Eco-friendly charcoal: Ambitious Kigoma resident leads the way

Kigoma. "I had completed loading charcoal in a car for domestic use when I was stopped by officers from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, who sought to know whether I had a permit," recalls Godlove Kamuntu.

Mr Kamuntu, a resident of Kigoma Ujiji Municipality in Kigoma Region, continues, “Unfortunately, I didn't have the documents allowing my engagement in felling trees for charcoal making. The officers confiscated the charcoal, leaving me with deep feelings.”

The incident forced Mr Kamuntu to establish a small factory to produce alternative charcoal accepted and promoted in the country’s transition to cleaner energy.

The Citizen recently visited the factory whose alternative charcoal making activities were in full swing. Noises from machines could be heard several meters away, and the air was filled with dust from wood shavings, mingling with charcoal powder and the remnants of dry grass, which is the primary raw materials used in alternative charcoal production.

During the visit, Mr Kamuntu said after the incident, he sought environmental education from government officers on the benefits and negative impacts of tree-felling. The education, he explained, enabled him to commence an alternative charcoal making project in 2021.

"I started by designing alternative charcoal making machines before figuring out what the produce would look like. The designed machine could produce one tonne of alternative charcoal per day. However, production has jumped to seven tonnes," he says. Mr Kamuntu, who is also the owner of Byoma Engineering, a company involved in designing and manufacturing various machines, located in the Masanga Area, Kigoma Ujiji Municipality, says he initially considered what materials could be used in alternative charcoal making.

He said he discovered that charcoal dust could be a solution, but since it was scarce, he shifted to using wood shavings, dry grass, and rice husks.

He explains that making the alternative charcoal involves several steps and takes about seven days to complete.

"The charcoal made was tested with regular charcoal stoves that performed well. Later on, we designed our stoves, and generally alternative charcoal performs better than traditional wood-based charcoal," he says.

Alternative charcoal’s efficiency, benefits

He notes that the alternative charcoal can burn for five to six hours without addition, making it a cost-effective and long-lasting option.

Further, he says one kilogramme of alternative charcoal is sold at Sh400 and can cook food for a family of fewer than five people compared to a bundle of regular charcoal that will require Sh1,000.

"Awareness among the people remains relatively low, just like I was before. So, we are challenged to continue raising awareness about the effects of the environmental destruction caused by tree-felling practices for domestic purposes,” he says. He says that the ease of access to firewood and charcoal in regions like Kigoma, which still have vast forest reserves, contributes to the low uptake of alternative energy sources.

"The region still has large forested reserves, providing the population with easy access to firewood and charcoal," he says.

To champion the awareness campaign, Mr Kamuntu plans to train more young people who can pass the knowledge on to the broader population, noting that adopting alternative sources of cooking energy will significantly conserve the environment.

He welcomes various stakeholders in the mission of ensuring that the majority of the population inside and outside the region benefit from the alternative charcoal and the new technology aimed at protecting the environment in the country.

“I intend to expand this business beyond Tanzanian borders and make my product a transitional alternative to cleaner energy,” he says.

What beneficiaries say

A resident of Mwanga Ward, Kigoma Ujiji Municipality, Ms Success Halisi, shares that after using alternative charcoal for the last six months, she has noticed a big difference in cost and health as it emits minimal smoke.

"With regular charcoal, I spent more than Sh1,000 to prepare beans and rice for my family. But Sh400 is enough to provide me with alternative charcoal for the entire day,” he says, noting that it has reduced the family’s daily budget. Sharing her two months’ experience in utilising alternative charcoal, a resident of Masanga Village, Kigoma Ujiji Municipality, Ms Neema Lameck, says the product has proved to be time- and cost-effective.

“It is easy to light. On top of that it burns like gas, enabling the users to spend little time in the food preparations,” she says.

According to her, she used to buy a sack of charcoal for Sh30,000 to 40,000, which would last for two months, but now her budget has gone down to Sh7,000 for the same period. She encourages the transition to alternative sources of energy, which have proved to be more efficient than traditional sources, saying they would also play an important role in environmental protection.

Challenges, strategies

Kigoma Region's acting Forestry and Environment Officer, Mr George Gwalema, says their main strategy is to educate the public from the grassroots level about the importance of shifting to alternative energy sources.

He says the government has made various efforts to promote alternative energy, including supporting 17 schools in transitioning to alternative charcoal stoves through the Kigoma Joint Programme (KJP).

"We have also trained over 28 officers from district councils, 15 institutions, and more than 52 small business groups in alternative charcoal uses," he says.

Kigoma Regional Commissioner Thobias Andengenye admits that human activities, including felling trees for timber, firewood, and charcoal making, adversely affect the environment.

He highlights that innovators like Kamuntu, who produce alternative charcoal, offer a solution to both economic and health challenges, as alternative charcoal does not emit harmful smoke, making it safer for the users.

"Wood-based charcoal has cost us dearly for a long time because of its high cost compared to alternative charcoal, which does not rely on cutting down trees,” says Mr Andengenye.

“It has also destroyed the environment and put the users, especially women, at health risk," he adds. The government is now looking at ways to collaborate with innovators through its institutions, each with more than 100 people expected to shift from using firewood and charcoal.

Words from TFS

The Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) Senior Forest Conservator, Mr Asheri Petro, said deforestation was rampant due to the expansion of farms and charcoal production.

"We believe that alternative charcoal innovators will reduce the heavy reliance on firewood and charcoal, as we know that 90 percent of people depend on these energy sources," Petro says.

He says producing wood-based charcoal is more expensive than alternative charcoal since the former involves government fees, council levies, and production and transportation costs.

"Wood-based charcoal is more costly to produce compared to alternative charcoal, which is made from materials easily available in our environment, making it more affordable to produce," adds Mr Petro.

This story has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation