Bakhresa to donate 10,000 clean cooking stoves

DAR ES SALAAM: BAKHRESA Group is set to distribute 10,000 eco-friendly cooking stoves to food vendors across Tanzania within a year.

These stoves, which run on ethanol (a byproduct of sugarcane production), will be provided free of charge as part of the Group’s “Azam Wheat Flour Clean Energy Campaign.”

The Group initiative of distributing the eco-friendly stoves is under its “Azam Wheat Flour Clean Energy Campaign” aligned to the National Clean Cooking Strategy which was launched by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan in May scheduled to be run in ten years.

Bakhresa Group’s Head of Public Relation, Mr Hussein Sufiani said on Wednesday during the launching ceremony that their clean cooking energy initiative targets small scale food vendors who are vulnerable to adverse effects of unclean energy use.

“Bakhresa is undertaking necessary interventions to confront forest losses by supporting the government efforts on boosting clean cooking energy countrywide,” Mr Sufiani said.

The distribution will start next week in Dar es Salaam by distributing 500 stoves and later on extended to other regions in the country specifically at marketplaces.

Furthermore, he said the relationship between Bakhresa and small food vendors is rooted on the fact that the company produces wheat flour pressing the need for equipping the latter with reliable and clean cooking stoves to better productivity while also conserving environment.

He said that small food vendors are among the most vulnerable, contributing to the over 80 per cent of Tanzanians who still rely on unclean energy sources like firewood and charcoal, which emit harmful carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

The unclean energy use contributes to about 25 per cent forest loss in the country.

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“The campaign also safeguards food vendors from the damaging impacts of unclean energy including respiratory diseases such as lung cancer caused by inhalation of toxic fumes during cooking,” Mr Sufiani said.

A food vendor, Aisha Juma, expressed enthusiasm for the ethanol stoves, citing their portability, ease of use and potential to reduce costs associated with traditional cooking fuels.

“The ethanol stove bring new experience by considering the fact that it is portable and easy to use,” Ms Juma said.

Consumers’ Choice Limited’s Managing Director, Ms Frida Mlingi said that their company is a local manufacturer of the ethanol stoves which will be donated to food vendors by the Bakhresa Group.

“The ethanol stoves are user and environment friendly with highly efficient,” she said.

Under the National Clean Cooking Strategy, the country targets to ensure clean cooking energy’s use reach 80 per cent by 2034 from the current 10 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Energy, unclean cooking energy kills almost 33,000 people per year in the country due to its diverse effects including the respiratory diseases.