Virunga Biomass Briquette Project

Virunga Biomass Briquette Project
Africa Conservation Fund
Origin of the Project
2007 Gorilla Murders
720 mountain gorillas left
in existence
QuickTim e™ and a
decom pres s or
are needed to s ee this picture.
Charcoal mafia: shot
across the bow
Deforestation rate of 10%
of Virunga NP per year
Makala - over 90% of the
cooking fuel market
Africa Conservation Fund
Project Goals
Slow deforestation in Virunga National Park through the introduction of a
sustainable and competitive alternative to charcoal and fuel wood
Avert an impending household fuel crisis caused by an over-dependence on fuel
wood and charcoal
Reduce extreme poverty in N. Kivu by introducing a less expensive (20-30%)
alternative sustainable household fuel and by creating sustainable employment
Africa Conservation Fund
Objectives
•
•
•
Introduce biomass briquettes as an alternative household fuel
Create 1250 biomass briquette micro-enterprises
Transition ~300,000 people to biomass briquettes
Africa Conservation Fund
Biomass Briquette Press
Africa Conservation Fund
Briquette Ingredients
Leaves
Grasses
Agricultural waste: coffee husks, peanut shells
Waste paper and sawdust
Charcoal fines
Africa Conservation Fund
Achievements
2437 permanent and sustainable
jobs added
~50.000 people transitioned to
briquettes
2,9 million kg of fuel wood
conserved
Backdrop: difficult terrain,
corrupt/hostile government troops,
heavily armed militias -- and the
occasional “word from the forest”…
Africa Conservation Fund
Lessons Learned: Training & Production
Trainers initially lacked real world experience
Trainers didn’t stress the importance of individually testing
prospective new materials for combustibility
Deployed too fast and couldn’t provide adequate followup… producers continued to produce low quality briquettes
Quality system wasn’t robust enough:
• Random audits - stones and broken briquettes
• Ensure consistent production tracking of sacks
• Moisture testing (moisture meter)
• Corrective action protocol
Africa Conservation Fund
Lessons Learned: Press teams
Manage producer expectations (temper promises)
Consider the impact of program “starts and stops” on producers and
their families (financial hardship, opportunity costs, ramp-up)
Deploy presses at a pace that is matched with demand
Africa Conservation Fund
Issues: Marketing and Sales
Cost -- and therefore price -- of briquettes too high with 6-person
teams and team size led to in-fighting.
• Move to 4-person teams improved sustainability -- and team
performance. Change brought briquette price down to 50% of the
cost of charcoal -- without damaging margin
Originally thought it best to offer briquettes in large sacks -- just
like charcoal. People were averse to the financial commitment
for something they didn’t know.
Added a 6 kg trial size
Africa Conservation Fund
Issues: Marketing and Sales
Original target market should have been big fuel users, not individual
families.
• Now focusing on school food programs, etc.
Needed to better train the trainers on how to overcome basic objections
to briquettes:
• Smoke
• Re-use,
• Adding fuel,
• Intense heat,
• High-maintenance
Needed to harness the visual power of a head-to-head cooking
competition with briquettes and charcoal
Africa Conservation Fund
Issues: Marketing and Sales
“Gorilla” marketing strategy would have been more effective if
previous issues had been addressed before launching the
campaign (but, don’t know what you don’t know).
Africa Conservation Fund
Keys to Sustainability: Short-term
Partner with NGOs to disseminate the technology and increase reach
Africa Conservation Fund
Keys to Sustainability: Short-term
Identify and penetrate industrial markets (bakeries, fish dryers, tobacco,
etc.) to generate baseline demand needed to keep first 550 producers at full
capacity -- adding new teams only as justified by demand
Africa Conservation Fund
Keys to Sustainability: Short-term
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Leverage existing industrial and consumer stove designs
Develop highly efficient “briquette only” ovens model for bakeries
Follow-up with new recipients to avoid “bed” stoves…
Africa Conservation Fund
Keys to Long-Term Sustainability
Develop pressing cooperatives that can maximize press
productivity and minimize the cost of buying additional press
kits (13 euro pp with two teams and 9 euros pp with three)
Develop relationships and formulate plans with MFIs
Continue improving stove designs for small and industrial
users -- leveraging work already being done by others (Mercy
Corps, WWF)
.Encourage new press installations along or close to main
routes to minimizing fossil fuel transport (promote chukudus)
Continue looking for ways to drive down costs
Education: Promote importance of sustainable fuels at
school level and continue promoting briquette use at schools
to increase familiarity and reduce resistance
Africa Conservation Fund
Africa Conservation Fund