6.2 Million Households In Kenya Use Firewood To Cook

Almost every human being eats food. Almost every food is cooked. Almost every food is cooked using either fire or electricity. There is a common saying in Kenya that cooking is a basic skill that should not be defined by gender. And we cook. And we eat.

According to the Clean Cooking Association of Kenya, Kenya’s cooking industry cuts across all households, including and not limited to hotels and restaurants. As you sit down to eat that sumptuous meal, do you ever ask yourself where and how it was cooked?

Cooking is, therefore, part of life. We live. Eat. And stay stronger and healthy. Despite the numerous advantages of cooking, the “cooking industry” in Kenya has been on various crossroads. There have been calls on players in the sector to adopt the use of “clean cooking.”

The Clean Cooking Association says that 6.2 million households in Kenya depend on one mode of cooking. The Association says that 80 percent of the households that depend only on one mode of cooking, depend solely on either charcoal or fuelwood.

71 percent of households in Kenya still use a type of woodstove as either their primary or secondary cookstove, with a greater prevalence of 92 percent in the rural areas. At the same time, 5.5 million households own at least one charcoal stove with 1.3 million (10.3 percent) reporting using a type of charcoal stove as their primary cooking solution.

According to the study by the Association, 1.7 million households in Kenya (14 percent of the total population) use kerosene for cooking with 27.7 and 3.2 percent of urban and rural populations respectively reporting use. With the acute shortage of kerosene hitting the country, the use of charcoal has just gone up.

Wishing away charcoal in Kenya right now is wishful thinking. Peter Scott, the CEO of Burn Manufacturing says that “In the next 30 years, Africa is going to grow into another Africa. The population is going to double to about 2.3 billion people.”

According to Mr. Scott, as the population of Africa continues to balloon, in the next 30 years, at least 1.7 billion people will still be using biomass, firewood, and charcoal. These methods of cooking and heating will not go away overnight.

“People are not actually aware of how much they are spending on charcoal and firewood in Africa. In the whole continent, people are spending about 15 billion shillings on charcoal,” he added.

Six out of ten Kenyans cook their food using solid fuels in inefficient traditional stoves in poorly ventilated rooms, cooking this way exposes them to health-damaging pollutants, which experts warn may make them vulnerable to COVID-19.

According to WHO, in sub-Saharan Africa, harmful cooking smoke is believed to cause about one-third of acute respiratory infections and 550,000 deaths annually. This is why health experts are concerned that respiratory stresses – from air pollution in cities to smoke inhalation from cooking fires – could aggravate vulnerability to COVID-19, more so women and children who’re tasked with household cooking.

BURN which is a leading cookstove manufacturer located in Ruiru, Kiambu County, and is in its 7^th year of operations in Kenya has sold more than 800,000 units of its revolutionary clean cooking jikos and benefitted 4million people in East Africa.

BURN stoves are designed and engineered to reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions from burning biomass fuels such as charcoal and firewood, reduce fuel consumption by 56% and save consumers about 18,000Ksh annually through reduced fuel costs, said Mr. Scott.

To help close the household energy gap in Kenya, the company has lowered the price of its revolutionary clean cooking jiko – Jikokoa by 1200Ksh.

Before the Jikokoa cost 4490Ksh but with the price reduction, it will now cost 3290Ksh and is available countrywide.