Initial Impact of Greenway Smart Stoves in India

 Initial Impact of Greenway Smart  Stoves in India        By Yumiko Yamada  Kopernik Fellow 2012 

 1. Overview The fellow conducted a rapid impact assessment of a Kopernik cookstove projectentitled “Smarter Cooking for Indian Women,” which distributed Greenway Smart Stovesmanufactured by Greenway Grameen Infra in Madhya Pradesh in the summer of 2012. The rapid impact assessment consisted of baseline survey from late June to early Julyand subsequent follow-up survey from late July to early August to beneficiaries whoreceived the cookstove. The fellow worked with Kopernik’s local NGO partner, Haritika,who has been working in the area since 1994. Haritika assisted the fellow to conductbaseline survey in 3 villages covering 41 households and conduct follow-up survey in 2villages covering 23 households. The respondents were asked about their cooking habitsand fuel usage as well as basic livelihood questions in the baseline survey, and how theircooking habits and fuel consumption had changed after obtaining the cookstove in thefollow-up survey.2. Projects conducted by Haritika Started in 1994, Haritika is a non-profit organization, located its headquarter inNowgong, Madhya Pradesh. They work to alleviate extreme poverty and empowerwomen in approximately 150 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with thefinancial support from Indian government, UNDP and several international NGOs. Theirmain work area is water and electricity. In project sites, they have constructed waterconservation schemes, dams, plantations and solar lighting systems. They decided toimplement the smart cookstove project, hoping to reduce firewood use around the projectsites, and received 150 cookstoves from Kopernik in May 2012. 

 A dam constructed by Haritika near Chandanpura Solar panels constructed by Haritika in Chandanpura3. Baseline survey result From late June to the beginning of July, the fellow conducted baseline survey inthree villages in Chattarpur district in Madhya Pradesh, which are Khakri veerpura,Kasera and Chandanpura. The interview was conducted for 41 households who purchasedor ordered cookstove at the point of survey. Survey questions are as described inappendix 1 and 2. Though the date varies depending on villages, cookstoves weredistributed to villagers around 10 days before the baseline survey and some householdshad already started to use them at the time of the survey. Almost all the people who live in these villages work as farmers except for a fewhouseholds that send some family members away for labor work. The average number offamily members is 6.2, including 3 to 5 children. Their average monthly income isRs.7,786 (USD 138), ranging from Rs.1,666 (USD 30) to Rs.18,750 (USD 333). Thismeans that the average monthly income per person is Rs.1,261 (USD 22) or Rs.42 (USD 

 0.75) per day, well below the benchmark of USD 1 per day. The poorest village is Chandanpura, where the average monthly income perhousehold is Rs.2,560 (USD 46), ranging from Rs.1,666 (USD 30 ) to Rs.5,000 (USD90). The level of poverty is likely due to Chandanpura’s far distance from nearest verysmall town (about 20 minutes by car although the fellow could not find any single car inthe village), thus villagers depend on subsistence farming and they have very limitedaccess to money. Although Haritika is working on potable water and solar panelinstallment in the village, the village’s general infrastructure is still very poor. Unlessthere are solar panels, the village could remain without electricity for over two weeks.Another remote village, Kasera is also poor, however, they seemed to be well-off thanksto the Bunder Project in the area, a diamond mining venture initiated by Rio Tinto, theAustralian mining company, and subsequent job creation throughout the region. Regarding the cooking habit, all interviewees replied that they cook twice a day,using the traditional stove called “chulha” (see picture below). It takes between 45 and 60minutes for 46% of interviewees (19) to prepare meals, and more than 60 minutes for42% of households (17). Except for three families who seemed to be richer than others,everyone collects firewood for cooking use, of which 59% of households (24) collectonce a week and 30% of households (12) twice a week. Women generally assume thetask of collecting fuel, although some answered that every family member helps with thejob. Each collection takes between 1 hour and more than 2 hours for 80% of households(33). In Kasera, almost all interviewees take more than 2 hours to collect firewood, whilein Chandanpura most households take between 1.5 and 2 hours. 

