation about the functioning of the group of artisans. Even the best organized groups were poorly organized. Apparently they were taught how to make and maintain the stoves but almost no organizational work was done to help them get started. Questions such as the structure of the group, its work plan, the strategies for marketing and commercialization of the stove, and the procedures for controlling group finances were not considered during training. The groups that were formed were not encouraged to save and plan to invest in further commercial projects. Moreover, ProBEC rarely provided follow-up with the groups it trained. • Failure to work enough through existing organizations by persuading them to mainstream the promotion of stoves within their program of activities.
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• Weak involvement by the communities’ structures. Even in places where a few stoves have been produced, the stove project has an extremely weak presence in the community. The involvement in the project by the local structures is very weak. As a result, the leaders for the blocks, boroughs, and schools rarely have a clear notion of the advantages arising from the introduction of these stoves. And, even when they do understand the advantages, they rarely prioritize the work of stove promotion. Till such leaders give this work priority in the list of routine activities for the local structures (borough, blocks, etc.) the project will not grow much. • Lack of a clear geographical strategy about where to promote the stoves. To improve its cost effectiveness, the project must focus its efforts on areas have a high probability of gaining acceptability among consumers and, simultaneously reduce transportation costs and idle time spent in transit by the promoters. For this, the project must also consider whether water and appropriate clay are readily available.
29
Two Case Studies
Enthusiasm, Success and Discouragement in Sena The Sena administrative post pertains to Caia District in Sofala Province and has, at most, 28,000 inhabitants. With electricity and many and various commercial establishments, Sena is one of the more developed zones in the district. It link to Mutarara District is immediate via the Dana Ana Bridge, which sustains a heavy traffic of people and goods. In this zone, ProBEC trained 15 activists according to the participants. They then installed 28 Wood-Saver stoves and, reportedly, all of them are still operational and being used. Despite some organizational weaknesses, this is one of the few groups that have been quite active. The chief of the administrative post and other administrative personnel are directly involved in the local project and they have accompanied all the work done by the activists. The latter have a leader who is supervised by the chief of the administrative post. Though, during the fieldwork, it was not easy to locate the families that have improved stoves, the local authorities knew details about the status of each stove though they admit they may have made some involuntary errors. In general, the zone reveals considerable openness in cooperating with the project and the artisans we interviewed manifested zeal about their work. Nevertheless, • None of the artisans is very clear about how the project is supposed to develop or where these activities will lead to. • The project provides no work incentives. Though the artisans do not demand a salary, they do want teeshirts, capulanas, identification badges, and bicycles to shorten the time required for going to see clients. The artisans report that some families refuse to cooperate because they do not recognize the artisans and fear being cheated. • They believe that the supervision by the project’s team should be more regular. • They also would like to learn more to help the families use the stoves better, e.g., basic nutrition and hygiene and cooking practices that help to save energy. Besides this, the major lesson from this zone is that the direct involvement by the chief of the administrative post has been crucial since he has been very pro-active about the project. This suggests that projects like this that do not have financial resources to pay direct incentives to the activists should, above all, maximize the power and prestige that the leaders have to persuade more people to the activities. Though vital, that may, however, not be enough. Despite their initial enthusiasm and success, the group of artisans is at a standstill and quite dispirited like those in nearly all the sites we visited.
Rude Failure in Inchope The Inchope administrative post pertains to Gondola District and has, at most, 17,415 inhabitants. The location where the stove project is promoted is one of the rural zones that heavily influenced by the dynamic of the Beira Corridor. Due to this, Inchope town is visited by many travelers and truckers from Malawi, Zimbabwe and other neighboring countries. ProBEC’s stove promotion project trained 15 people here, most of whom are volunteers with Africare-Manica. In Africare, these people have been working conducting home visits and providing basic care for vulnerable families. As an incentive for this, they receive school notebooks for their children, mosquito nets, Certeza (to purify water), and other occasional incentives. The initial idea in training these activists was to develop a strategy for integrating the promotion of stoves along with their routine activities with local families. Now, a year after their training, these artisans have only produced three stoves, two of which have been ruined. The major difficulty, according to the artisans, is that they have received no clear orientation about the project. Moreover, they feel it is a waste of time to promote stoves instead of the activities of other projects that provide subsidies. Reportedly, though ProBEC did not promise them anything, the project’s proponents never returned to check on how things were going. The result? Most of the activists have quit and are now all spread out. The lesson from this is that, though the idea of integrating the promotion of stoves as another of the activities developed by Africare is good, before such a partnership, ProBEC should evaluate the volunteers’ work conditions and in Africare and guarantee that the insertion of these additional activities is perceived as onerous for the activities. The activists say that their work increased when the project arrived while, in terms of their benefits, nothing changed. Thus, it is not possible mainstream the promotion of improved stoves without considering the activists’ current work environment.
