Reverse Linkage

100 REVERSE LINKAGE Ugandan market were from South Africa. To date, GBE is Uganda’s leading producer of charcoal briquettes which can be found in the country’s main supermarkets. The company now trains clients and communities using a methodology based on proven technical and business achievements. During the training period, it was discovered that the briquettes burn longer and better in improved clay cooking stoves. Ordinary charcoal stoves lose heat and are less efficient for cooking. Several organizations and private companies are increasingly taking interest in the development of clean cooking options by providing various technologies ranging from fuels, biogas and improved stoves. The number of charcoal briquette producers and consum- ers has gradually increased since the technology was introduced. The industry is characterised by hundreds of small-scale producers who use simple equipment for briquette production. The majority make briquettes by hand in very small quantities – less than 2 tonnes per year – mainly for their own consumption, selling the remainder to the community to supplement their incomes. The biggest challenge to this initiative has been the transition from the use of locally fabricated subsistence equipment to motorised equipment for commercial use. Such a transition requires additional capitalisation for those companies that have excelled using the locally fabricated machines. Unintended outcomes and impacts The project had unintended outcomes both in the districts and within the communities. In particular, increased awareness on the effects of environmental degradation resulted in some districts resurrecting ordinances or bylaws on specific practices detrimental to the environment. Most of the local governments have increased taxes on wood charcoal, transportation and sale as a way of reducing tree cutting. Vegetable farmers have discovered that the ash generated frompyrolysing agricultural waste tomake charcoal briquettes specifically frombean stalks, maize stalks, groundnut stalks, and millet are a rich source of cellulose which makes very good fertiliser for vegetables and other light seasonal crops including bananas. Wider issues In February 2017, the African Development Bank offered a grant of US$1 million to Earth Energy Limited to develop a 20MW biomass power plant in northern Uganda in order to The industry is characterised by hundreds of small-scale producers who use simple equipment for briquette production Image: UNCST–IsDB Project 2013a