TITLE:
Assessing the Demand for Improved Cook Stoves among Low Income Households in Kenya: Case of Baringo and West Pokot Counties
AUTHORS:
Benjamin Kisiangani, Michael Okoti, Henry Mutembei, Patrick Wamalwa, Brexidis Mandila
KEYWORDS:
Improved Cook Stoves, Descriptive Statistics, Inferential Statistics, Binary Probit, WTP
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.13 No.8,
August
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: In recent years, clean and improved cooking
solutions have significantly evolved globally, generating an attractive market
opportunity for enterprises engaging in the provision of innovative cooking
appliances, fuels, and financing to speed uptake of the disseminated
technologies. Improved Cook stoves (ICS) have been widely touted for their
potential to deliver triple wing benefits of improved agricultural
productivity, enhanced household health and time savings through reduced
scrimmage in sourcing for biomass fuel, and sustainability through reduced
local deforestation, further reducing black carbon emissions. Despite decades
of promotion, diffusion of ICS has continued to remain slow. This project aimed
at investigating the factors that hinder the uptake of ICS in some selected
poor villages from Baringo and West Pokot Counties in Kenya, East Africa. Data was
collected from 2918 households across 12 villages and analyzed statistically.
On average, households spent approximately KES 2149 on fuel per month, covered
2.15 km and spent around 1.5 hours collecting/getting their primary cooking
fuel. Majority of the consumers, 94% expressed willingness to pay (WTP) for an
ideal cookstove (one that emits less smoke, saves fuel, safe during cooking,
easy to light, and that could cook fast). A majority of the consumers (46.5%)
preferred to acquire ICSs through equal monthly installments while 40.47%
preferred to pay cash and the rest opted for the “pay-to-use” model and
whenever cash was available. From the binary Probit model, consumers’ WTP for
the ICSs was positively influenced by age and level of education of the head of
the family, size of the family, number of children under five years, distance
to the source of fuel, and the desire to use and own an ICS. Policies that are
aimed at maximizing cook stove effectiveness and uptake among the poor in the
target counties and Kenya at large was recommended.