IMPROVED COOKING TECHNOLOGIES TO REDUCE THE USE OF FIREWOOD IN RURAL HOUSEHOLDS

Zawadi Ali Mjaka (30) has been suffering from eye disease for five years now.

According to doctors the source of her disease is smoke due to frequent uses of firewood for cooking.

Despite all her efforts to seek treatment in various hospitals, Mwanaisha, a mother of two children and a resident of Unguja Ukuu Unguja South District, is yet to be cured.

She complains of swelling eyes with tears whenever she uses firewood for cooking.

Because of her poverty and inability to afford the costs of gas or electricity for cooking she is compelled to use firewood as source of energy.

"I have been suffering from eye infections for more than five years now, I have visited various hospitals to seek treatment but I have not yet recovered,” she said.

Zawadi is not the only rural woman who continues to suffer from the disease due to the use of firewood for cooking.

Unlike Zwadi who has been suffering from eye problems, other women who use clean energy for cooking have never had such a problem.

Maimuna Zahor (32), a resident of Jozani village in Unguja South, got married two years ago, but she has a gas stove in her home.

Maimuna says the life of using gas for cooking has become normal for her and she has not experienced any health problems so far.

"Gas consumption is good, I enjoy it, it doesn't pollute but enables me to prepare food on time. In my two years of marriage now, I have never faced any health problem,” said Maimuna, a mother of two.

Health and environmental experts have been encouraging the use of alternative energy sources such as gas, electricity and biogas for cooking because they reduce by 80 percent the likelihood of a user experiencing health problems and air pollution.

The head of the environmental health unit in the Zanzibar Ministry of Health, Forongo Mtande, acknowledges that the use of firewood for cooking is one of the main causes of diseases, especially throat, pneumonia, tuberculosis and heart complications.

Forogo says firewood smoke is toxic if it penetrates in the human body although its effects can be observed after a long time.

However, he says sometimes the effects of using firewood on the user can occur within a short period.

"There are many factors that contribute to eye diseases but one of them can be frequent use of firewood for cooking and the problem is more prevalent in rural areas where the use of this energy is greater than in urban areas," he said.

He added that when smoke enters the eyes they become red and sometimes the user may experience sight problems if treatment is not found on time.

He said that the Ministry of Health encourages the use of gas or electricity for cooking because it is safer with minimum health effects on the user compared to the use of firewood.

However, he said there is still a problem of affording the cost of gas and in some villages the service is not available for those who can afford it.

The use of firewood not only has health effects for the user but it has also been proven to be a major source of air pollution.

The Director of the Zanzibar Environmental Management Authority, Sheha Juma Mjaja, says smoke from firewood pollutes fresh air in the environment.

"When smoke from firewood comes in contact with air, it turns into toxins which are hazardous to environment, animals and human beings," he said.

Thus, Majaja advises members of the to abandon the use of firewood and should instead use renewable energy, especially gas for cooking.

Despite the public positive response to use gas, there is either inadequate supply of the energy mostly in rural areas.

Omar Ali Yussuf, a Senior Economic and Marketing Officer from the Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority (ZURA), says Zanzibar's dependence on the gas market from Mainland Tanzania is affecting domestic supply, a situation that makes many areas inaccessible to the service.

"We do not have accurate statistics on the use of gas by the public, but the demand is high.

Although many people continue to use gas to control excessive use of firewood and charcoal, there are still challenges especially in rural areas where the consumption is very low,”he said.

Yussuf added the reason is that there has been increase in gas imports over the past five years from 300 tones to more than 4,000 tones a year.

"On the average, out of five households, two use gas for cooking mainly in urban areas indicating emerging awareness increase,” he said.

He observed that the problem contributing to the decline of gas consumption in the rural areas is the limited awareness of the energy use and shortage of distribution facilities.

"We shall continue to invest in gas infrastructure, including construction of ports to ensure that in the next five years, four out of every five households use gas to reduce environmental degradation. We believe that if this investment is completed, gas consumption in Zanzibar will increase tremendously,” he said. (Sources Zanzibar mail)

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