30
Limitations of the Chosen Technology • Difficulties in Acquiring Inputs to Make the Stove. A surprisingly large quantity of inputs are required to make the improved household stove being promoted by ProBEC (Table 14). Table 14: Inputs required to make a Wood-Saver stove for one household QUANTITY Water 60 L Bricks or stones 12 ou 15 Clay 240 kg Ashes 20 kg To accumulate 20 kg of ashes is not easy since people rarely try to save ashes. Nor is it easy to get 240 kg of clay or 60 liters of water. Water is often scare especially in urban areas and small villages (e.g., in Inchope) and clay is often obtained from a distant site. Therefore, given the nature of the technology itself, consumers must contemplate spending considerable time and energy gathering up or buying the required inputs before the artisans can actually install the stove. • Lack of Attention to Detail when Building the Stoves: The dimensions of the stoves we observed installed in homes varied wildly. Both the distance from the bottom of the fire chamber to the top of the stove (10 cm to 22 cm)7 and the gap between the latter and the top of the pot supports (1.5 cm to 2.0 cm) vary greatly though both critically influence the stove’s efficiency.8 The interior diameter of the fire chamber also varied significantly (18 cm to 26 cm) with lesser differences between the two diameters on a particular stove. • Difficulties in Maintaining the Stove. Made mainly of clay, the stove cracks with the first and requires maintenance every two weeks to patch the cracks. Acquiring the discipline to perform periodical maintenance on the stove is difficult for many people. So, after acquiring the stove, many just use it till a vital component breaks. • Lack or inappropriateness of kitchens for the Wood-Saver Stove. This problem was reported in some zones around Chimoio, where the families could not accept the stoves for two, extremely different reasons: they had (i) improved kitchens inappropriate for a mud stove or (ii) no roof to protect the stoves after their installation.
7
The distance average from the fire chamber floor to the top of the stove equaled 16.0 cm with a standard deviation of 2.7 cm while the average diameter for mouth A was 22.4 cm with a standard deviation of 2.6 cm. 8 “Getting heat into pots or griddles is best done with small channels. The hot flue gases from the fire are forced through these narrow channels, or gaps, where it is forced to scrape against the pot or griddle. If the gap is too large the hot flue gases mostly stay in the middle of the channel and do not pass their heat to the desired cooking surface. If the gaps are too small, the draft diminishes, causing the fire to be cooler, the emissions to go up, and less heat to enter the pot” (Bryden et al. circa 2003:15).
31
Performance of the Household Wood-Saver Stove To judge the performance of the Household Wood-Saver Stove, we observed 40 cooks using it in the field, 35 with wood, 5 with charcoal. Most stoves had two mouths, whose performance was measured separately. After compilation, the surveys yielded usable observations for wood users and 4 for charcoal users. Since no measurements exist of actual practices with three-stone fires in Manica and Sofala Provinces, we compare our results to those achieved in studies of 3-stone fires done in both Mozambique and Uganda. The reader should be warned, however, that the skill and attention with which people tend a 3-stone fire can vary hugely between individuals and between communities with plentiful or scarce wood supplies.9 In the absence of field tests for 3-stone fires in the target locations, we refer—as a proxy baseline for Mozambique—to the controlled cooking tests of stoves, including 3-stone fires, done by the engineering department at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM). To cook 1.8 kg of squash leaves with a 3-stone fire, they used, on average, 550 gr of firewood (i.e., SFP = 3.3) and, for 3.0 kg of rice, 720 gr of firewood, (i.e., SFP = 4.2) (Lucas 2002:17). That study did not report making any adjustment for the humidity presumably in the wood. If we assume that the wood had 12.6% humidity (the same average as our same, the SFP for squash leaves would be 3.7 and, for rice, 4.8 on the 3stone fire. In Uganda, standardized cooking tests for a 8.48 kg meal of plantains, groundnuts and spices averaged merely 3.1 (George 2002).10 By type and size, however, UEM’s tests comprised meals more in accordance with Mozambican customs and also our field results. For example, on average, the sampled cooks prepared 3.1 kg on each stove mouth, a value near to UEM’s rice test and, of the 43 foods cooked, 17 were xima; 17, caril; and 3, rice—foods whose cooking requirements are quite similar to what UEM tested. Thus, referring to UEM’s results but preferring to adopt a conservative, somewhat lower cutoff point, we assume that any stove that achieves an SFP less than 3.5 is, by comparison, very bad. Though this is not strictly a baseline value for local practices in Manica, it serves as a good cut-off point below which any stove must certainly be rejected. In our study in Manica and Sofala, the Household Wood-Saver Stove attained an average specific food production (SFP) of merely 3.6 grams of food per gram of fuel used. Moreover, 65% of the stove mouths achieved a SFP less—sometimes much less—than 3.5, our minimal target.11 Moreover, no one who prepared a small meal (30% of the observations) of less than 1.8 kg achieved an SFP equal to 3.5. Their best was 2.6.12 Curiously, cooking 9
For example, the energy use efficiency of 3-stone fires has been measured at 14% in wood-scarce Burkina Faso, between 10% and 15% in Kenya, 10% in Mozambique, and 8% in Nicaragua (Westhoff and Germann 1995: 64 and Lucas 2002:16). 10 Again in Gautemala, Still et al. (1996) calculated that it took, on average, 1,446.6 gr of oven dried firewood to cook 484 gr of unsoaked beans plus 2,884 gr of water. Being unsoaked, the beans required a long time to cook and an exceptional amount of firewood, yielding a very low SFP ratio of 2.3. 11 Though Scott and Vineyard assert that the improved Lorena stove 12 This should not be surprising. “Just surrounding the fire with heavy earthen materials does not raise combustion temperatures. The mass actually lowers combustion temperatures for hours until the stove body has come up to
32
two dishes back to back on the same mouth raised the average SFP but negligibly to 3.68 as opposed to Worse than a 3-stone fire! That’s bad! The numerous observations with SFPs far below that of the 3-stone fires measured by UEM in Mozambique suggest grave deficiencies in the stove and/or in the way many cooks are trained. Nevertheless, though the majority got very low cooking efficiency, a few did fair well, achieving a SFP equal to 7.0, 8.0 or even 9.0 (Figure 2). This implies that the stove can be more efficient than a 3-stone fire. This contrast in performance—sometimes fairly good but usually very bad— suggests that rushed, improper or incomplete training may contribute to the failure.
