Improved cookstoves value chain development for dolo production

Dolo is a locally produced beer. Starting in 2012, SNV Burkina promoted the use of improved cookstoves for Dolo production in the “boucle du Mouhoun” area. This is the main Dolo producing area in the country. A baseline study conducted in three of the six provinces of this region showed that 2,500 women Dolo producers prepare the local beer using around 1,400 traditional Dolo cookstoves.

Each traditional Dolo stove consumes about 400 kg of wood per cooking session, releases massive quantities of heat and smoke that have a negative effect on women’s health. The effects are devastating. Most of the old women Dolo producers are either blind or have serious eye diseases. Furthermore, the cost of buying woodfuel represents often more than 50% of their profit margin.

In order to make Dolo preparation more sustainable in this region, SNV Burkina Faso, in partnership with IRSAT (Research Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology), trained between 2012 and 2015 110 masons in building improved Dolo cookstoves. These improved cookstoves are built using local materials and reduce by 60% the consumption of firewood. These stoves are equipped with chimneys for smoke evacuation and preserves women Dolo producers from extreme heat.

To date, 1,500 improved Dolo cookstoves have already been built and some masons have formed cooperatives. As for women Dolo producers, they are grouped into associations at the municipal, provincial and even regional level and work closely with the local administration. Pilot sites producing energy wood (10 hectares for each grove) and distributing wood (wood mini-markets) were set up in three of the five districts covered to date. In the “Boucle du Mouhoun” region that counts six administrative zones, to date five are covered by the project: Dédougou (2012), Toma and Tougan (2013), Nouna and Solenzo (2014). According to IRSAT, improved Dolo cookstoves reduce of about 15 FCFA of wood per liter of Dolo. Instead of 30 FCFA of wood per liter from a traditional stove, the cost is reduced by two with an improved stove, dropping at about 15 FCFA per liter.

With an average daily production of 100 liters, an improved stove generates savings of at least 1,500 FCFA per production cycle. With an investment cost of 25,000 FCFA for an improved Dolo stove, return on investment is normally less than a month with a new stove having a lifetime of about 4 to 5 years. In addition to increasing revenues of women Dolo producers, improved Dolo stoves protect the environment and significantly reduce the spread of heat and smoke around the fire, protecting the health of women Dolo producers. Moreover, each improved Dolo stove reduces between 15 to 23 Teq of GHG emissions per year. From a climate change mitigation point of view, this could potentially generate significant revenue in the carbon market.

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

SNV is one of the founding partners of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public private initiative led by the UN Foundation. Launched in 2010, the Alliance is committed to enabling 100 million households to adopt clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020.