Perception and barriers to improved charcoal cookstoves adoption in Wereta, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study examined the influence of socio-economic factors on the adoption of improved cookstoves (ICSs) and identified barriers to their dissemination in Wereta district, Amhara, Ethiopia. A structured cross-sectional approach was employed, surveying 308 households through questionnaires and interviews. Key socio-economic factors such as income level, family size, education, and age were found to significantly affect ICS adoption (p < 0.05), whereas cooking location, household decision-making, and involvement of societal stakeholders did not show a statistically significant impact (p > 0.05). The primary barriers to ICS adoption included limited awareness, high costs, and age-related factors. Addressing these challenges by targeting the significant socio-economic determinants is crucial for facilitating the transition from traditional to improved cookstoves. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, NGOs, research organizations, and manufacturers, highlighting potential areas for targeted intervention to enhance ICS adoption in the community.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-20938-3.

Introduction

Energy is the pillar of all human development and is considered by experts as one of the necessities next to food, shelter, and clothing [38]. Also, it is one of the sustainable development goals (SD Goal 7) to ensure access to sustainable, reliable, clean, and modern energy at an affordable price to all as defined by the United Nations [10]. However, most people in the world, particularly those living in developing countries face energy poverty due to limited or no access to electricity and clean cooking energy [15, 18, 21]. According to a study conducted by the World Bank in 2015, 18 % of households in sub-Saharan countries including Ethiopia, rely on solid fuels for cooking [5, 20]. Also, the recent special report of Africa Energy Outlook 2019 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicated that around 850 million Sub-Saharan Africans are still dependent on wood energy (firewood and charcoal) as the major source of energy for cooking [19]. Since the Ethiopian industry sector is still in an infant stage, rain-fed farming agriculture is still the backbone of its economy [2, 46]. As a result, most of the country’s energy demand is for agricultural and residential use and is met by biomass fuels such as charcoal, wood, agricultural residues, and animal wastes, as well as by human and animal power [7, 14, 30]. Relatively, charcoal is dominant in urban and semi-urban areas while firewood is common in most rural areas [43, 45]. In Ethiopia, traditional inefficient cookstoves are widely used by households for cooking and heating purposes, which poses major health, environmental, and economic problems [6, 16, 45]. Incomplete combustion from inefficient cookstoves emits hazardous gases such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter, which are the main source of household air pollution (HAP) [11]. Women are the primary victims of HAP, as a result of HAP exposure 60% of premature deaths happened to them [44]. To address these problems and the energy demand constraints the government of Ethiopia prioritizes three key areas: increasing electrification, enhancing efficient energy utilization, and adopting improved cookstoves [31].

ICSs are designed to enhance the limitations of traditional stoves which include, reducing partial combustion, reducing heat loss, enhancing thermal performance, and reducing unwanted gas emissions [36, 40]. To develop more efficient cookstoves various research has been conducted [3, 27, 37, 42]. However, nowadays 3 billion people worldwide are still dependent on primitive and traditional cookstoves for their day-to-day activities [4, 17]. In Ethiopia, only 10% of the households are using improved cookstoves [1]. Based on the study of Kapfudzaruwa et al., [24], Ethiopia is one of the countries with the lowest number of ICS adopters. The slow adoption rate of ICSs is influenced by various factors and is different from place to place [1, 39]. From the literature, some of the factors that influence the uptake of ICSs are consumer perception, prices, peer influence, access, safety, institutional barriers, and sociocultural makeup [4, 12, 23, 24, 41]. In Ethiopia, one of the challenges to stakeholders and policymakers is the unavailability of scientific data because limited research has been conducted on the determinants and barriers of ICS adoption [36, 39] so this paper aims to contribute filling this gap.

