Kampala charcoal prices soar

Sep 05, 2011

CHARCOAL prices in Kampala have increased drastically with some of them doubling during August, according to a survey conducted by <i>New Vision.<br></i>

By GERALD TENYWA

CHARCOAL prices in Kampala have increased drastically with some of them doubling during August, according to a survey conducted by New Vision.

At Nateete Market, a sack of charcoal goes for sh70,000. In the survey, Nateete had the highest price followed by Nakasero, while Ggaba had the lowest.

“The charcoal at Ggaba is of poor quality because it breaks easily and burns away too fast,” said Richard Kisakye.

He said the prices could be low because charcoal burners on the Lake Victoria islands were not paying for the trees.

Charcoal burners in the cattle corridor districts such as Nakasongola have started paying money to land owners who either want to establish farms or tree plantations.

“The trees are becoming scarce and land owners have started charging money. Districts like Nakasongola levy taxes and this makes charcoal from such areas more expensive,” Kisakye said.

This has prompted charcoal burners to move to where trees are abundant and free.
However, the traders have to charge more since they use more fuel to transport the charcoal to Kampala.

As trees become scarce in areas that are closer to Kampala and fuel prices go up, Kisakye said the prices are likely to increase to sh80,000 or sh90,000 by the end of the year.

A decade ago, most charcoal used to come from Luwero and Nakasongola, but distant places like Masindi now supply Kampala with most of the charcoal.

“I have been hit below the belt because of the increasing cost of living,” said Moses Kawere, a resident of Bweyogerere.

“The prices of most commodities are going up, but have almost doubled for charcoal, yet most of it runs out soon after it is bought,” he added.

Kawere said electricity was irregular and too expensive, pushing people to use firewood.

Asked what was being done to ensure that wood fuel is not depleted and how to tame the rising charcoal prices, John Diisi, an expert in Geographic Information System, said the energy and environment ministries were not doing enough.

“The energy sector is concentrating on fossil fuels and developing hydro-electric power, while the environment ministry is concentrating on planting trees for timber and not for wood fuel. So the energy crisis is not being addressed,” said Diisi.

Over 90% of Ugandans depend on wood fuel, with the urban population using mainly charcoal and the rural areas relying on firewood, according to the latest report released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

Diisi recommended that an inter-ministerial committee comprised of experts be formed to work together to promote sustainable production of biomass energy, including charcoal.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});