How to make charcoal briquettes from cow dung waste

There is a lot of damage being caused to local forests and trees in Uganda as a result of the daily collection of firewood for fuel, by mostly the women and youth.

Additionally, the women responsible for collecting firewood are increasingly coming into direct contact and conflict with wildlife (particularly snakes) on their daily firewood forays.

The women report that they also have to travel much greater distances to collect firewood (because of the deforestation caused by their activities), which is taking them away from their other duties in the village.

So, desperate to put food on the table for their families, poor women often resort to using unhealthy sources of fuel, such as plastic waste, at the expense of their health. In an effort to reduce expenditure on fuel for cooking, they are also pushed into abandoning nutritionally-rich traditional foods that take long to cook, further affecting their families' nutrition security.

Many market-oriented smallholder dairy farms have appeared mainly in the urban and peri-urban areas of Uganda. Dairy intensification provides both opportunities and challenges that need to be managed accordingly, in order to improve milk production in a sustainable way.

An adult well-fed animal on average produces dung about 13 times a day, which ranges from 17kg to 55kg, depending on the type, sex and size of the animal and the type of feed it is given. The dung, if not well taken care of, can become a big problem, causing environmental pollution.

You can sell five charcoal briquettes for sh1,000 and you can make around 1,000 briquettes in three hours. You will need half a bag of charcoal dust (sh6,000) and three wheelbarrows of cow dung (sh 10,000) to make 1,000 briquettes.

What are briquettes?

Briquettes are compressed blocks of coal or charcoal that burn under fire. They are an excellent way to utilise the smashed pieces of charcoal usually thrown away and the cow manure that causes pollution if not properly disposed of.

Briquettes burn longer than charcoal and, therefore, will reduce the amount of charcoal a household uses. Briquettes help conserve the environment because they burn for an average of two hours and-a-half, compared to the 45 minutes of charcoal.

To make charcoal briquettes you need

• Overalls

• Black plastic gloves

• Masks

• Covered shoes/boots of about sh50,000

• Stick/rod to turn the material

• Water to sprinkle on charcoal

• Mortar and pestle or another way to crush the charcoal, at about sh70,000

• A place to mix your material with the gum

• Briquette press at about sh100,000 for an improvised one

• A place to dry your briquette

Instructions on how to make charcoal briquettes

Stage 1: Sieve charcoal dust to free it from any impurity.

Stage 2: Crush charcoal dust into fine powder.

Stage 3: Mix cow dung with charcoal dust and very little water in a ratio of 1:3:0.5 (cow dung to charcoal dust to water).

Stage 4: Put the material inside the briquette mould, hit two or three times and remove.

Compiled by Joshua Kato (editor Harvest Money) and Dr Jolly Kabirizi (livestock nutritionist consultant)