Figure 2. Specific food production, all 43 valid observations 10.00
SFP (gr food / gr wood)
9.00 8.00
y = -2E-07x 2 + 0.002x + 0.022 R2 = 0.3325
7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 0
2000
4000
6000
8000
Food prepared (gr), all valid tests
Though wood is the main energy source for the people in our surveys, many also use charcoal. (Table 15). Since we also saw some people using charcoal in their wood-saver stove, we conducted a mini-field cooking survey among four such users. Their average SFP13 was still 5.9 as compared to 8.51 achieved to by the Maputo Ceramic Stove and 6.47 for traditional metallic charcoal burning stoves tested in Maputo (Coughlin 2008). During these exercises, however, we observed some terrible practices that surely lower the stove’s efficiency when burning charcoal, e.g., jamming the stove full of charcoal and failure to recover residual coals. Moreover, the stove is far too deep to be used well for charcoal though a small inserted grate could be built and used to place the charcoal at a proper distance from the pot. temperature itself. The heat is diverted from its intended purpose: to cook food. Why heat up hundreds of pounds of stove body when cooking 5 [to] 10 pounds of food? A three-stone fire can be quicker, smokes less, uses less fuel. Clay/sand is not insulation. This was the mistake made by the inventors of these types of stoves, including Aprovecho.”—comment by Dean Still of the Aprovecho Research Center, www.hedon.info/goto.php/ EfficiencyOfHeavyMudStoves. 13 average of 3.0, 4.9, 7.0 and 8.6
33
Thus, better teaching and a minor innovation might greatly improve the stove’s efficiency for those who occasionally use it with charcoal. Table 15. Frequency of use of diverse energy sources for cooking Never
Rarely
S ometimes
Often
Always
Total
99% 100% 96% 47% 16%
1% 0% 2% 8% 4%
1% 0% 2% 10% 10%
0% 0% 1% 8% 19%
0% 0% 0% 27% 50%
183 183 183 183 183
Experimental group: Electricity 98% Gas 100% Oil 97% Charcoal 45% Firewood 1%
1% 0% 1% 10% 0%
1% 0% 2% 28% 8%
0% 0% 0% 11% 14%
0% 0% 0% 6% 77%
87 87 86 87 87
Bas eline group: Electricity Gas Oil Charcoal Firewood
Baseline and Impact of the Household Wood-Saver Stove on Cooking Practices The Sample To examine whether the program for installation of the Household WoodSaver Stove and training of cooks had, in fact, modified their household management techniques. For the baseline, we sampled 183 households that had not received the Household Wood-Saver Stove and, to compare the impart, 87 cooks that had received it in Manica and Sofala (Table 16).
34
Table 16. Location of samples Province and district
Baseline (Cooks who had not received the improved stove)
Cooks who had received the improved stove
31 35 31 24 121
12 11 6 17 46
30 0 2 30 62
25 2 9 5 41
183
87
Sofala Caia Dondo/Beira Gorongosa Nhamatanda Subtotal Manica Chimoio Manica Gondola Sussundenga Subtotal Total
Stoves and Stove Preferences In both samples, more than 90% reportedly consume most of their meals at home (97% of the baseline cooks; 90% of the cooks). Of the baseline families, 56% of the stoves were 3-stone fires while the others were metallic stoves though only 3% had improved metallic stoves. Moreover, 147 (80%) possessed a 3-stone fire while 74 (40%) of the 183 families only had a 3stone fire. Of all families, 64% reported that they mainly used their 3-stone fire. This is in sharp contrast to those who got a wood-saver stove. Of the latter, only 9% continued to use mainly their 3-stone fire; 63% preferred the wood-saver.
