[Stoves] Business sickness (Teddy Kinyanjui)

Wed Aug 3 06:21:33 CDT 2016

Hi Crispin,

Very good points as always. I must say some of our leading charcoal kiln
customers in EA are people who say they have too many trees! I always laugh
with them and tell them how lucky are that that is their problem! Bush
encroachment especially in the rangelands is a growing issue for many in
the livestock industry and given that most of the livestock is bound to be
char-grilled anyway, making charcoal from encroacher bush is becoming more
and more of a goto land use option.

That said, according to Kenya Forest Service reports - more than half of
the charcoal in Kenya (KFS2013) is coming from privately owned farms.

(''Own farm............................................... 44%

Private land ............................................ 38%

Government or County Council land . 13%

Communal land ....................................... 5%'')

>From my travels around the country I would probably believe it, but I am
sure as always the devil is in the details. The cheapest way to ever clear
virgin land for farming in Kenya is through charcoal making, whether it's a
5,000 acre wheat farm or a 2 acre maize and beans plot, you will rarely
find farmers not recouping some type of subsidy in the form of free trees
for charcoal making when starting out. (Here is an excellent slide share
presentation from ICRAF aptly titled 'What Happened to the Charcoal
Crisis?' that I would highly recmommend reading/skimming thru
http://www.slideshare.net/agroforestry/miyuki-iiyamaicrafcharcoal-review2013
)

I do have a theoretical question for you and Nikhil on Govt. wood/stove
subsides....for the hundreds of thousands of tons of hard wood charcoal
that is exported to Europe and the Middle East from Sub-Saharan Africa for
summer BBQs there - to my knowledge none of those countries seem to have
energy efficiency programs focused on reducing charcoal consumption at
home? (c'mon France, Belgium, Lebanon, UAE etc). I can imagine many of them
have tax rebates for energy efficient kitchen equipment, why are charcoal
burning devices not included in this?

Best,

Teddy

*Cookswell Jikos*
www.cookswell.co.ke
www.facebook.com/CookswellJikos
www.kenyacharcoal.blogspot.com
Mobile: +254 700 380 009
Mobile: +254 700 905 913
P.O. Box 1433, Nairobi 00606, Kenya

Save trees - think twice before printing.

On Wed, Aug 3, 2016 at 5:13 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> Dear All
>
>
>
> “The Ministry of Energy said Ksh642 million ($64.2 million) has been
> budgeted for the promotion of efficiency in the conversion and utilisation
> of biomass energy and waste.”
>
> I wonder if they have considered promoting wood as a crop for farmers, to
> grow along their field borders, or on common land where previously it has
> bee forest and chopped out. The ‘problem of supply’ seems to be based on
> the strange idea, in many countries, that trees will not grow in Africa, or
> that management techniques for forestry plantations are unknown.
>
>
>
> Why is it that when trade in wood and charcoal is legal and controlled and
> private or communal production is encouraged, it can succeed. I ma not say
> it does every time, but there are pretty spectacular examples of success.
> Yet here we read that Uganda, where one has to chop back the garden
> continuously all year, can’t grow enough wood with which to cook?
>
>
>
> Rwanda, which is much smaller and has a high population, is now producing
> all charcoal (not just wood) for its cooking needs from private lands or
> privately owned trees.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Crispin
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Teddy:
>
> Thank you so much. I must say I am delighted. It may hurt domestic biomass
> stove producers who have to presumably pay higher prices for some inputs
> (metal goods) which are subject to higher duties still. I also suspect the
> urban LPG/charcoal price ratio has worsened; do you have any numbers?
>
> Several times many years ago I had to opine on taxation of LPG in east
> Africa (Ethiopia down to Mozambique). In 2006, it was about petroleum
> products pricing for the whole East Africa economic community (I forget
> the proper name) - Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda; at the
> time one or two of these had yet to join. I suggested temporary import and
> VAT exemption on diesel for power generation (which happened in Uganda for
> the private self-generators and in Rwanda and Uganda for the utility and
> rental generators). I also suggested permanent import duty removal for LPG
> and appliances, first in Ethiopia in 1992 (didn't happen) and Tanzania in
> 2002 (didn't happen; a German advisor had dismissed the government's idea
> because LPG produced CO2). By 2005, Uganda had exempted LPG from import
> duty; Kenya did in 2006 (p. 179, Kenya National Assembly Official Record (
> Hansard) for July 4, 2006).I think Rwanda did in 2007. But import duties
> on appliances and VAT on appliances and duties remained; glad to see them
> go. Kenya should sell DALY gains to the Global Dalliance of Cooking Cops,
> and reduction in non-renewable biomass fraction to the Gold Standard.
>
> I had come across the following stories on Kenya a month ago. WLPGA and
> IPEA are to be commended for pushing.  Now they should be asked to figure
> out how to get the bulk (tanker) price of LPG in Nairobi to US$ 700/ton.
> (Can you get us that price too? I imagine it's more like $1,200+/t.)
>
>
>
> Nikhil
>
> PS to Paul Anderson and Dr Anand Karve: LPG tax exemptions and even
> subsidies are worth the support because people want and use LPG and
> appliances (including pressure cooker). Is there an "improved" wood stove
> for cooking that a million people have used half time a year over ten years?
>
> ** Don't save trees. Buy your local print newspapers and books. - Nikhil
> Desai. **
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Nairobi-mulls-tax-waiver-on-cooking-gas-/-/2560/3019138/-/opmkik/-/index.html
> Nairobi mulls tax waiver on cooking gas
>
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