This research targeted Wereta town, a semi-urban village where the majority of the community in this area produces charcoal largely and uses charcoal as a cooking fuel. To promote the adoption of more efficient and environmentally friendly cooking practices in this area, it is necessary to have a better knowledge of people’s perceptions and factors that influence consumers’ cooking decisions. Since factors are contextual and variable from place to place, a thorough understanding of these factors on a community level is vital. Hence, the objective of this paper is to evaluate which factors have more influence on the adoption of enhanced charcoal cookstoves and identify the barriers that hinder their widespread use in Wereta town. These findings are reported to government policymakers, aiming to incorporate the findings into their future actions to foster improved cookstove technologies.

Data and methods

Study area

Woreta town, shown in Fig. 1, found in Fogera district of Amhara region, Ethiopia, located at latitude 11º57’N and longitude 37º35’E with an elevation of 1828 m above sea level, was where the assessment was made. It is 610 km far from north of the capital city, Addis Ababa, and 57 km east of Bahir Dar (the capital city of the Amhara region). The town is a semi-urban area with an administration category of four Kebeles (Kebele-1, Kebele-2, Kebele-3, and Kebele-4) [35]. According to the recent census, its population density is about 45,485 (22,239 females and 23,246 males) with charcoal or biomass being the dominant source of energy for household cooking in the area [47].

Fig. 1.

Map of the study area Wereta town prepared by ArcGIS

Research design and sample design

Research design

The researchers used a dominant quantitative approach (descriptive statistics) supplemented by qualitative study to understand the challenges and the influential factors on ICS adoption. These methods were preferred because the approaches are the better way to address the research questions. The main research questions of the study were (a) what types of stoves were used by the community for cooking and heating? (b) which socio-economic variables have a higher influence on cookstove preference? and (c) What were the potential barriers that hindered the ICS adoption rate?

Data acquisition

The required data were collected using both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected by a structured household survey with a structured questionnaire (as shown in Appendix I). Whereas, secondary data used in this study were population density and number of households in the study area, shapefiles, and administrative maps of Ethiopia. The survey was made based on the consent of the participants. In this study, the term “Household” is used for the number of people living together and sharing the prepared food in the house. The respondents were from the target populations of the residents and were the heads of the household. From the study area, five types of charcoal cookstoves were obtained and selected namely: type-1 (Traditional clay stove), type-2 (cylindrical stove insulated with clay), type-3 (rocket stove without insulation), type-4 (rocket stove insulated with clay), and type-5 (cylinder or circular stove without insulation).

Sample design and sampling method

The total population of the town was 45,480 and it is comprised of four Kebeles: namely Kebele-1, Kebele-2, Kebele-3, and Kebele-4. The number of the target household heads was 7580 with an average of 6 people per household. We employed a systematic random sampling technique, that is, from the list of 7580 every 20 households were selected randomly, the target households were 7580/20, results a total of 379 households (2,274 targets). For the representative target population, size of N, 379 households at a 95% confidence level and ± 5% precision level were taken using Eq. 1 [33], and the sample size obtained as:

$$n=\frac{N}{1+N\left(e^2\right)}$$ 1

From Eq. (1), a sample size (n) of 308 households was found and investigations were made by distributing the given sample size into strata (Kebeles) based on the population size of each stratum as presented in Table 1. The total number of respondents ($n_i$) from each Kebele was decided based on Eq. (2) [33].

$$n_i=n\frac{N_i}{N}$$ 2

Table 1.

Sample frame at the household levels and number of respondents per kebele

Town	Kebeles	Sample households	Target Population	Respondent per Kebele
Wereta	Kebele-1	106	636	86
	Kebele-2	76	456	62
	Kebele-3	84	504	68
	Kebele-4	113	678	92
Total		379	2274	308

Where N and N_i stand for the total population size and the population size of the $i^{\mathit{th}}$ data respectively.

Data analysis

To analyze the interaction between dependent and independent variables both Excel and SPSS 20 software were applied and the sample was framed as shown in Table 1. The dependent variable was the adoption of an improved cookstove. In contrast, factors that influenced the adoption of ICSs were independent variables such as age distribution, heads of the household, educational level, family size, income level, and decision-maker in the household. In this study, p ≤ 0.05 is considered as a significant level.