Figure 3. Stove types for baseline families
Metallic stove improved 7 3%
T raditional metallic stove 114 41%
3-stone fire 154 56%
35
Figure 4. Stove usage preference among families who got an improved wood-saver stove
Improved metalic stove 3 4%
T raditional metallic stove 5 6%
3-stone fire 7 9%
Improved Wood-Saver Stove 52 63%
Unimprove d firewood stove 15 18%
Of all the stoves possessed by people in the baseline, 90% were onemouth stoves. Even in our cooking tests, 68% of the cooks used only one mouth on their wood-saver while preparing the meal. This suggests that the project may have overestimated the need for the stove to always have two mouths, thereby, for many families, unnecessarily increasing the cost in money, labor and time to install the stoves. It may have been wiser to offer them the option of one or two mouths. Learning of Household Management Techniques As confirmed by our interviews with the project’s staff, the evidence from the interviews with baseline and experimental cooks strongly suggests that the project taught them little about how to improve their cooking efficiency. Whereas the technology itself seemingly encouraged them to reduce the fire and cook in an area protected from wind (see green areas in Table 18), they learned little else. The orange areas in the table even suggest slippage! Other opportunities for training people to save energy seem to have also been missed. For example, in sharp contrast to our data from Maputo, 86.7% of the baseline cooks who do put out and save their coals for future use dose them with water instead of using dry sand. The experimental cooks did little better: 82.9%. Water substantially reduces the net calorific value of the coals. The only improvement that was discretional rather than imposed by the technology itself concerned simmering versus fast boiling. In comparison to the baseline, the field cooks seem to prefer a soft simmer more often (28.3% who simmer softly) than the baseline group (20.8%)
36
though the difference is probably insignificant. Regardless, in either survey, most cooks prefer a strong, wasteful boil. Table 17. Comparative boiling practices Simmer lightly Baseline group 20.8% Field cooks with improved stoves 28.3%
Boil strongly 79.2% 71.7%
Most cooks (95%) know that the best way to reduce the fire’s intensity is to reduce its fuel rather than merely dissipating the energy by partly or entirely removing the lid (Figure 5). Moreover, 84% consider it at least as easy to lower the fire in the wood-saver as it is to do so in their traditional stove. Figure 5. How do you reduce the intensity of the fire in the stove? Feed fire slowy 2 2%
Other technique 1 1%
Reduce the air for the fire 2 2%
Reduce fuel 77 95%
Figure 6. In comparison to the traditional stove or fire you were using, how easy is it to reduce the fire in the wood-saver stove? Difficult 14 16%
Very difficult 0 0%
The same 10 11%
Easy 37 43%
37
Very easy 26 30%
Sometimes
Half the times
Very often
Almost always
Table 18. Use of energy saving techniques for cooking: Baseline versus experimental families
88.5% 11.0% 1.6%
3.3% 29.7% 1.1%
2.2% 24.2% 2.2%
0.0% 3.3% 0.0%
0.5% 6.6% 1.1%
1.1% 8.2% 13.7%
4.4% 17.0% 80.2%
100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
182 182 182
Put out and save the coals after cooking
1.6%
2.7%
4.9%
2.2%
6.6%
17.0%
64.8%
100.0%
182
Cook in an area protected from wind
37.4%
7.7%
19.2%
1.6%
4.9%
9.3%
19.8%
100.0%
182
Put a metallic skirt around the pot
74.0%
5.5%
8.3%
1.1%
6.6%
1.1%
3.3%
100.0%
181
Those who received the wood-saver stove: Soak beans 89.5% 3.5% 5.8% Reduce fire 17.4% 20.9% 16.3% Put a lid on 2.3% 0.0% 1.2%
0.0% 4.7% 0.0%
1.2% 2.3% 8.1%
0.0% 15.1% 12.8%
0.0% 23.3% 75.6%
100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
86 86 86
Baseline families: Soak beans Reduce fire Put a lid on
Total %
Number of respondents
Always
Rarely
Never
Tecniques
Put out and save the coals after cooking
6.2%
4.9%
8.6%
4.9%
6.2%
14.8%
54.3%
100.0%
81
Cook in an area protected from wind
43.2%
4.9%
8.6%
0.0%
1.2%
11.1%
30.9%
100.0%
81
Put a metallic skirt around the pot
80.2%
2.3%
9.3%
5.8%
1.2%
1.2%
0.0%
100.0%
86
Average percentage change in behavior among wood-saver stove users compared to the baseline sample: Soak beans 1.1% 0.2% 3.6% 0.0% 0.6% -1.1% -4.4% 0.0% Reduce fire 6.5% -8.7% -7.9% 1.4% -4.3% 6.9% 6.2% 0.0% Put a lid on 0.7% -1.1% -1.0% 0.0% 7.0% -0.9% -4.6% 0.0%
n.a. n.a. n.a.
Put out and save the coals after cooking
4.5%
2.2%
3.7%
2.7%
-0.4%
-2.2%
-10.5%
0.0%
n.a.
Cook in an area protected from wind
5.8%
-2.8%
-10.6%
-1.6%
-3.7%
1.8%
11.1%
0.0%
n.a.
Put a metallic skirt around the pot
6.2%
-3.2%
1.0%
4.7%
-5.5%
0.1%
-3.3%
0.0%
n.a.
