Deep Roots

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energy markets complement agriculture and can provide a

second, steady and sustainable income from biomass, which

can be grown by small farmers even in rain-fed areas. Given

that the amount of income derived can rival that from food

agriculture and greatly increase resilience, the traditional

concept of farming as being for food production only will

expand to one that includes biomass for energy as well. This

in turn will help to create a new market opportunity and turn

biomass agriculture into a second major farming segment.

Recognizing the importance of energy for sustainable

development, the United Nations designated 2012 as the

International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. For the poor,

the main source of energy is fuelwood, a renewable, solid

biofuel. However, given the linkage of fuelwood use to defor-

estation, policymakers have looked down upon and dissuaded

the use of fuelwood and even promoted liquid petroleum gas.

The poor have been stigmatized by this linkage to poverty, the

poorest even being characterized by such fuel usage. This is

a social, environmental and economic policy tragedy of epic

proportions; the potential of women, the main gatherers of

fuelwood, as responsible managers has been inadequately

understood, and their role as potential energy producers has

not been recognized, facilitated and incentivized. The 500

million women who cook (at least) twice daily with fuelwood

and their 2.5 billion family members could be a potent trans-

formative force in the battle against climate change. That is

nearly one-third of the world’s population!

The association of the poorest with fuelwood now needs a

change since well-off segments in developed countries have

come full-circle to biomass pellets and briquettes (urban fuel-

wood). Solid biofuel pellets/briquettes can be produced from

any biomass, not just from fuelwood that is typically obtained

from forest trees. This is the game-changer. Smallholder

farmers in rain-fed areas have 1.5-3 tons of non-fodder agri-

wastes from farming. This is commonly burnt to clear the

fields for planting. However, if pelleted or briquetted, it can

be used as fuelwood, make it sustainable.

Policy push should change to encouraging the wider use of

sustainable biomass solid biofuels by rural households while

incentivizing and making the sustainable production of these

biofuels a financially attractive economic option and advocat-

ing against non-renewable fossil liquid/gas fuels. Importantly,

of all the renewable energy options, only biomass solid biofu-

els sequester CO

The first key strategy for a robust source of income devel-

oped by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan

(INBAR) is the innovative household charcoal (HHC) that

is produced at least twice daily, year-round, in 500 million

households when cooking using fuelwood. HHC, which is

commonly discarded, has been made into a year-round source

of income for women. It turns every cooking stove that uses

fuelwood into a processing unit and the woman into a micro-

entrepreneur. The yield is approximately 10 per cent by

weight of the fuelwood used. Efficient stoves can double this

to 20-25 per cent. At 10 per cent yield, the total calculated

HHC production from 500 million households amounts to

183 million tons – nearly four times that produced commer-

cially by deforesting landscapes (47 million tons). At 20 per

cent yield, this could be 365 million tons of HHC, which as

pure carbon equals 1,338 million tons of CO

In Rajasthan, India, the incremental income from this

HHC for the 6,500 participating households is an addi-

tional 20 per cent of annual income for a rural working

person (income at 10 per cent yield). This can go up to 40

per cent and even over 50 per cent of the annual income.

In Tanzania, given the low base income, income from just

Charcoal briquette production in Tanzania

Image: Donald Kibuti, WODGRA

Blue flames from a honeycomb charcoal briquette in Ethiopia

Image: Bedilu Kifle, INBAR

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