  Since each village where baseline survey was conducted is relatively small, therewere no outstanding varieties in their answers, especially in regards to their cookinghabits. This is due to the fact that all the households use chulha for cooking and collectfirewood from the same or similar places. Depending on the number of householdmembers though, there were slight differences in the time to collect firewood. Forexample in Khakri veerpura, those who answered that it takes more than 2 hours tocollect fuel have 9 to 10 family members while others who take less than 2 hours have 4to 6 family members. Traditional chulha in Chandanpura Compared with a Greenway Smart Stove4. Follow-up survey result From late July to early August, approximately one month after conducting thebaseline survey, the fellow headed to the field again to conduct a rapid impact assessmentof the cookstoves project. With the help of staff at Haritika, the follow-up survey wasconducted for the same households as the baseline survey. Unfortunately, there was anongoing festival in Kasera when the fellow arrived there that everyone in the villageattended and consequently prevented the fellow from completing the follow up survey 

 with the 16 families whom she had previously interviewed for the baseline survey. Apartfrom that, other households had moved away from the village or were just simply absentfor the day; therefore, the total number of households which the fellow collectedinformation for the rapid impact assessment was 23 (see figure 1 below). The detaileddemographics of beneficiaries in each village are described in figures 2 and 3. Villages Baseline survey Follow-up survey Khakri veerpura 11 10 Chandanpura 14 13 Kasera 16 0 Total 41 23 Figure 1. Number of households interviewed in each village Family size of respondents 2 members 1 3 0 3 members 4 4 members 3 5 members 1 6 members 7 members 2 8 members 5 9 members 4 10 members Figure 2. Family size of respondents 

  Monthly income of respondents  Rs.9,000+  (USD162+), 2  Rs.6000‐9000  (USD108‐162), 2  Rs.1000‐3000  (USD18‐54), 9  Rs.3000‐6000  (USD54‐108), 10  Figure 3. Monthly income of respondents Apart from whether the interviewees use the cookstove and how often they use it,the rapid impact assessment was conducted under the following three hypotheses: 1) The time it takes to prepare a meal will decrease with the new stove 2) Frequency and time to collect fuel will decrease with the new stove 3) Health improvement would be seen and felt by cookstove users after switching to the new stove First, more than half of respondents (14) answered that they use the cookstoves toprepare every meal. All the cookstove users answered that they use it for both cookingmeals and making tea. About 20% of (4) them answered that they use it once a day oronce in two days. Approximately 20% (5) answered that they do not use it at all; in the 

 survey, some respondents explained they cannot easily change their conventional cookinghabit of using chulha. Others replied that the cookstoves take 15-20 minutes more time tocook than chulha. There is a variety of other reasons for those who did not use the cookstove at all.One woman, a mother of 10 family members explained that with the cookstove, she isunable to cook large amounts of meal at once, so she used it only once. Other women,who live in the very poor village in Chandanpura answered that they used the cookstoveonly once after obtaining it because they found it difficult to repay the cookstove fee andwanted to return it. Two other households said that they returned the cookstoves becausethey could not find the special glue to connect the body and the handle of the stove.1Haritika will introduce the installment payment option to the households intending toreturn the stove because of the price barrier. Next, there was a significant decrease in cooking time after disseminating thecookstove. At baseline, 41% (14) responded that it took more than 60 minutes to preparemeals, but no one answered that it took more than 60 minutes in the follow-up survey.Instead, now it takes less than 45 minutes for 39% (9) of households to cook while only10% (4) responded with that answer at the time of baseline survey (see figure 4). Thedecrease in cooking time can be attributed to the switch from chulha cookstove toGreenway Smart Cookstove.                                                        1 A staff at Greenway Grameen Infra whom the fellow later met in Mumbai explained that only ascrewdriver is necessary to connect the body and the handle whereas the screw is provided witheach new stove, so the statement could be a misinterpretation of the Haritika staff who instructedthe users  