Results and discussion

Types of cooking technology used by households

From the field assessment, the types of charcoal cookstoves utilized by the community are shown in Table 2. In this study ICS adopters were those who were using type 2, type 3, type 4, and type 5 while type 1 (traditional clay stove) users were considered as non-adopters.

Table 2.

Types of charcoal cooking stoves and their percentage in the community

Charcoal cooking stoves used per respondents
Type of stoves	Frequency		Percentage (%)	Valid percentage	Cumulative percentage
Type-1 (Traditional Clay stove)		135	43.8	43.8	43.8
Type-2 (Cylindrical stove insulated with clay)		98	32	32	90.4
Type-3 (Rocket stove without insulation)		17	5.5	5.5	96.2
Type-4 (Rocket stove insulated with bricks)		46	15	15	97.5
Type-5 (cylindrical stove without insulation)		12	3.9	3.9	99.3
Total	308		100	100

Note Type 1 is a traditional cookstove whereas types 2, 3, 4, and 5 are ICSs

As indicated in Table 2, the descriptive frequency analysis of the household survey results from 308 respondents revealed that 5.5% of the respondents used Type-3(rocket stove without insulation), 3.9% used Type-5(cylinder or circular stove without insulation), 15% used Type-4(rocket stove with insulation), 32% used Type-2(insulated with clay cylinder stove), and the majority (43.8%) were still using the first modified clay stove as models presented in Fig. 2. According to this frequency analysis, a total of 135 respondents (43.8%) who used traditional clay stoves were identified as non-adopters. In contrast, adopters are those respondents of 173 (56.2%) who used either of the improved cookstoves (Type-2 – Type-5). Among those, with a total of 144 (46.8%) Type-2 (clay-insulated cylindrical stove) and Type-4 (insulated rocket stove) were widely adopted. Even though, over half of the population were adopters of ICSs, 43.8% of the community still relies on traditional cookstoves. Therefore, an effort is necessary to enhance the usage of ICSs because using these stoves has various advantages for consumers.

Fig. 2.

Selected stove types from the district

As indicated in Fig. 2, letters A, B, C, D, and E represent Type-1 (Traditional clay stove), Type-2 (insulated with clay cylinder stove), Type-3 (rocket stove without insulation), Type-4 (rocket stove with insulation), and Type-5 (cylindrical stove without insulation), respectively.

Factors influencing the adoption of improved cookstoves

Among various factors that affect user’s preference for ICSs, based on a literature survey and previous findings the basic socio-economic variables were selected; these are age distribution, educational level, family size, income level, decision-making at the household, place of cooking, and stakeholders’ role. From the descriptive statistical analysis factors such as family size, age distribution, marital status, and income level showed a p-value of < 0.05, which implies these variables have a strong interaction with dependent variables. Whereas educational level, decision-making level, place of cooking, and stakeholders’ participation in the community showed less interaction with dependent variables as the p-value > 0.05. This implies that the former have more influence on the adoption of improved cookstoves in the community than the latter.

Age distribution

The age of the respondents exhibited a statistically significant and negative effect on the ICS preference of the households at p < 0.05. The effect of age distribution on user’s choice of improved charcoal cookstove is presented in Table 3. In the community, 58.4% of the households were older than 31, while 41.6% of the household heads were in the range of younger adulthood. The analysis revealed that younger individuals were more likely to adopt clean and improved cooking systems than older individuals because youngsters are expected to be flexible to change and eager to embrace new technologies. Similar findings were also published by Onyekuru & Apeh [32] and Yayeh et al. [45] revealing that the younger the age, the more inclined to ICSs. Another study by Jan et al. [22] stated that older respondents are curious and unwilling to take risks due to this they showed a lower tendency to use new cookstove technologies. As a result, age is one of the barriers to ICSs adoption in the community because the result showed that older respondents stuck to the traditional clay stoves, so an effort is required to persuade and change the awareness of older individuals.

Table 3.

