Abstract
This study was examined to assess the potential of improved cookstove (ICS), (specifically the Mirt stove which is designed for Ethiopia’s staple food injera) in fuel-wood saving, carbon-dioxide emission reduction and assessed the determinants of the household decision of its adoption in Sayo woreda, Oromia regional state, western Ethiopia.
Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) has been employed to determine the potential of ICS in fuel-wood saving, and household surveys were conducted to assess the determinants of the household decision on the adoption of ICS. Data for this study were collected from 191 household heads, selected using a simple random sampling technique from two kebeles. For KPT, 30 ICS, and 35 traditional cookstoves (TCS) users were selected using stratified random sampling. To measure the efficiency of ICS and TCS, a field test was conducted for eight days by using a cross-sectional approach. Data gathered through questionnaires were analyzed using binary logistic regression and descriptive statistics; whereas data gathered from KPT were analyzed using independent t-test. The regression result revealed that family size; higher education level and income level of household are positively and significantly influenced the decision of household adoption of ICS. The KPT result showed that an average of fuel-wood consumed for TCS per day for each standard adult equivalent (SAE) is 1.199 (standard deviation = 0.218) kg; while an average of 0.686 (standard deviation = 0.117) kg of fuel-wood is consumed per each SAE when ICS is used. Besides this, the result also demonstrated that using an ICS reduces annual emission of 0.86 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per ICS user. The findings of this study implied that improved cookstove has a major contribution to fuel-wood consumption saving as well as carbon-dioxide emission reduction. Hence it can be recommended that government and non-government should be a focus on awareness of household and also long term payment modalities and reasonable subsidies should be available to lower-income households.
Keywords: Adoption, kitchen Performance Test, Mirt stove, Traditional Cook Stove.
