charcoal cooker for your home
Jan 23, 2009
HOW about this? As you sit in the cool of the living room, watching the television, you are simultaneously preparing the family meal.
By Kikonyogo Ngatya
HOW about this? As you sit in the cool of the living room, watching the television, you are simultaneously preparing the family meal.
A new wonder cooker, the sarai, is smoke and pollution free. It uses between 100 to 150 grammes of charcoal to cook food, sauce and vegetables, enough for five people, all at once. The secret is that it retains all the heat, which is utilised in the cooking.
It keeps fire for up to 12 hours when hot and keeps the food warm for up to 24 hours. The stove has been introduced as a collaboration between the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) and Appropriate Technology Research Institute (ARTI-Uganda).
According to the world health report, 2002, indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease. Communities use the traditional stove to cook food, which affects their lungs.
Shamim Kavuma, who has been using the sarai for one year, says it has reduced her expenditure on charcoal by over 80%.
The stainless steel cooker has been introduced in the country by ARTI-Uganda as a means of protecting the environment.
Ismail Kavuma, the executive director, says the cooker was developed to consume charcoal made out of wild grass, crop residue and any other vegetable material. It was recently launched at Lukaya in Masaka district during the training of 38 farmers on cost-effective and environmental protection techniques.
How it works:
The sarai cooker is a non-pressurised cooker in which charcoal briquettes made from crop residues or ordinary charcoal is used as fuel. It has a stainless steel body with a built-in charcoal brazier.
The vessel takes three pots, meaning that rice, meat and vegetable (or any food) can be cooked simultaneously. The food is usually ready between 45 minutes and one hour, by which time the briquettes are burnt out and the fire is extinguished.
“The convenience of use and the low cost of fuel are the main attractions for the users,†Kavuma says.
Dr. Maxwell Otim Onapa, the executive director of UNCST, says the stove would significantly reduce environmental destruction resulting from cutting down trees for cooking fuel.
HOW about this? As you sit in the cool of the living room, watching the television, you are simultaneously preparing the family meal.
A new wonder cooker, the sarai, is smoke and pollution free. It uses between 100 to 150 grammes of charcoal to cook food, sauce and vegetables, enough for five people, all at once. The secret is that it retains all the heat, which is utilised in the cooking.
It keeps fire for up to 12 hours when hot and keeps the food warm for up to 24 hours. The stove has been introduced as a collaboration between the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) and Appropriate Technology Research Institute (ARTI-Uganda).
According to the world health report, 2002, indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease. Communities use the traditional stove to cook food, which affects their lungs.
Shamim Kavuma, who has been using the sarai for one year, says it has reduced her expenditure on charcoal by over 80%.
The stainless steel cooker has been introduced in the country by ARTI-Uganda as a means of protecting the environment.
Ismail Kavuma, the executive director, says the cooker was developed to consume charcoal made out of wild grass, crop residue and any other vegetable material. It was recently launched at Lukaya in Masaka district during the training of 38 farmers on cost-effective and environmental protection techniques.
How it works:
The sarai cooker is a non-pressurised cooker in which charcoal briquettes made from crop residues or ordinary charcoal is used as fuel. It has a stainless steel body with a built-in charcoal brazier.
The vessel takes three pots, meaning that rice, meat and vegetable (or any food) can be cooked simultaneously. The food is usually ready between 45 minutes and one hour, by which time the briquettes are burnt out and the fire is extinguished.
“The convenience of use and the low cost of fuel are the main attractions for the users,†Kavuma says.
Dr. Maxwell Otim Onapa, the executive director of UNCST, says the stove would significantly reduce environmental destruction resulting from cutting down trees for cooking fuel.