Although 91% of the baseline cooks and 88% of the experimental cooks reportedly use a lid always or nearly always when cooking, our observations during the field cooking experiments revealed that, as a fraction of the time cooking, 26% used a lid nearly always and 39% very frequently. The apparent inconsistency may be due to what was communicated during the interviews. For the above table, the interviewees may well have understood to question to refer to the percentage of cooking sessions whereas the field cooking experiment reported how much time a lid was used as a fraction of the total time used for cooking.
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Table 19. While cooking, the pot or pan had a lid on during what percentage of the time? % of time while cooking Number of % of number of stove stove mouths mouths 7 Rarely or never (Ω 10%) 11% 9 15% Sometimes (de 11% a 30%) 5 Frequently (de 31% a 69%) 8% 24 39% Very frequently (de 70% a 90%) 16 Almost always (≥ 90%) 26% Total 100% Total observations
61
61
Non-cooking Applications for Stoves Though the results differed little between the baseline and experimental groups, many respondents reported that their stoves and fires had other important or extremely important applications, namely, to: • • • •
protect grains in rafters provide light for conversations provide heat on cold days; or braise maize (Table 20).
Asked which of all the reasons in the list was most important, 35% of the baseline cooks said heating and 31%, braising maize. The wood-saver stove might reduce lighting and the radiation of heat somewhat but should not reduce the cooks’ ability to braise maize or protect grains stored in the rafters.
39
Table 20. Non-cooking applications of the fire Purpose Not important Baseline cooks: Ward off insects Protect grains in rafters Provide light for conversations Provide heat on cold days Braise maize Other
78% 68% 55% 20% 30% 78%
Cooks who got the improved wood-saver stove: Ward off insects 83% Protect grains in rafters 74% Provide light for conversations 49% Provide heat on cold days 26% Braise maize 30% Other 84% Other 98%
% of responses Important Very important
Extremely important
Total number of respondents
16% 12% 26% 34% 26% 11%
5% 18% 17% 39% 37% 10%
0% 2% 2% 7% 7% 1%
183 183 183 183 183 183
15% 7% 39% 37% 25% 9% 0%
2% 13% 11% 30% 39% 7% 2%
0% 7% 0% 7% 6% 0% 0%
87 87 87 87 87 87 87
Table 21. Choice of the stove’s most important non-cooking application for baseline cooks Purpose % indicating this as the most important purpose Ward off insects 1% Protect grains in rafters 12% Provide light for conversations 8% Provide heat on cold days 35% Braise maize 31% Other 13% Other 1% Total 100% Total respondents
171
As for the foods most commonly eaten, not surprisingly, most cooks prepare either cassava or ushwa (xima) everyday while animal proteins are consumed less frequently (Table 22).
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Table 22. Most popular foods prepared with the stove, baseline cooks Number of days per week Total respondents each food is eaten Ushwa or xima Rice Beans Rice and beans mixed together Maize as grain Maize and beans Cassava Eggs Chicken, beef or fish, braised Chicken, beef or fish, fried Curry Tea or coffee Water for drinking Other Other
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 25 44 5 25 16 22 31 25 21 13 13 3 13 3
2 6 44 46 4 11 7 14 26 27 33 19 10 2 19 5
3 7 53 43 1 8 7 25 12 23 27 18 16 2 25 6
4 13 15 16 1 1 1 19 6 19 22 6 6 0 14 3
5 3 5 4 0 1 0 7 0 4 8 1 15 0 3 0
6 7 11 141 5 23 6 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 40 0 6 2 2 5 7 2 66 9 68 2 7 5 22 2 6
182 170 161 11 47 31 131 81 102 123 125 137 16 101 25
Stoves Used to Prepare Bathwater As for bathwater, practices vary dramatically with the season. When hot, only 10% heat it up; when cold, 80% do, on average, 11 times per week. To heat up the water, 65% of the baseline cooks and 70% of the experimental cooks improve efficiency by putting it on a pre-existing fire (e.g., after cooking). Whereas the 66% of the baseline cooks used their 3-stone fire to warm bathwater, only 7% of the experimental cooks do. En masse, the 66% of the experimental cooks switched to using the wood-saver for heating up bathwater. Figure 7. Baseline survey: Stoves used to heat bathwater Metallic stove improved 1%
Rectangle traditional metallic stove 2%
Traditional metallic stove 31%
Stove w ith 3 stones 66%
41
Figure 8. Impact survey: Stoves used to heat bathwater T raditional metallic stove 2 3%
3-stone fire 5 7%
Improved metallic stove 2 3%
Improved woodsaver stove 41 61%
Unimproved firewood stove 18 26%
Fires, Air Quality, Burns and Respiratory Problems By far, most of the baseline cooks (85%) light their wood outside their outside while 75% of the experimental cooks do so and, except for one cook, where they light it is where they cook. The slight 10% drop between groups may arise because the wood-saver stove is installed in a fixed location, often on the patio but sometimes inside the house itself. Compared to the baseline group, the installed wood-saver stoves tend to have a slightly higher probability of being better protected against the wind. Whereas, among baseline cooks, 36% of the stoves were in the open air with no protection against the wind as against 28% among the experimental cooks. The occurrence of four-walled protection also increased from 14% to 27% among the experimental cooks (Figure 9 and Figure 10). At the same time, for those who cook indoors, ventilation seems to have improved but ever so slightly, decreasing the occurrence of “very bad ventilation” from 21% to 9% while increasing that of “very bad ventilation” from 75% to 88%. Among indoor cooks, the experimental group had a slightly higher percentage of home manifesting an “easy exit” of smoke via the roof (i.e., 67% as opposed to 48% for the baseline group). None of the marginal improvements in air quality are impressive. To the contrary, they just point to the considerable scope to pay more attention to this aspect of this program.
