Fuelwood utilization in Kagango sub county, Sheema district.

Abstract

The research aimed at finding out the trend in fuel wood utilization at household level with a case study of Kagango Sub-county Sheema District. The study concentrated on the sources of fuel wood in the sub county, the factors that affect fuel wood use and any appropriate measures that could be adopted to sustain fuel wood availability in Kagango Sub County. The study was cross-sectional, used both qualitative and quantitative approaches and interviews as methods of data collection. Data was collected from a sample of 50 respondents and analyzed using excel and statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The study revealed that, most households use fuel wood as a source of energy which they either obtain from their own woodlots, gathering from forested wetlands, stealing from neighbors and sometimes buying. Most households use inefficient energy practices characterized with use of poor stoves, most commonly the three stone hearths. Also from the study, a small percentage of the respondents had been sensitized about use of energy saving technologies and were unable to meet their energy demands. It's however recommended that if sensitization about use of energy saving technologies in addition to distribution of seedlings were done, respondents would be able to establish woodlots so as to meet their fuel wood demands. There is need to have some biomass energy initiatives in the country that would examine some of the barriers to dissemination of biomass energy technologies (BET). The initiatives mainly cover creating awareness and dissemination of technologies for tree planting and energy efficiency, particularly improved stoves and improved charcoal production techniques. There should be some activities addressing capacity building as well, wide spread awareness about the charcoal project whose mission is to promote, facilitate, and advocate for the widespread adoption of clean burning technologies, sustainable fuel alternatives and policies that support energy alleviation for those who depend on biomass as their primary fuel would be a good attempt to minimize fuel wood related challenge.