Age distribution and types of charcoal cooking stoves for cooking cross-tabulation

Age distribution	Types of charcoal cooking stoves used by households
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
< 18	21	31	10	4	7	73 (23.7%)
18–30	17	19	0	15	4	55 (17.9%)
31–45	21	41	3	21	1	87 (28.2%)
> 45	76	7	4	6	0	93 (30.2%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

Household income level

From the descriptive statistics data shown in Table 4, the income level of the households has a strong influence (p < 0.05) on the adoption of improved charcoal cook stoves. Household income is the annual earnings of a household from sources such as crop, livestock and their products, salary, trade, etc.

Table 4.

Descriptive cross-tabulation of income level versus type of improved charcoal cooking stoves

Average yearly Income level (ETB)	Types of improved charcoal cooking stoves used by households
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
10,000–20,000	39	18	5	5	1	68 (22.1%)
20,000–30,000	35	15	7	20	1	78 (25.3%)
30,000–40,000	31	23	3	6	6	69 (22.4%)
> 40,000	30	42	2	15	4	93 (30.2%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

*ETB indicates Ethiopian Birr

About 93 households i.e. above 30% of adopters were high-income households; with earnings of above 40,000ETB, as shown in Table 4 which implies that the high cost of modern cookstoves is afforded by high-income households. As stated by Yayeh et al. [45], families with higher incomes preferred modern energy and clean cooking systems over traditional cookstoves. This result is consistent with a study conducted by Bersisa et al. [8] which stated that the price of cookstoves was one of the main barriers to be adopted by low-income households. Also, a study by Gebreegziabher et al. [13] stated that increasing the income of households plays a positive role in enhancing clean energy technology utilization. According to this study and literature with the current ICSs price low-income societies are unable to afford improved charcoal cooking stoves in Ethiopia. Therefore, to shift this scenario, stakeholders should take actions like subsidizing households and recognizing and appreciating low-cost, high-performance cookstoves.

Educational level of household

In this study, educational level has a positive and statistically significant (p < 0.05) impact on ICSs preference. The community-based survey result revealed that 69.4% of the households have formal education out of those 73.8% used improved cookstoves.

As indicated in Table 5, Around 40.3% (124 households) attended secondary school and above educational levels, out of them 97.6% were adopters of ICSs. In contrast, 30.5% (94) of the households were uneducated and only 16% of them were improved charcoal cookstove adopters which indicates that educated households adopted better than their uneducated counterparts. As Gizachew & Tolera [16] stated this might be due to the literacy level enabling them to access information and understand technologies easily. Additionally, as Onyekuru & Apeh [32] explained the higher adoption rate by educated people may be because educated households are aware of the advantages of ICSs over traditional stoves such as energy saving, and health and safety issues. The study by Gebreegziabher et al. [13] also showed the literacy level of the household heads influences their preference for cookstove adoptions. However, the study by Yayeh et al. [45] indicated level of education reduces the uptake of ICSs. This might be due to literate people prefer modern energy sources for Cooking and heating purposes.

Table 5.

Descriptive cross-tabulation of educational level versus type of improved charcoal cooking stove

Education level	Types of charcoal cooking stoves used by households
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
No formal education	79	10	1	3	1	94 (30.5%)
Primary	35	23	9	15	8	90 (29.2%)
Secondary & above	21	65	7	28	3	124 (40.3%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

As indicated in Table 5, Around 40.3% (124 households) attended secondary school and above educational levels, out of them 97.6% were adopters of ICSs. In contrast, 30.5% (94) of the households were uneducated and only 16% of them were improved charcoal cookstove adopters which indicates that educated households adopted better than their uneducated counterparts. As Gizachew & Tolera [16] stated this might be due to the literacy level enabling them to access information and understand technologies easily. Additionally, as Onyekuru & Apeh [32] explained the higher adoption rate by educated people may be because educated households are aware of the advantages of ICSs over traditional stoves such as energy saving, and health and safety issues. The study by Gebreegziabher et al. [13] also showed the literacy level of the household heads influences their preference for cookstove adoptions. However, the study by Yayeh et al. [45] indicated level of education reduces the uptake of ICSs. This might be due to literate people prefer modern energy sources for Cooking and heating purposes.