42
Figure 9. Protection provided to the fire against wind, baseline cooks With four w alls 14% With no protection 36%
With three w alls 6% With tw o w alls 6%
With one w all 38%
Figure 10. Protection provided for the fire against wind, experimental group
With three w alls 2 3%
With four w alls 18 27%
With no protection 19 28%
With tw o w alls 2 3%
With one w all 26 39%
Figure 11. Air ventilation where cooking, baseline group Good ventilation 4%
With very bad air ventilation 21%
With poor air ventilation 75%
Figure 12. Air ventilation where cooking, experimental group
43
Good ventilation 1 3%
With very bad air ventilation 3 9%
With poor air ventilation 29 88%
Figure 13. For indoor cooks, how easily does their roof allow smoke to escape, baseline cooks
Bloqued exit 15% easy exit 48%
Difficult exit 37%
Figure 14. For indoor cooks, how easily does their roof allow smoke to escape, experimental cooks Difficult exit 10 33%
easy exit 20 67%
44
Another practice to note is whether, when using the stove indoors, the cook keeps the door open or closed. During the hot season, most stop cooking inside. However, in either season, a small but important minority keep the door closed or only sometimes open (Figure 15 and Figure 16). This is dangerous and should be another focus of the project. Perhaps a symptom of this is that roughly a fifth of the cooks report getting dizzy while cooking and about one in seven have frequent, very frequent or grave and continuous coughs that some directly attribute to the smoke and others to unknown causes (Table 24, Table 25 and Table 26). A well known risk occurs when women carry their babies on the back while cooking thus exposing the child to the smoke. About a tenth of all the interviewers do this often, very often or always when cooking. Moreover, in both samples 15% of the respondents reported that, since January 2001, a child or adult had been seriously burnt while someone was cooking. Out of the combined same of 270 cooks, 48 serious burn cases were reported. Neither the field interviews nor conversations with the projects trainers suggest that the project has ever attempted to educate the women about these various health risks. Table 23. Frequency with which women carry their babies on the back while cooking Ne ve r
Some time s
Ofte n
Ve ry ofte n
Always
Total re s ponde nts
72% 62%
21% 27%
2% 0%
1% 1%
5% 9%
183 85
Baseline group Experimental group
350.0% 300.0% 250.0% 200.0% 150.0% 100.0% 50.0% 0.0%
Cold season
ay sc So lo m se et d im es Fr cl os eq ed ue nt ly cl os U ed su al ly op en A lw ay so pe n
Hot season
lw A
% of the time
Figure 15. When cooking indoors, how often are the doors open: Baseline, by season
45
80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0%
Cold season
ay sc So lo se m d et im es cl Fr os ed eq ue nt ly cl os ed U su al ly op en A lw ay so pe n
Hot season
A
lw
% of time doors are open
Figure 16. When cooking indoors, how often are the doors open: Experimental cooks, by season
Table 24. When cooking, does the cook often feel dizzy? Ye s Total re sponde nts Baseline group Cold season 15% 61 Hot season 17% 58 Experime ntal Group Cold season 23% Hot season 21%
31 29
Sometimes
Frequently
Very frequently
Gravely and continuously
Baseline group Experimental group
Never
Table 25. Does the cook suffer a cough or other respiratory problems? Total re s ponde nts
64% 68%
22% 21%
8% 1%
5% 5%
1% 6%
183 87
Table 26. Cooks with a frequent or worse cough: supposed cause
Bas eline group Experimental group
S mok e
A cold
9.1% 16.7%
0.0% 0.0%
Other Unk nown Total res pondents reas ons caus e with frequent or wors e coughs 6.1% 0.0%
22.7% 83.3%
46
25 6
% of all res pondents 13.7% 6.9%
Types and Sources of Fuel Though a few people buy charcoal and, when they do, it is usually in bags, not small lots (Table 8), most of our interviewees use firewood. About a third buy it, the rest go fetch it, spending, on average, a total of six to seven hours per week to do so (Table 28). As expected, the wife and girls are mainly responsible for fetching firewood though boys seem to share a big part of this task. Table 27. Strategy for buying charcoal Es trategia
Bas eline group 68% 8% 19% 5% 96
Only buy bags , hardly ever s mall quantities Buy bags at beginnin of month and s mall quantities toward the end Only buys s mall quantities , hardly ever bags Other s trategy Total repondents
Table 28. Firewood sources Pick Pick & buy fire wood fire wood Baseline group 64% 5% Experimental group 62% 7%
