Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, an expert and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Development (IMED), Dr Donath Olomi, said that use of advanced source of energy was valuable in their business than the use of charcoal.

 

"Use of the alternative and advanced sources of energy such as briquettes leads to generation of 30 to 40 per cent of the income above of what is being generated through the use of charcoal," he said.

 

Dr Olomi was speaking at a workshop on Energy and Environment Programme (EEP) aimed at supporting vendors in the city to substitute charcoal by renewable energy. The project is implemented by Norges Vel, IMED Foundation and funded by the Finnish Government through the EEP.

 

He said a baseline study conducted by the IMED Foundation as part of the project found that 98 per cent of food vendors rely solely on charcoal as their source of energy.

 

"The study established that only 2 per cent of the vendors were aware of the renewable sources of energy and just 0.25 per cent reported to be using it," he said, attributing the low adoption to low awareness and exposure.

 

There are over 230,000 food vendors, mostly women and more than 70 per cent of the low-income people rely on them for food needs.

 

"The project seeks to empower street food vendors to shift from charcoal to cleaner and more efficient energy (briquettes), boost their incomes and enhance their participation in decision making," he pointed out.

 

Dr Olomi said that the majority (food vendors) conduct businesses under harsh conditions, relying on inefficient sources of energy (mainly charcoal and fire wood) that pose adverse health effects to users as well as causing air pollution.

 

Use of charcoal is associated with debilitating respiratory diseases, including lung cancer. Dar es Salaam uses more than 500,000 tones of charcoal annually, a substantial part by street food vendors.

 

"Most food vendors are trapped in a vicious cycle of low productivity, low income and slow or limited growth in part due to reliance on inefficient technology and lack of business skills," he adds.

 

The Programme Advisor, Ms Neatness Bwenge, said that the project will help vendors to adopt briquette as their main source of energy and hence catalyse adoption of energy in the city.

Source : allafrica.com