Household family size

The other variable is household family size which was statistically significant at 5% probability. As indicated in Table 6, when the number of family sizes increased from < 2 to 6–7, the adoption of ICSs increased by 61%. Similar findings were also published by Jan et al. [22] concluding that this result may be due to the larger families having higher income, greater access, and better information. According to the study of Belachew & Melka [6], family size also plays a positive and significant role in the adoption of ICSs. However, the trend is reversed when the number of household family size increased from 6 to 7 to > 8. This might be due to many families requiring more food to be prepared. In contrast, the large size of ICSs is unavailable in the market. On the other hand, Mamuye et al. [28] revealed household family size showed a significant barrier to the adoption of modified Cookstoves in Dodela, Ethiopia.

Table 6.

Descriptive cross-tabulation of family size versus type of improved charcoal cooking stoves

Household family size	Types of charcoal cooking stoves used by households
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
≤ 2	28	30	7	4	0	69 (22.4%)
3–5	19	15	7	20	2	63 (20.4%)
6–7	52	39	3	16	3	113 (36.7%)
≥ 8	36	14	0	6	7	63 (20.4%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

Household decision-making

Decision-making power at the household level was statistically insignificant at 5% probability. As presented in Table 7, from 308 household respondents, 72 were male-led, 63 were female-led and 173 were led by both male and female household heads. Among the male-led households, 60% (43) adopted improved cookstoves and the remaining 40% [39] used traditional charcoal clay stoves (type 1). On the other hand, 43% [37] households adopted improved cooking stoves while 41.3% [36] were non-adopters from the 63 female-led households. Male-led adopted a higher number of ICSs in the community. As Beyene & Koch [9] explained one reason may be in a country like Ethiopia male heads have greater decision power including financial decisions. On the other hand, Onyekuru & Apeh [32] published that female-led households are more likely to adopt ICSs because they are a victim of the negative consequences of fuel wood and traditional cookstoves.

Table 7.

Descriptive cross-tabulation of decision-making level versus type of improved charcoal cooking stove

Decision-making at the household level	Types of charcoal cooking stoves used by households
	Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4	Type 5	Total
Wife	26	25	2	6	4	63 (20.4%)
Husband	29	27	5	9	2	72 (23.4%)
Both	80	46	10	31	6	173 (56.2%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

Place of cooking

Place of cooking was another factor evaluated in this research and it was found statistically insignificant at 5% probability. The households use three distinct places for cooking these are indoor (inside the main dwelling), outdoor (open space outside the main home), and a separate place (a place built for cooking only). As shown in Table 8, the place of cooking for 143 respondents was indoors while outdoor and separate place cooker households were 83 and 82 respectively. Most indoor cookers were non-adopters; this might be because these people were accustomed to smoky environments and were not aware of the serious impacts of indoor air pollution, due to this they were less likely to adopt ICSs. Whereas outdoor and separate place cookers adopted a better number of ICSs which aligns with the result of the study of Belachew & Melka [6] that separate kitchens have a positive and significant impact on ICSs adoption.

Table 8.

Descriptive cross-tabulation of the effect of cooking place versus type of improved charcoal cooking stove

Effect of place of cooking	Types of improved charcoal cooking stove
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
Indoor	73	38	8	18	6	143 (46.4%)
Outdoor	26	32	7	13	5	83 (27%)
Separated place	36	28	2	15	1	82 (26.6%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

Role of stakeholder involvement in the community

The active involvements of stakeholders have a positive impact on the adoption and perception of the community as shown in Table 9. According to the data presented in Tables 9 and 120 respondents were inactive participants in the community; as a result, 84 respondents (70%) were users of traditional clay stoves. Whereas active participants designated as “high” households preferred ICSs over traditional clay cookstoves, out of 103 active participants 81.5% were ICSs adopters. This is because active interaction with stakeholders will enhance the awareness of ICSs advantage. The finding of this work is consistent with Kulindwa et al. [26] and Kapfudzaruwa et al. [24]. A study by Kassa et al. [25] also revealed that households’ involvement in training about fuel-efficient cookstoves enabled them to learn the merits of ICSs, which in turn attracts them to ICSs adoption.

