GVI Kenya

If you cast your eyes back through some of the many blogs we’ve posted, you’ll see that plenty of them are about, or refer to, charcoal burning.  We assume that most people have established what we are talking about – the means by which charcoal is produced.  We thought however, it may be of interest to some people to know a bit more detail about this destructive and highly inefficient form of resource use.

 About 47% of Kenyan households use charcoal, and total charcoal production is about 2.4 million tones (or 67 million bags weighing 36kg each).  The widespread preference for charcoal is explained primarily by its affordability; it is the cheapest form of household cooking fuel (Kwale Management Team, 2009).

In Shimoni forest and the surrounding area, the majority of charcoal burning is done for subsistence purposes, and therefore on a relatively small scale when compared to commercial operations.  The methods these subsistence charcoal producers use however, are basic and highly inefficient.  The standard method is that of the earth-mound kiln. 

A typical earth-mound kiln 

The earth-mound kiln will begin with the digging of a shallow pit, which will be as big in surface area as the producer would like it to be.  Just from personal experience, I have seen smaller kilns no more than 2 metres by 3 metres, and larger ones of up to 5 metres by 5 metres.  These are quite small when compared to commercial kilns, but still do huge amounts of damage. 

Trees are then cut down, cut into small pieces and piled up in the bottom of the pit.  A wall, or structure is then built around the pit using lumps of rock and coral, tightly packed with earth.  An earth roof is then constructed, sealing the structure.  The idea is to starve the combustion process of oxygen, so only a couple of very small holes are left to allow smoke to escape.  Some sort of fuel is poured over the wood before it is lit, to aid in the lighting process.  I’m not exactly sure what it is, but my guess would be something like diesel, judging by the smell that is emitted.  Long pieces of dry grass are fed in through the sides and roof so that once everything is sealed, the grass is simply lit, igniting the contents inside. 

One of the smaller charcoal pits 

Generally speaking, old, mature hardwood trees are cut down.  Only a relatively small portion of the felled tree will actually go into the kiln.  Only 10% of the wood that goes into the kiln will end up as usable charcoal.  And of that percentage that does become charcoal, 80% of the energy in the wood has already been lost.  The rest of the wood, and energy goes to waste.   

The end result