The device that cooks healthily, quickly and cheaply
Sep 13, 2009
IT was almost 1:00pm on a Sunday after the main church service when Gregory Lumu parked his car behind his house in Kireka. For the first time, he went via the kitchen, before proceeding to the sitting room.
By John Kasozi
IT was almost 1:00pm on a Sunday after the main church service when Gregory Lumu parked his car behind his house in Kireka. For the first time, he went via the kitchen, before proceeding to the sitting room.
As Lumu navigated the kitchen, there seemed to be no sign of cooking as the gas and electric cookers were cold. But Lumu had not seen the charcoal stove on the veranda.
“What is the matter with you Teopista?†Lumu snapped at his wife. “Aren’t we going to have lunch today? And you know in three-hour time we must be in Jinja.â€
She calmly replied: “Darling lunch is ready. Any moment you request for it, you will be served.†“But I have not seen food being prepared. Have you kept it in the glittering food flask?†he asked, looking startled.
“Our lunch was ready about an hour back. I used the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) Sarai cooker you are calling a flask,†she replied.
Glancing at Teopista in astonishment, Lumu thought Teopista was playing games. “That is a food flask. You should have prepared the meal early enough,†he insisted.
“Darling, that Sarai cooker is a multi-purpose domestic device. After preparing the food and sauce, it also keeps the contents warm,†she explained.
That was six months ago and Teopista has not looked back. Shamim Kulabako, a Ggaba resident with a family of five, concurs with Teopista. “It is now one-year and two months since I started using the cooker.â€
“Before I bought it, I was using the ordinary charcoal stove. I would spend sh1,500 on charcoal everyday,†she says. “She now spends only sh600 on briquette (small hard blocks used as fuel).
I save more than a half amount of money and only put the briquettes once,†she replies. She says all the dishes get ready in one hour and 20 minutes.
“I use the cooker to prepare three dishes at the same time. In the upper part, I put vegetables; in the middle chamber, rice and any other food in the lower one,†says Kulabako.
If the family has supper before Kulabako’s husband returns, she leaves his food in the Sarai cooker. She says even if he returns two hours after they have had their share, he finds the food still hot.
Kulabako says food prepared in a Sarai cooker is equivalent to the one boiled in a cooking metal box or in banana leaves (luwombo), which is put on top of the food when cooking.
“You can have all your nutrients, aroma and taste intact.†Ismail Kavuma, the executive director, ARTI-Uganda, the supplier of the appliance, says: “It has an in-built charcoal brazier, where charred briquettes of 200g are placed as fuel,†he says, adding that the external drum prevents heat loss.
The drum consists of a segmented cooking vessel with three pots. The pots can be used for steaming meat, rice and beans at the same time.
Kavuma says the dishes get ready in one hour and the contents stay warm for two hours.
Kavuma says one kilogramme of ARTI briquettes costs sh700 and can be used to prepare five meals. “A Sarai cooker costs sh150,000. It saves up to 2kg of charcoal a day.â€
“The ARTI compact briquettes are made from locally available dry biomass materials, usually dry waste materials like maize, sugarcane, rice, beans, sorghum and groundnuts,†says Kavuma.
“Charring (burning) trash and converting it to fuel briquettes is profitable, especially for small-scale rural businesses,†he adds.
A portable kiln (oven) burns the agricultural waste into char powder, and compresses it to half the material that was put inside. The process takes 15 minutes.
Kavuma says they offer three types of briquette-making machines. The manual one produces 100kg of char briquettes per day. It costs sh250,000.
The second locally-made electric machine produces between 80kg to 100kg per hour, while the imported 2HP motor-powered machine produces between 200kg to 250kg per hour. All the machines require low cost maintenance.
Ugastoves use about 300g of briquettes to prepare beans or meat. The briquettes can keep burning for more than two hours.
Kavuma says the briquettes are good substitutes for charcoal. “They reduce deforestation and create employment in semi-urban and rural areas.â€
“At the beginning of February this year, we carried out a five-day briquette training in which 140 farmers benefited.
They were from Lukaaya in Masaka (28 women and 15 men); Nakifuma in Mukono (19 men and 24 women) and Buwenge in Jinja (22 men and 21 women),†says Kavuma.
The training was sponsored by the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology, while the Uganda National Farmers Federation mobilised the farmers.
“I have put a briquette commercial plant at Magamaga in Buwenge. Buwenge sub-county is one of the places in Uganda with a lot of crop residue, especially maize.
Each kilogramme of char costs sh150. About 25 farmers are supplying char,†Kavuma says. The Buwenge plant will produce 600kg briquettes per day and three tonnes per week.
The briquettes are packed in bundles of 10kg and each costs sh7,000. Two centres in Jinja have been earmarked as their outlets. Mukono Farmers Association is also manufacturing briquettes.
Kavuma says late this year, the project will roll out to Iganga and Bugiri districts. “Kampala residents can access the briquettes at the ARTI Kabalagala office.â€
ARTI, Uganda derives its technology from ARTI in India. The technologies are standardised and modified through field testing and have been proven to be physically, economically and socially feasible.