Experimental group 61% 4% 33% 2% 46
Buy Total fire wood re spondents 31% 31%
150 85
Table 29. Main people responsible for fetching firewood (multiple names possible) Main wood gatherers in family W ife Girls Boys Hus band W idow Other relative that lives in the home W idower Other pers ons Both hus band and wife Hous e worker Total of main people mentioned
47
Number of times mentioned 86 37 35 13 11 11 7 4 3 2
% of times mentioned 41.1% 17.7% 16.7% 6.2% 5.3% 5.3% 3.3% 1.9% 1.4% 1.0%
209
100.0%
Recipients’ Evaluation of the Stove’s Installation and the Training Received The recipients are nearly unanimous, the artisans usually took just one day or, at most, two to install an improved stove. Out of 82 respondents, only two said that they paid (50 MT) for the installation and only one other person believed that the artisans received a payment for this service from another source. The vast majority thought the training they got about how to use the stove was either good (30%) or very good (68%). Remember, however, that most users do not know about many energy saving techniques and, hence, could not complain when the project failed to teach these. They also seemed reasonably satisfied with the training they got about how to repair the stove. Asked to judge how well the artisan knew the task—on a scale from terrible to very bad, bad, mediocre, good, or very good—59% ranked them as good, 32% as mediocre, and 9% as bad. The extremes— terrible, very bad, and very good—were avoided. Few users complained about stove failures and, when they did, it usually concerned the way the its walls began to break up. Of the interviewees that had received the wood-saver stove, 76% continue to use it though 67% also use other stoves.
Figure 17. Users’ evaluation of the training received about how to repair the wood-saver stove Bad 1 1%
Not any 3 4%
Good 32 40%
Very good 45 55%
48
Table 30. Types and gravity of the stove failures encountered
Chimney broke down Chimney caus ed a fire Chimney clogged up The s tove's wall broke up Stove created much s moke ins ide the hous e
Minor problem
S erious problem
1 0 0 57 5
0 0 0 4 0
Extremely Very s erious s erious problem problem 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1 0
Of the cooks who have stopped using the wood-saver or only use it sometimes, 40% allege that it has technical deficiencies and another 8% argue that they do not know how to run it (Figure 18). The technical reasons given most frequently are that the firewood inlet is too small and that the stove cannot support large, heavy pots. Nevertheless, of the 86 respondents, none reported having encountered a problem using the improved stove and, in fact, very few complained about the any deficiency at all in wood-saver. With one exception, the problems were small and got remedied (Figure 19). Among those who continue to use the wood-saver, 90% believe that it uses less or much less fuel than their traditional stove (Figure 20). Moreover, 91% are reportedly happy or very happy with the stove (Figure 21). Their opinions seem to conflict with the fuel usage data we measured in the field. The data and their opinions might both be right especially if the efficiency with which they run their 3-stone fires is much worse than assumed in this report (see p. 32). Figure 18. Reasons for stopping to use the wood-saver stove Rain 3 6%
Kitchen is hot 2 4%
Habit 3 6%
Don't now how To protect the to use it wood-saver 4 stove 8% 6 12% Technical limitations for the wood-saver stove 19 40%
Other 12 24%
49
Figure 19. If you encountered a problem, how grave was it? Problems
No problem
Learn to reduce the quantity of fuel Learn to use small fuel Learn to light the fuel Learn to load the stove with fuel before light Lea rn to adjust air The stove broke frequentily Another dificult
78 80 82 87 85 82 87
Small problem that was resolved 9 7 5 0 2 3 0
Grave Small problem that problem that was not was not solved resolved 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Figure 20. Wood-saver’s fuel usage in comparison to traditional stove More 1 1%
Same amount 8 9%
Much less 46 53%
Less 32 37%
Figure 21. Are you satisfied or discontented with the wood-saver stove in comparison to the stove you used previously Unhappy 4 5%
Satisfied 22 27%
Very unhappy 3 4%
Very satisfied 54 64%
Despite their favourable opinion of the stove, one-third think that it needs improvement mainly to strengthen it in diverse ways.