  Changes in time to prepare meals 100% 1 90% 5 80% 0 17 70% N/A 60% 9 >60min 50% 45-60min 40% 31-45min 19 30% 16-30min 20% 9 10% 3 0% 1 0 Baseline (n=41) Follow up (n=23) Figure 4. Changes in time to prepare meals Regarding fuel collection, aside from two households that purchase fuel, about60% (24) of interviewees said that they collected firewood once a week and 34% (14)collected it twice a week or more frequently. After one month, 57% (13) collect it once aweek and 17% (4) twice a week or more frequently. The reason why the number of thosewho collect firewood twice a week or more frequently decreased is that there were peoplewho did not use cookstoves and did not answer the follow-up survey question. Thus,significant differences were not seen in regard to the frequency of fuel collection (seefigure 5). The time for fuel collection, on the other hand, dramatically decreased. Atbaseline, almost 80% (33) took more than 60 minutes each time when collecting fuel, andnearly two thirds of that took more than 2 hours to collect fuel each time. Only 12% (5), 

 who have relatively small number of family members, collected fuel for less than 60minutes each time. The follow-up survey result, however, shows a significant change:there is no longer any person who takes more than 2 hours to collect fuel. Indeed, half ofpeople surveyed (11) replied that the time decreased to less than 30 minutes and 17% (4)of them take between 30 and 60 minutes (see figure 6). Changes in frequency of firewood collection 100% 1 2 90% 2 4 80% 2 12 1 N/A 70% 2 60% Buys firewood 50% Three times a week 40% Twice a week 13 Once a week 30% 24 20% Every other day 10% 0% 0 1 Baseline (n=41) Follow up (n=23) Figure 5. Changes in frequency of firewood collection 

  Changes in time spent on each firewood collection 100% 3 90% 7 80% 70% N/A 20 0 1 60% >2hr 4 50% 1.5-2hr 40% 1-1.5hr 30% 11 0.5-1hr 11 20% <0.5hr 2 10% 5 0% 0 Baseline (n=41) Follow up (n=23) Figure 6. Time to collect firewood Lastly, approximately half of the respondents answered that they have had somehealth improvement since they started to use the cookstove. However, the fellow couldnot obtain any further information about how their health improved except the statementthat the cookstove releases much less smoke than chulha cookstove.5. Analysis The follow-up survey results showed that 80% of households continued using thecookstove regularly at least after approximately 1-2 months of purchase, albeit thefrequency of use differs for each household. There are various reasons why another 20%of households do not use it at all or stopped using it after trying several times at the timeof follow-up survey. Apart from the reasons described in the previous section, several 

 households stated that the Greenway Smart Stove takes just as much time or even more tocook food than the chulha cookstove. Some said that it is because the heating power ofcookstove is weaker than the chulha. Another user mentioned that when preparing roti orchapati, which is the other staple food in Northern India than rice, the Greenway SmartStove requires an additional process that became the deal-breaker.2 Those who answeredthat the Greenway Smart Stove takes just as much time or more to cook with than thechulha were concentrated in Khakri veerpura. Thus, it is possible that people cook usingdifferent methods depending in which village they live, or surrounding opinions influenceindividual perceptions. Also, since the staple food in India greatly varies from place toplace, it is probable that results will also vary in different states. The recent study by J-PAL showed that after a period of four years, people gradually use the distributedimproved cookstove less and less, though it’s important to note that the cookstove used inthe study is not a new generation rocket stove, a category in which the Greenway SmartStove falls under.3 To accurately observe changes in cooking habit by adopting theGreenway Smart Stove, it is necessary to conduct another evaluation for the longer term. Apart from some negative comments that I describe above, most intervieweesrated the cookstove as “Very Useful”, which is the highest score in the rating.4 Thebreakdown of the given technology rating from beneficiaries is described in figure 6.Approximately 70% listed ease of use as the most likable feature for the cookstove.About 10% listed the quickness of preparing food as another feature of the stove that they                                                        2 When using chulha, people cook roti on an iron plate, turning it once in a while. When using theGreenway Smart Stove, however, the iron plate has to be placed on the ground every twominutes, which is similar to when using an LPG cookstove. 3 Up In Smoke, J-PAL Policy Briefcase, July 2012; available athttp://www.povertyactionlab.org/publication/up-in-smoke4 The rating was conducted using 5 scales, which were “Very Useful”, “Useful”, “OK”, “Not Very Useful”and “Not Useful At All” 