Contact address: Appropriate Rural Technology Institute; Telephone; 0414666841/0777613783
IT was almost 1:00pm on a Sunday after the main church service when Gregory Lumu parked his car behind his house in Kireka. For the first time, he went via the kitchen, before proceeding to the sitting room.
As Lumu navigated the kitchen, there seemed to be no sign of cooking as the gas and electric cookers were cold. But Lumu had not seen the charcoal stove on the veranda.
“What is the matter with you Teopista?†Lumu snapped at his wife. “Aren’t we going to have lunch today? And you know in three-hour time we must be in Jinja.â€
She calmly replied: “Darling lunch is ready. Any moment you request for it, you will be served.†“But I have not seen food being prepared. Have you kept it in the glittering food flask?†he asked, looking startled.
“Our lunch was ready about an hour back. I used the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) Sarai cooker you are calling a flask,†she replied.
Glancing at Teopista in astonishment, Lumu thought Teopista was playing games. “That is a food flask. You should have prepared the meal early enough,†he insisted.
“Darling, that Sarai cooker is a multi-purpose domestic device. After preparing the food and sauce, it also keeps the contents warm,†she explained.
That was six months ago and Teopista has not looked back. Shamim Kulabako, a Ggaba resident with a family of five, concurs with Teopista. “It is now one-year and two months since I started using the cooker.â€
“Before I bought it, I was using the ordinary charcoal stove. I would spend sh1,500 on charcoal everyday,†she says. “She now spends only sh600 on briquette (small hard blocks used as fuel).
I save more than a half amount of money and only put the briquettes once,†she replies. She says all the dishes get ready in one hour and 20 minutes.
“I use the cooker to prepare three dishes at the same time. In the upper part, I put vegetables; in the middle chamber, rice and any other food in the lower one,†says Kulabako.
If the family has supper before Kulabako’s husband returns, she leaves his food in the Sarai cooker. She says even if he returns two hours after they have had their share, he finds the food still hot.
Kulabako says food prepared in a Sarai cooker is equivalent to the one boiled in a cooking metal box or in banana leaves (luwombo), which is put on top of the food when cooking.
“You can have all your nutrients, aroma and taste intact.†Ismail Kavuma, the executive director, ARTI-Uganda, the supplier of the appliance, says: “It has an in-built charcoal brazier, where charred briquettes of 200g are placed as fuel,†he says, adding that the external drum prevents heat loss.
The drum consists of a segmented cooking vessel with three pots. The pots can be used for steaming meat, rice and beans at the same time.
Kavuma says the dishes get ready in one hour and the contents stay warm for two hours.
Kavuma says one kilogramme of ARTI briquettes costs sh700 and can be used to prepare five meals. “A Sarai cooker costs sh150,000. It saves up to 2kg of charcoal a day.â€
“The ARTI compact briquettes are made from locally available dry biomass materials, usually dry waste materials like maize, sugarcane, rice, beans, sorghum and groundnuts,†says Kavuma.
“Charring (burning) trash and converting it to fuel briquettes is profitable, especially for small-scale rural businesses,†he adds.
A portable kiln (oven) burns the agricultural waste into char powder, and compresses it to half the material that was put inside. The process takes 15 minutes.
Kavuma says they offer three types of briquette-making machines. The manual one produces 100kg of char briquettes per day. It costs sh250,000.
The second locally-made electric machine produces between 80kg to 100kg per hour, while the imported 2HP motor-powered machine produces between 200kg to 250kg per hour. All the machines require low cost maintenance.
Ugastoves use about 300g of briquettes to prepare beans or meat. The briquettes can keep burning for more than two hours.
Kavuma says the briquettes are good substitutes for charcoal. “They reduce deforestation and create employment in semi-urban and rural areas.â€
“At the beginning of February this year, we carried out a five-day briquette training in which 140 farmers benefited.
They were from Lukaaya in Masaka (28 women and 15 men); Nakifuma in Mukono (19 men and 24 women) and Buwenge in Jinja (22 men and 21 women),†says Kavuma.
The training was sponsored by the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology, while the Uganda National Farmers Federation mobilised the farmers.
“I have put a briquette commercial plant at Magamaga in Buwenge. Buwenge sub-county is one of the places in Uganda with a lot of crop residue, especially maize.
Each kilogramme of char costs sh150. About 25 farmers are supplying char,†Kavuma says. The Buwenge plant will produce 600kg briquettes per day and three tonnes per week.
The briquettes are packed in bundles of 10kg and each costs sh7,000. Two centres in Jinja have been earmarked as their outlets. Mukono Farmers Association is also manufacturing briquettes.
Kavuma says late this year, the project will roll out to Iganga and Bugiri districts. “Kampala residents can access the briquettes at the ARTI Kabalagala office.â€
ARTI, Uganda derives its technology from ARTI in India. The technologies are standardised and modified through field testing and have been proven to be physically, economically and socially feasible.
Contact address: Appropriate Rural Technology Institute; Telephone; 0414666841/0777613783