Winnie Abuto is one happy mother. She recently purchased the Safi ethanol blue cooker which she uses in her small one room home at the heart of Kibera slum, Gatwekera village where she has been living for more than 10 years now.
“I bought this Safi jiko because of its economical aspect, I spend less money on ethanol which costs me Sh870 monthly compared to refilling the meko gas that had gone way above my monthly budget.”
Abuto was sold to the idea of the cooker when she saw one of the field officers of Safi demonstrate to the public in an open air space how the Safi ethanol cooker works. Safi International is a leading bio-ethanol stove and fuel company, designing, developing and manufacturing affordable modern bio-ethanol stoves for African families.
“The cooker is effective in the sense that I spend fewer hours preparing meals for my family. Not forgetting that the safety measures the cooker has, once the ethanol is finished, it will never light with a matchbox even if you tried as hard as you can, thus safer for my children than the meko gas I have been using before,” said Abuto.
Approximately 70 per cent of Kenyans use firewood, either in the form of biomass charcoal or charcoal jikos. The smoke from the firewood is a major cause of respiratory disease and eye infections amongst women and children. This is because they are exposed more to the resultant indoor air pollution compared to the men who spend fewer hours in the kitchen.
Rose Alouch Anyango is a shopkeeper in Gatwekera and one of Safi jiko sellers in Kibera. She has been using the Safi jiko for a few months now. She says it helps her sleep better at night because the jiko is not as risky as the meko which has been the cause of some slum fires in the past.
“I used to spend Sh50 every day to purchase one tin of charcoal, this came to Sh1500 a month. Currently one litre of ethanol sells at Sh87 and for the whole month I spend Sh870. Now I can save a little,” she said. Whenever her clients come to purchase a product, she uses the opportunity to also create awareness on how the cooker works and its benefits. Since October last year, she has sold 30 Safi ethanol cookers to her customers most of who are her neighbours.
The cooker has been approved by Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI). Bio ethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstock and also from crops such as sugarcane, potato, cassava and corn and the Safi bio-ethanol is produced by molasses, a bi-product of sugar production.
“The idea of the jiko was perceived two years ago in Norway by a lady known as Elizabeth Klerch Nilssen founder and director of Safi International together with her husband. At that time Kibera was chosen as a pilot area because of the health of the area and poor conditions that had been observed over decades among the people living there,” said Barry Omotto, the programme officer at Safi International Kenya.
In partnership with Umande Trust, a local NGO that also works in Kibera 72 initial burners were first given out as a pilot programme and also as a way to get feedback on the use of the burner cooker on a trial basis. Following its success, they moved it up to two burner cookers which has since seen 700 burners sold since its introduction into the Kenyan market.
Currently in Nairobi county distributors are located in Kibera, Langata, Kawangare, Embakasi, Kamukunji and one in Kiambu and Kisumu county respectively.
To make the purchase of Safi ethanol cooker affordable for families, ClimateCare is using funding from UKaid to subsidise the initial cost of producing one cooker at Sh7.000. They have created a revolving fund through which local savings and credit cooperatives and local chamas can lend money to their members at zero interest to enable them purchase the cooker. “In low income areas like Kibera the cooker costs Sh 2,500, while in other areas the cooker retails at Sh3, 300 just to cater for the cost of production, distribution cost and also for the agents to earn a small profit,” says Omotto.
Currently Mumias Sugar Company supplies Safi International with ethanol. They hope that at the end of the month, Nairobi should be well covered and ethanol made easily accessible to the end users by stocking their warehouse located in Industrial area.
One challenge the suppliers face is the dropping of oil prices in the market. Currently one litre of ethanol retails at Sh87 compared to kerosene which retailers at Sh65 per litre. This has left some of the customers at crossroads on whether to invest more in ethanol or go back to kerosene. Though in comparison ethanol is said to be have more health benefits. “Our major concern has been how to educate the people on the health implications that come with kerosene and charcoal use compared to ethanol,” said Omotto.
On their future plans, Safi International expects to have rolled the programme countrywide by end of April this year.
The burner comes with unique features:
- The e-cooker is available in three colours, orange, green and blue.
- It is delivered fully assembled.
- Easy to use, comes with a simple instructions.
- Accessible handles on the front for simmering, saving fuel.
- The fuel canister is filled with a special sponge imported from China and absorbs the fuel and leaves no room for spilling.
- Fuel canisters slides easily into place.
- Solid pot supports perfect aeration.
- Burns with a clear blue flame leaving no soot.
- Efficient burning new technology burner.