 liked, while another 20% noted that they liked the stove because it uses less amount offirewood and emits noticeably less smoke when compared with using the chulha. Nobodymentioned about the direct health improvement, or the extra time for other activities as aresult of the decline in time to collect firewood and to cook. Ratings of the Greenway Smart Stove 14 12 74% of those interviewed in 12 the follow-up survey 10 8 6 5 4 3 3 2 0 0 very useful useful ok not very useful not useful at all Figure 6. Ratings of the Greenway Smart Stove given by project beneficiaries Regarding the time required tocollect firewood, it can be inferred that the decreasein time to collect wood is due to Greenway Smart Stove’s better fuel efficiency, whichreduces the amount of wood required to cook the same amount of meals. Although thefellow could not collect information about the amount of firewood that the villagerscollect, she has learned from a Greenway Grameen Infra staff that the cookstove isexpected to reduce 60% of fuel consumption. Contrary to the hypotheses, there were nosignificant differences in the frequency of firewood collection before and after the 

 surveys. However, again, in order to clarify the relationship between time and frequency,she should have asked the information about the amount of firewood which each villagercollects. The fellow also interviewed users about the affordability of the cookstove.Haritika sold it at the price of Rs.500 (USD 9), and required villagers to pay in lump sum.For example, a villager in Khakri veerpura felt the cookstove was quite expensivealthough he was able to pay for it in one go. Indeed, the monthly income of his family isover Rs. 10,000 (USD 180), which is one of the highest among the interviewees. Takingthis into consideration, it is well understandable that women in Chandanpura could notafford the cookstove and did not use it at all with the intention of returning the stove.According to Avani, most villagers in Chandanpura have not yet paid the fee, or haveonly paid a partial amount. Considering these facts, Haritika started to introduce apayment scheme that allows buyers with financial difficulties to pay in installments. One last thing the fellow noticed through the follow-up survey was that villagersdid not know whom to call, or how to deal with maintenance issues when the cookstoveshad some flaws. Surprisingly, when she asked the same question to Avani, he did notknow about the maintenance matter either, although the fellow later learned that aGreenway Grameen Infra staff had already visited Haritika’s office before distribution ofstoves started (and before the fellow arrived) to conduct a small demonstration andtraining. This was an unexpected discovery and immediately reported to Kopernik, whothen put Haritika and Greenway Grameen Infra in touch again for clarification about theone-year warranty and after-sales service. 

 6. Beneficiary Profiles A. Bhagwati (Khakri veerpura) Bhagwati is a 70-year-old grandmother living in Khakri veerpura. Her familyconsists of 9 members, including her 75-year-old husband, her son, who is the head of thehousehold and 4 grandchildren. Since her family makes a living as farmers, she helpswith the job too. It was her son who decided to buy the cookstove after seeing thedemonstration conducted by Haritika. She now uses the cookstove once a day. Thoughaccording to her it takes almost the same time as before to cook meals with the newstove, she claims to be able to make tea faster with it. Bhagwati and her grandchildren 