Table 9.

Role of stakeholder involvement in the community versus type of charcoal cooking stove

Role of stakeholder involvement in the community	Types of charcoal cooking stoves model for cooking
	Type-1	Type-2	Type-3	Type-4	Type-5	Total
Low	84	15	7	11	3	120 (39%)
Medium	32	37	6	4	6	85 (27.6%)
High	19	46	4	31	3	103 (33.5%)
Total	135	98	17	46	12	308

Barriers to the adoption of Improved cookstoves

In the study area due to various barriers large number of people failed to adopt improved cookstoves. To understand the constraints, we conducted qualitative interviews in the area. The interview question asked the non-adopters was “What is your main reason not to adopt the ICSs?” From the descriptive statistical analysis, we learned that age was statistically significant and had a negative influence on the preference for ICSs. It was found that as the age of the households increased, they were less likely to adopt improved cookstoves, and similar findings were also published by Onyekuru & Apeh [32]. According to the responses from respondents, besides age, the hindrance to the adoption of improved cookstoves was the cost of ICSs and lack of awareness. Some of the respondents said the high costs of ICSs were one of the main reasons for their inclination to the traditional cookstoves. This finding is in line with McCarron et al. [29] and Seguin et al. [34] that low-income households couldn’t afford the cost of modern cookstoves. For better dissemination of ICSs in the area it is important to account for the purchasing power of low-income households. Other respondents said they weren’t aware of the advantages of using ICSs compared to traditional cookstoves. Therefore, teaching about the various benefits of modern cookstoves will accelerate the adoption rate of ICSs. The study by Belachew & Melka [6] demonstrated the effect of households’ awareness on the adoption rate. The finding of their study was awareness has a significant and positive influence on the adoption of ICSs. In conclusion, the integration of various stakeholders such as health educators, financiers, and policymakers could play a holistic approach in addressing the barriers to ICSs adoption.

Conclusion

In Ethiopia, the majority of people rely on biomass fuels and traditional cooking methods for their day-to-day activities, which incur a negative impact on health, economy, and the environment. Disseminating ICSs is one approach taken to tackle this problem; however, the rate of adopting ICSs is limited due to various factors. This research finds out factors such as age distribution, household size, education level, and income level strongly influenced the adoption of ICSs in the community, as indicated by p-values < 0.05. Conversely, cooking location, household decision-making, and role of stakeholder involvement are statistically insignificant, with p-values > 0.05. Our study also revealed the prominent barriers to adopting charcoal ICSs in the district were lack of awareness, low household income, and age. To facilitate the adoption rate stakeholders should consider the factors that have more influence on the decision-making of households’ stove preferences. Additionally, interventions such as advertisement and promotion, incentives, behavioral change, and awareness creation could enhance ICSs uptake. This study focuses on factors and barriers to ICSs usage, further study on the effectiveness of the existing policy and other socio-cultural variables will help to understand the barriers deeply and identify opportunities for improvement. Due to limitations of resources, and time, we aren’t able to do a much deeper analysis of barriers to Improved ICS adoption. We, therefore, would like to recommend researchers to work on this area in detail to study barriers including their impact on individual health effect.

Authors’ contributions

We, the Authors, Tessafa Abrham Ashagrie, Shumet Geremew Asabi, Wondimhunegne Misganaw Alemu, Adamu Shiferie, Tadesse Dires, and Getu Maru, have equal contributions to this work, from concept development and drafting to the final reviewers comment correction.

Funding

There was no funding applicable for this research work.

Data availability

Data is provided within the manuscript or supplementary information files.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The University of Gondar’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved this study (Ref.No: V/PRCS/04/1580/2024). Each study participant provided informed consent for participation in the form of a signature or thumbprint. Confidentiality of data is assured by using identification numbers and limiting access to the data. Participant participation in the study was voluntary. The chance to ask any question about the study, as well as the right to refuse or terminate the interview, were provided.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.