(ERGO) – Shamso Ahmed Abdi, who heads a family of 14, has been saving money on charcoal with a new energy-saving stove given to her by the Jubbaland environment ministry.
Shamso’s family were among 700 families, all returnees to the southern Somali city of Kismayo from the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, to be given a Jikokoa stove.
She has reduced her monthly spending on charcoal from $21 to $14 and is also impressed by the stove’s durability.
“Other stoves were made of stone, but this one is a mix of iron and steel mesh. It uses far less charcoal and sheds the ash below,” said Shamso.
The stoves were distributed free by the ministry, with support from the German development agency GIZ, as part of a wider programme to reduce charcoal use in Jubbaland’s main cities by half in order to curb tree cutting.
The ministry’s Director General, Saynab Rashid, told Radio Ergo that the stoves were given to those with special needs, the elderly, and large families.
Fadumo Muhumed Hilowle, a mother of 10 whose husband is disabled, told Radio Ergo she can only afford to buy small amounts of charcoal costing $1 at a time. With her new Jikokoa stove, this is enough for her to cook three meals and tea in the afternoon.
The savings mean a lot to Fadumo, who earns about $5 a day as a casual labourer on construction sites, carrying cement, stones, bricks, and other items.
“Our life is very difficult. I have to keep working, I cannot be resting when there are small children who are depending on me,” she said
The ministry is also raising awareness about alternative fuels such as gas. The director general told Radio Ergo they plan to import 1,500 gas cookers later this month to sell at subsidised prices as another measure to reduce tree cutting.
“We need to educate and encourage people to use gas cookers for the benefit of the environment,” Saynab said.
Somalia banned the export of charcoal in 2018, but the cutting and burning of trees for charcoal continues unabated. Abdihakim Kediye, an advisor at the ministry, said Jubbaland wants to be part of the national effort to drastically reduce deforestation over the next five years.
