{"id":7242,"date":"2019-12-18T11:55:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T08:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=7242"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:46","slug":"energy-smart-technologies-for-smallholder-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/12\/18\/energy-smart-technologies-for-smallholder-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy Smart Technologies For Smallholder Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since the dawn of the industrial age, the\nability to harness and use different forms of energy has transformed living conditions\nfor billions of people. Steady growth in energy consumption has been closely\ntied to rising levels of prosperity and economic opportunity. At\nthe heart of Kenya Vision 2030 Agenda, lies sustainable farming, the key to\nachieving sustainable Development Goals. Energy consumption by small-scale\nfarmers is directly or indirectly connected to food production. However, this\nenergy use and exploitation are not without costs to their health. Especially\nif the energy is not clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers struggle to cook under heat and smoky\nfire, risking their lives because of the high temperatures of fire and steam. Still, the consequences of climate change have direct negative\nimpacts on their lives. Deforestation and drought make their daily chores more\narduous as they collect firewood and fetch water. Additionally, hours spend\ncooking over smoky flames place them at a higher risk of developing adverse\nhealth problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To counter the adverse impacts of\npoor energy use, institutions and individuals have resorted to creating\nenergy-saving technologies \u2013modern energy-saving cooking stoves, fuel-saving\njikos, improved firewood cooking stoves, the fireless cooker, and solar energy\ntechnologies. These energy technologies are most valuable and reliable for household\nuse as opposed to wasteful stoves which have also contributed to the rise in\nillness due to indoor pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PHOTO |Jiko Kisasa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The improved firewood cooking\nstove \u2013 Jiko Kisasa\u2013 is more efficient in wood use. It saves firewood by\nretaining heat for a long time. This is unlike the three stones which burn out\nso fast and release a lot of smoke. The stove is in two categories. One that\ncan be fixed in the kitchen, referred to as maendeleo Jiko or Jiko Kisasa and\none that is portable and enclosed in a metal, commonly known as Kuni mbili\nJiko. According to research, a household using three stones stove consumes\naround 2800 kg\/year of firewood unlike another that has embraced energy-saving\ntechnologies for cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The improved charcoal wood stoves\n(Kenya Ceramic Jiko) is another innovation made up of metal cladding with a\nwide base and a ceramic liner. The liner base is perforated with holes to form\na gate. The stove has three pot rests, two handles, three legs, and a door. The\ndoor is used to control the airflow and the standard model weighs about 6kg.\nThe stove is most suitable for cooking and space heating. It can reduce cooking\ntime, produce high-quality meals, reduce charcoal consumption, minimize\naccidents and ease of cleaning and maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jiko Koa and Enviro fit are\nalso energy saving Jikos that use only three or two pieces of charcoal an hour.\nThey contain a tray that collects ash and, at the same time, brings in the air\nfor combustion. The jikos are made of materials that help save energy and\nprevent the emission of too much smoke. This comes after many years of relying\non traditional open flames (three stones) that consume lots of firewood and\nemit plenty of smoke. Also, they are cheap and easily accessible at local\nmarkets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Other\nvarieties of jikos include the push-and-pull jiko which can use various types\nof fuel such as charcoal, briquettes, and wood. The gasifiers are another\ninnovation. They use wood pellets made from sawdust \u2013 usually a waste material\nand a headache to saw millers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Traditional Fireless cookers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fireless cooker (food warmer), an insulated basket, container or box that is specially designed to complete the coking that has been done partially is of great importance to the small scale farmer. Asides that, it also keeps food hot up to 8 hours after cooking. It saves cooking time and labor as well as energy. Cooking utensils used in the cooker do not wear out as rapidly as those used over a fire. The kitchen is neither hot nor with odours hence no pollution allowing the farmers to breath clean and fresh air always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being\nno strangers to the power of sunlight, smallholder farmers can explore the\npotential of solar energy to cut the farm’s electricity and heating bills. They\ncan use solar heat collectors, water heaters and electric panels in daily farm\nproductions and operations such as drying crops, powering water pumps for\nirrigation and lighting of homes and farmhouses.<\/strong> Also, solar box dryers can be used to dry the easily perishable\ncrops for easy transportation. These benefits are not only geared towards\nincreasing a farm\u2019s efficiency and cutting costs but also help improve the\nfarmer\u2019s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adoption of these\ntechnologies would go a long way in ensuring sustainable use of the forest\nresources. It also means that most smallholder farmers will not be exposed to\nindoor pollution which is detrimental to their health hence increasing their\nproductivity. The use of these saving energy resources\nputs power at their fingertips and improves their health.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the dawn of the industrial age, the ability to harness and use different forms of energy has transformed living conditions for billions of people. Steady growth in energy consumption…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-responsibility","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}