CURRENT STATUS OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES ON EFFICIENT COOKSTOVES IN NIGERIA

EFFICIENT COOKSTOVES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Fuelwood and charcoal constitute about 60% of total primary energy consumption in Nigeria. To procure fuelwood, many hectares of forest are continuously lost thereby aggravating desert encroachment in some parts of the country. Despite the attendant environmental and health implications, merchandising in fuelwood and charcoal has emerged as one of the most lucrative businesses in the country due to the unending demand, the available option to reverse the ugly trend is a two-prong approach of reducing fuelwood consumption rate through the promotion of efficient cookstoves and systematic phasing out the use of fuelwood for cooking. Several research and development (R&D) aimed at achieving these two options are on-going at different institutions across the country. Consequently, proto-types have been developed and were found to be more efficient than the existing traditional means of fuelwood use in Nigeria. This paper highlights the current R&D activities, pilot projects and challenges in the area of efficient cookstoves development in Nigeria.