Improved Cookstoves Decrease Wood Gathering and Increase Savings Rates
Between October 2009 and January 2010, MASEF performed cooking demonstrations in villages throughout the cluster to market and sell all three types of Lakika stoves. It was during one of such demonstrations that Madame Aminata Coulibaly, the women body president, purchased a Nafacaman stove for 1500CFA (about $3.15).
In December 2010, a year after her purchase, MVP visited Madame Aminata Coulibaly’s home and found that the improved cookstove was still in use. Madame Aminata told us:
“Before getting this stove, I spent 1250CFA (US$2.60) per week on a donkey cart load of wood. We have a large family and this wood would be gone in a week. During the rainy season, all domestic expenses come out of the women’s pockets. We buy the condiments for food. When the children are sick, it falls to us to buy their medicine. The men usually have money during and after the harvest season but sometimes, a husband’s harvest is poor and there’s nothing he can do about it. It then falls to the wives to provide for the family. With the Nafacaman, the wood I used in one week now lasts two weeks. This leaves more money for buying food and taking care of the children. ”