Briquettes provide alternative energy and allow forests to regenerate in Malawi

In Malawi, household use of wood and charcoal for fuel and land clearing for agricultural expansion has caused serious deforestation. About 90 percent of the country’s energy demand is met using wood fuels gathered from natural woodlands and forest plantations, many of which are state owned.

In 1998, the Nkhomano Development Centre, a non-governmental organization, began a project to provide alternative energy sources and reduce dependence on charcoal for fuel while allowing Ndirande mountain reserve to regenerate. The goal was to produce briquettes from wood and paper wastes, agricultural residues, and other biomass materials, so women could earn incomes while promoting waste management. The Canadian government provided support.

Under the briquette project, women were active in choosing the type and design of technology. The result was wooden briquette-making machines designed especially for women producers that require only a small capital investment, minimum physical effort, and can be locally maintained. The project’s strategic location in a city suburb provided a readily available market for the briquettes beyond household use, for needs such as food vending and small-scale businesses that depend on portable energy sources.

Women have benefited from access to a source of energy, income generation, and reduced time and distances traveled to obtain fuel. Women also find they have more time for their families and domestic work. Other benefits included slowed deforestation, some regeneration of the Ndirande forest reserve, increased awareness of the impact of deforestation, and reduced city costs for waste collection and disposal..

Adapted from“Generating Opportunities: Case Studies on Energy and Women,” edited by Gail V. Karlsson and Salome Misana, UNDP, 2001.

Nkhomano Centre for Development is an indigenous NGO registered in 1993 and operating since 1996.

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