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<b>Dear All,</b><div>I purposely did not fly from Nairobi to Kisumu (Lake Victoria) but i took a bus (9hrs) to see the landscape in Western Kenya. I was expecting dry land as the newspapers report about the draught and kettle dying in Kenya.</div><div>But to my surprise whole of the 9hrs of traveling we passed green and fertile landscape, old and young trees everywhere, some tree newly planted in groups or plantations, some trees very old and large.</div><div>In Kisumu/ Kakamega i visited the project of </div><div><a shape="rect" href="http://www.eco2ecilibrium.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.eco2librium.net</a></div><div>Which is carbonizing sugar bagasse and daily briquetting the char to be used as cooking fuel.</div><div>I was building a <b>Shelter Drum Retort Kiln</b> there, which i developed, for testing purposes.</div><div><b>Cheers</b></div><div><b>Chris ADAM </b></div><div><br clear="none"><div><img title="Inline image" alt="Inline image" src="cid:287893d9-96a5-059c-276a-9513f1ab6746@yahoo.com" class="yahoo-inline-image" style="max-width: 400px; width: 50%;" draggable="false" data-id="<287893d9-96a5-059c-276a-9513f1ab6746@yahoo.com>"><br><br clear="none"></div><span id="ydp79993123yiv2218538341yahoo-rte-cursor-span"></span><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gesendet von Yahoo Mail für iPhone</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><p style="font-size:15px;color:#715FFA;padding-top:15px;margin-top:0;" class="ydp79993123yiv2218538341yahoo-quoted-begin">Am Mittwoch, Januar 31, 2024, 01:23 schrieb Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott@outlook.com>:</p><blockquote class="ydp79993123yiv2218538341iosymail"><div id="ydp79993123yiv2218538341yqt58119" class="ydp79993123yiv2218538341yqt4424427638">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Stoves mailing list<br clear="none"><br clear="none">to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site:<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></div>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>Dear Teddy</span></p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>Charcoal movement (distribution) has been banned since 2017 and it may in fact be illegal to make it, I am not sure, but in the beginning it was movement that was traceable and banned.</span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span><a shape="rect" href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/sasa/lifestyle/2023-11-03-why-kenya-cannot-do-away-with-charcoal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.the-star.co.ke/sasa/lifestyle/2023-11-03-why-kenya-cannot-do-away-with-charcoal/</a></span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>It is important to understand why national bans on a popular fuel are important. When it is illegal to make or move charcoal, the charcoal mafia benefits, often including elected or influential
officials and enforcement actors. </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>In a Sahelian country charcoal was illegal. It was unbanned and the forests were placed under the control of the villages whose land it was. The illegal traders were immediately put out of business
unless they paid for the resource they were stealing, and the management of the supply of trees immediately benefitted the community as a payment had to be made to the village. This continued with great and well managed success. The villages conserved and
sold their resources and the “overheads” disappeared. </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>After 4 years the President declared the whole business illegal again (through protesting salvationists?) and the illegal trade resumed. It transpired that the head of the charcoal mafia, all along,
was the president’s wife. </span></p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>Charcoal is big, big business. Removing carbon from the land and burning it 100 km away depletes the soil. Char created on the land and buried in it depletes the soil carbon because it goes from
a soluble form to an insoluble form. Should the composted stover be ploughed into the land for next year’s crop? We have to hear from botanists.
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>As trees are cleared for farming, it dries the air and rainfall decreases. That has been known for over a century, but it will of course be blamed on global warming. Afforestation in Kenya was
proposed in the 1930’s by Dr St Barbe Baker, famed for his Men of the Trees organization. And he attempted it in the NW using peach trees. Kenya could use afforestation and reforestation as well as sustainable supply management. People are going to continue
to cook with charcoal for decades or centuries in Africa. We should arrange our affairs that it is possible and profitable.
</span></p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>BTW charcoal making is one of the few activities in Africa that generates cash income for rural farmers. Banning it effectively means banning them as viable farmers.</span></p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>Regards</span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span>Crispin</span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<div id="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341yqt72656" class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341yqt4424427638"><p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Stoves <stoves-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Cookswell Jikos<br clear="none">
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, January 30, 2024 7:10 AM<br clear="none">
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal">Here is an interesting idea to utilize highly invasive woody plants to make biochar you might like Kevin,
<a shape="rect" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI1uN1EFhUI&ab_channel=PlantVillageTV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI1uN1EFhUI&ab_channel=PlantVillageTV</a> </p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal">Wonders never cease to amaze in the woodfuel industry in Kenya, I went to a salt factory a few months ago and they said they use 30 tons of almost wet (!!) wood per day sourced by clearing land for pineapple farmers to force dry the salt
(co-fired with TZ coal) and almost every other large industry that uses steam in Kenya seems to be switching to biomass boilers these days that are mostly using agri-waste (alot of which is grown on farms that were once forested not so long ago). Agroforestry
is growing in popularity but not as fast as trees are being felled <a shape="rect" href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/deforestation-continues-in-kenyas-largest-water-capturing-forest-satellites-show" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/deforestation-continues-in-kenyas-largest-water-capturing-forest-satellites-show</a>
and meanwhile watch out for your maize stalks, they might be next ;) <a shape="rect" href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/enterprise/eldoret-family-turns-maize-cobs-into-jet-fuel-addictive-3700610" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/enterprise/eldoret-family-turns-maize-cobs-into-jet-fuel-addictive-3700610</a> </p>
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<p class="ydpbfcf3b23yiv2218538341MsoNormal">I sure hope that this new industrial demand for biomass and unplanned agricultural expansion doesn't wipe out any forest saving gains all the various cookstove projects have had in Kenya over the years. Speaking of, might anyone know how
many donor funded 'cookstove projects' have there been in Kenya in the last 40 years? </p>
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Teddy </p>
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