How to make an upesi stove

Every home in every country in the world uses some form of cooking equipment. Some people cook with electricity, while others use gas or kerosene. However, in about half of the world's homes, people use biomass fuels such as charcoal, wood, animal dung and agricultural waste such as maize cobs, coffee husks, crushed sugarcane stocks and rice husks. Thus, people who rely on biomass fuels are actually the victims of deforestation rather than the offenders. Collecting fuel is hard work and takes up a lot of time. It is usually the responsibility of women and children. As a result, improved stoves such as Upesi stove are now promoted as a means of improving the quality of life for poor households which rely on biomass as their main source of fuel rather than as a solution to the problem of deforestation. The Upesi stove is a simple pottery cylinder built into a mud surround in the kitchen. It is designed to bum wood, although it can also burn crop waste such as maize stalks and cobs, and animal dung. Fuel is fed into the fire through an opening at the front of the stove. The stove does not have a chimney, but produces less smoke than an open fire.