  B. Aarti (Khakri veerpura) 25-year-old Aarti lives in a house with her parents-in-law, her husband, her twochildren and other three family members. Her family makes a living through farmingsimilar to other families in the area. Aarti assumes all the cooking chores within thefamily. She uses the Greenway Smart Stove approximately once every two days. Thoughshe finds that the new cookstove releases noticeably less smoke than chulha, she feelsthat it is difficult to stop using chulha, to which she is heavily attached. Although herfamily is relatively large with 9 members--a number that may be too large toaccommodate with the capacity of the Greenway Smart Stove—she uses it nonethelessbecause not all the family members are present everyday, and she is still able to managepreparing meals with the new cookstove. C. Amita (Khakri veerpura) 25-year-old Amita also lives with a large family of 9, including her three children.Her family works as farmers. When we visited her house, she was chatting with womenneighbors while letting their children play outside. She too uses the Greenway SmartStove about once in two days. She likes the new cookstove because it releases little to nosmoke. However, she feels that it takes 15 to 20 minutes longer to cook with it than whenshe cooks with chulha because the former generates smaller firepower. Just beforeleaving her house, her husband came back from Nowgong, which is the closest townfrom the village on a motorcycle. He is the one who decided to buy the cookstove and hesaid that Rs.500, equivalent to about 9 USD, was quite expensive. 

  Amita and her neighbors D. Vimla (Chandanpura) Vimla is a 38-year-old woman living in a house with three other membersincluding her one child. Her family is one of the poorest among the villagers, with amonthly income of Rs.1,600 (USD 28). She told me that her family is poor because theydo not own land for agriculture. Instead, they earn money by collecting firewood andselling them to people, or undertaking temporary labor work. Sometimes, they migrate toother major cities such as Delhi and Agra to do some labor work. In these occasions, allof the family members migrate together, or in some cases, only her husband goes to work.She likes that the Greenway Smart Stove because it is much easier to use while cooking. 

  Vimla and her neighbors E. Narcein Singh (Chandanpura) Narcein is the head of a household of 6 members, including his wife and 4children. He works as a farmer as well as doing service work once in a while. In thevillage, he takes initiative regarding projects conducted by Haritika and receives somemoney from them. He was the one who decided to buy the Greenway Smart Stove. Hiswife likes it a lot and uses it for every meal. Instead of collecting wood, his familypurchases wood from local shops. They purchase it about once a month and spend Rs.300(about 5 USD) each time. Because his family has just started using the cookstove, he isnot still sure how much the expenses on firewood is going to change, but he expects thatit is going to reduce since the new cookstove requires less fuel than chulha. 

 Appendix 1. Rapid Impact Assessment ‐ Baseline  Cookstove  Date: District: Village:  1. Name:  2. Sex:  3. Age: NO.  QUESTION  RESPONSE 1.  How many people live in your house?   2.  How does your family earn money?  1. We sell snacks   Choose all that apply.  2. We sell small hand‐made goods    3. We tailor clothes  Note: All options should be read.  4. We have my own shop  5. Teacher  6. We sell other small goods   7. We work on a farm during harvest season  8. Our family owns land which I farm on  9. Other: ___________________________  3.  On average, how much does your family earn?  Income Generating  What months of the  What do you earn  Additional Notes  Choices selected in  year do you do this  during this time on a  Question 3  activity?   monthly basis?  1.    Rs:     2.    Rs:      COOKING HABITS AND STOVE OWNERSHIP  No.  Questions  Response 4.   How many times do you cook each day?  1 2 3 4 +  5.  How many cook stoves do you currently own?    1       2       3       4       5+ 6.   Which stoves do you currently OWN? (check all  1. LPG  2. Kerosene      3. Brick     4. Biomass 5. Chulha 6.  that apply)  Kopernik 7.   Which cooking methods do you currently USE?  1. LPG   (check all that apply)  2. Kerosene  

