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National fuelwood conservation programme of Sri Lanka by R M Amerasekara
R.M. Amerasekara - Project Manager, has produced a review of his project from its inception in 1984 to the present. It took over the programme of promoting improved ceramic and mud, 2 pot, wood burning stoves in the rural areas, started some years earlier by Sarvodaya and ITDG, and in 1987 it plans to start an urban stove programme in continued collaboration with ITDG to develop and disseminate improved metal, charcoal burning stoves. The NFCP is the responsibility of the Ministry of Power and Energy and is implemented by the Ceylon Electricity Board. Funding was provided from Norad, the Dutch Government, and Sri Lankan sources for large scale dissemination in 3 parts of the country and by the end of 1985, 15,000 were installed. The Dutch Government has now agreed to fund an island wide programme. A key part of the programme is monitoring which was found to be essential for quality control but has also permitted several design improvements and has revealed some of the inherent disadvantages of this type of stove and indicated the need also for a one pot stove. Stove production and dissemination currently involves more than 500 people. The report claims that over 4 years, individual stove users have benefitted to the extent of Rs. 3m and the country has benefited by Rs. 48m plus a significant reduction in deforestation and the training of 185 stove builders and 74 potters. This is based on a stove with an efficiency of 20% compared with an open hearth, used by a family of four showing a saving of 20% in fuel use. It is argued that a reduction in the amount of wood needed by present consumers (assuming the same amount of cooking) will make wood available for people who are now using more expensive kerosene. They would be people with both a wood and a kerosene stove who would use the former more frequently. The annual 9,000 tons of wood expected to be saved by the 15,000 stoves already installed could be used to reduce kerosene use and importation, to reduce the rate of deforestation or of course to allow more cooking on the improved wood stoves. Against this has to be set the cost of the stove programme and the new stoves. The above figures are based on a stove efficiency of 20% although rather low, may be realistic in terms of overall fuel consumption by the households concerned estimated fuel saving 20-30%. The writer is to be congratulated on the attempt to convert stove performance percentages into long term savings of money for the stove users and money and forest hectares for the national economy, an exercise often contemplated by stove projects but rarely carried out. Starting from the initiative of the Sarvodaya movement 5 or 6 years ago and the continued support of international donor agencies, and with the full commitment of the Ceylon Electricity Board and its National Fuelwood Conservation programme in 1984, the work has gained increased recognition both in the country and internationally. It is now in a position to carry through its programme of making improved stoves available throughout the rural areas and to continue research and pilot project work on urban stoves. ITDG is proud of its continuing co-operation with this, its oldest collaborative project.
The report is interesting also for its description of the many bodies involved in the project and the different networks of relationships between them for different aspects of the programme. Eleven different Sri Lankan government bodies are listed from the Ministry of Plan Implementation down to the National Fuelwood Conservation Programme. Although the details are, of course, peculiar to the country concerned, they indicate the complications of working so fully in the Government structure even with Presidential support and funds from at least 2 external sources. The report concludes that on balance this relationship was beneficial but points out some of the problems and recommends some changes as the project moves completely into the mass dissemination stage The experience gained so far pinpoints two major drawbacks in the strategy which may retard large scale dissemination efforts. The need to depend on Assistant Government Agents and their subordinates in activities other than publicity, namely distribution of pottery liners, marketing and installation coordination, appears to be a weak point in the strategy. At the time of formulations of the strategy it was known that a certain amount of sluggishness would be introduced by their inclusion in the dissemination team" . Although their participation was justified by their respected position and the facilities at their command _ nit now appears that considerable force and intensive monitoring are required to push the AGAs and their subordinates into action to reach the targets of their programme" .... "It is necessary that their participation other than in publicity activities be phased out gradually as the programme continues" .... "till a penetration level of 25% is reached. Hopefully in 3-4 years." .... "Ultimately the stove teams will comprise a potter, stove builder and field assistant who by then will have the necessary expertise and organisation to launch a commercially oriented programme guided by the market forces". We are pleased to hear that the National Fuelwood Conservation Programme has won the 1985 Award of the Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association for the best project of the year. [top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 11: Successful Stove Programmes
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29 September 2008; Last edited:
29 September 2008; Version: 0 | ||||||||||
Pagename: BP11:NationalFuelwoodProgrammeOfSriLanka @HEDON: KVNA | ||||||||||