50
Recommendations for the Household Wood-Saver Stove ProBEC’s current strategy for the promotion of the household rocket stove is ineffective and extremely costly per installed stove. Implicit from the diagnostic in the previous sections, the project should: • rethink the entire technology of the Wood-Saver stove for two reasons: (i) as used in the field, the stove is inefficient and (ii) the technology it embodies would require a large, expensive network of administrators, trainers and field workers in order to reach a significant fraction of the population in any region. Per force, the design requires the training of numerous artisans and onerous promotion efforts. ProBEC/GTZ should evaluate whether adopting a different design, perhaps similar to the Maendaleo14 (or Upesi) stove — a one-pot insulated ceramic stove that reduces specific fuelwood consumption by 40%. In Kenya in the early 1990s, the stove proved hugely popular (Klingshirn 1992). Ironically, that technology was introduced by the Women and Energy Programme in Kenya with support from GTZ, the same organ that is now sponsoring the apparently inefficient Household Wood-Saver Stove in Mozambique. Choice of the Maendeleo stove would greatly simplify and speed promotion efforts. The Maendeleo stove is built around a insulating ceramic core that, in Kenya, sells for about 1.30 cents US (Karekezi and Turyareeba 1995:13). Around that core, people simply push up mud and stones or bricks for support and insulation. Training is minimal or unnecessary and dissemination is quick. “The Maendeleo one pot stove is built around a special pottery liner. This liner automatically gives the proper size door, firebox and pot rests which assures top efficiency” (GTZ s.d. and Njenga 2001). This approach would slash the project’s overhead costs and allow more money to go directly for technical support for liner producers and wide, popular dissemination of the technology. Figure 22. Maendeleo one-pot stove in mud
14
Maendeleo means development in Kiswahili.
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Figure 23. The Upesi liner
(photograph by Practical Action)
• dramatically reorient its strategy to emphasize the commercial sale of stoves and have distinctly different sales approaches for different classes of customers: poor and needy people, others willing to pay in cash, goods or services, and commercial ventures (e.g., restaurants) interested in saving on fuel costs. • motivate the groups to attack the various markets aggressively, ProBEC should consider using material incentives as a bait to get the promotion efforts moving fast while also providing the most effective artisans with transportation to have a wider radius of activity. For such, the project should consider promising a bicycle for any artisan who installs 40 verifiable stoves. The project might also promise to provide training and make a bread oven for any group that (i) installs 500 stoves, (ii) accumulates savings equal to 10,000 MTn (20 MTn per stove), and (iii) demonstrates a clear ability to manage and control these funds. This would link one component of the project to the other. • institute a commercially oriented geographic strategy targeting areas with water, clay, scarce and, better yet, costly firewood and, hence, consumers with a financial motive for acquiring (buying) the selected stove; and • evaluate whether the stove’s efficiency might be improved by inserting a small, removable grate to raise the charcoal closer to the pan. If so, especially in areas where people are beginning to shift from wood to charcoal, it may be desirable to instruct people that the stove may be used in this way too instead of using a highly inefficient metallic stove to burn charcoal while the Wood-Saver stove sits idle, a frequent sight in the field.
6. Conclusions The principal theme arising from the present study is that the slowness of the project to take off in Manica and, to a lesser extent, Sofala Provinces is due to its failure to emphasize a widely focused commercial approach to 52
promoting and selling the ovens, kilns, and stoves. Compounding the difficulties is the project’s failure to consistently enroll key community leaders as advocates for the project and to get it mainstreamed into their activities. Finally, for the household rocket stove, the appropriateness of the technology itself is called into question since the stove’s performance in the field is, on average, poor and, compounding the problems, the stove’s very design implies the need for a huge, almost unmanageable number of artisans and, consequently substantial overhead costs for the project.
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7. Annexes
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8. References Coughlin, P. 2008. Field testing for ceramic stoves: Survey results from three boroughs in Maputo and Matola. Report for Probec/GTZ. George, E. 2002. Woodstoves for Uganda: Testing stoves and finding better designs. A GTZ report for the Uganda Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.. www.crest.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/George/WoodstovesforUganda.pdf GTZ. s.d. A Guide to Make your Own Maendeleo One-pot Jiko. Loreto, A. and Orias, R. 2000. New products of future potential in the Philippines: Cassava flour and grates. Cassava's Potential in Asia in the 21st Century: Present Situation and Future Research and Development Needs, proceedings of the sixth Regional workshop, held in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Feb. 21-2. http://orton.catie.ac.cr/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/?IsisScript= CATALCO.xis&method=post&formato=2&cantidad=1&expresion= mfn=091861. Karekezi, S. and Turyareeba, P. 1995. Woodstove dissemination in Eastern Africa: A review. Energy for Sustainable Development 1(6) Klingshirn, A. 1992. Improved cookstove as a focal point for development process. An abbreviated version of an impact study of the Women and Energy Project, Kenya, Eschborn, GTZ/GATE. Lucas, C. 2002. ProbEC Demonstration Project in Mozambique: Technical report. Report for the Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. Njenga, B. 2001. Upesi Rural Stoves Project: Kenya. Palomar, L.; Perez, J.; and Pascual, G. 1981. Wheat flour substitution using sweetpotato or cassava in some bread and snack items. Annals of Tropical Research 3(1). Sayre, L. 1918. War bread: Corn starch and high protein flour mixtures for baking. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 29. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00228443%2819180315%2F16%2929%3C103%3AWBCSAH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R. Still, D. et al. 1996. Fuel efficient wood stoves and hayboxes: Efficiency of combustion, operator expertise, and heat transfer efficiency. Westhoff, B. and Germann, D. 1995. Stove Images: A Documentation of Improved and Traditional Stoves in Africa, Asia and Latin America. www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-stove-images1-1995.pdf, www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-stove-images2-1995.pdf and www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-stoveimages3-1995.pdf.
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