    3. Brick  4. Biomass  5. Chulha  6. Kopernik  *If they answer 1, answer Q 13 – 15  *If they answer 2, answer Q 16 – 18 11  Which one do you use the most?  1. LPG   2. Kerosene   3. Brick   4. Biomass 5. Chulha 6.   Kopernik     12  How long does it take you to cook each time?  1.  0‐ 15 minutes each time    2.  16‐ 30 minutes each time    3.  31‐ 45 minutes each time  (Prompt: How long is the cook stove on?)  4.  45 minutes – 1 hour each time    5.  More than 1 hour each time  (Specify Time: __________________________) 13  How many days does the LPG cylinder last you?  ____________ (enter number of days) (LPG) 14  What size cylinder do you own?  ____________ (enter cylinder size) (LPG) 15  How much does it cost to refill it?  ____________ (enter INR amount) (LPG)   16  How many liters of kerosene do you usually  ______________ (enter liters of kerosene purchase) (KSN)  buy at one time? 17  How long does that amount last you?  ______________ (enter # of days) (KSN) 18  How much does that amount cost?  ______________ (enter INR amount) (KSN) 19  Does your family collect wood for cooking?  1. Yes   2. No (>>Q.22)  3. I don’t, but someone else in my home does  If so, who? ________________________ 20  If yes, how often does your family collect  1.  Every day   firewood?   2.  Every other day  3.  3 times a week  4.  2 times a week  5.  1 time a week 21.  If yes, who collect firewood in your family?   22  If yes, how long does collecting firewood take  1.  Less than 30 minutes   you each time?  2.  30 minutes to 1 hour  (This includes time required to walk to site,  3.  1 hour – 1 hour 30 minutes  collecting, and returning back home)  4.  1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours  5. More than 2 hours ______________ (Enter amount) 23  Does your family buy firewood?  1. Yes   2.No 24  If yes, how often does your family buy  1. Every Day  firewood?  2. 3 times a week  3. 1 time every week  4. 1 time every two weeks  5.1 time every month 25  How much do you spend on it each time?  _______________ (Enter INR Amount)  

 Appendix 2.  Rapid Impact Assessment – Follow‐up  Cookstove Date: Village:  4. Name: No.  Questions  Response 1.  How often do you use Kopernik’s cookstove?  1. Every meal 2. Once a day 3. Once in two days 4. Once in  three days 4. Not very often 5. Not at all (4.5>> Q2) 2.   If you do not use a lot, what is the problem?   3.  For what purpose do you usually use  1. Both meals and tea 2. Only for making teas 3. Only for  Kopernik’s cookstove?   making meals 4.   How long does it take you to cook each time  6. 0‐ 15 minutes each time  when you use Kopernik’s cookstove?  7.  16‐ 30 minutes each time  8.  31‐ 45 minutes each time  9.  45 minutes – 1 hour each time  10.  More than 1 hour each time  (Specify Time: __________________________) 5.   How long does it take you to cook each time   1. 0‐15 minutes each time   when you use chulha?  2. 16‐ 30 minutes each time  3.31‐ 45 minutes each time  4. 45 minutes – 1 hour each time  5.More than 1 hour each time  (Specify Time: __________________________) 6.   Now that you have a Kopernik’s cookstove,  6. Every day   how often do you collect firewood?  7.  Every other day  8.  3 times a week  9.  2 times a week  5. 1 time a week  6. No. I don’t collect. I buy firewood. (>>Question  7.   Now that you have a Kopernik’s cookstove,  5. Less than 30 minutes  how long does it take you to collect firewood  6.  30 minutes to 1 hour  each time?  7.  1 hour – 1 hour 30 minutes  8.  1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours  5. More than 2 hours ______________ (Enter amount) 8.  Have you seen any improvement of your health  1. Yes  since you started to use Kopernik’s cookstove?  2. No 9.   How useful is Kopernik’s cookstove?  1. Very useful  2. Useful  3. Ok  4. Not very useful  5. Not at all useful (4.5>>Q11) 10.  Have you had any problems with the  1. Yes (>>Q11)  cookstove?  2. No 11.  If Kopernik’s cookstove is not very useful, or    has any problem, describe here.   12.   What do you like the most about the     cookstove?   

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Initial Impact of Greenway Smart Stoves in India

by Toshi Nakamura on Sep 20, 2012

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Initial Impact of Greenway Smart Stoves in India Document Transcript