Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T19:34:10.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ADOPTION OF INTEGRATED FOOD-ENERGY SYSTEMS: IMPROVED COOKSTOVES AND PIGEONPEA IN SOUTHERN MALAWI

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2014

ALASTAIR ORR ,
BLESSINGS KAMBOMBO ,
CHRISTA ROTH ,
DAVE HARRIS  and
VINCENT DOYLE
ALASTAIR ORR*
Affiliation:
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, PO Box 39063, Nairobi, Kenya
BLESSINGS KAMBOMBO
Affiliation:
Concern Universal, PO Box 1535, Blantyre, Malawi
CHRISTA ROTH
Affiliation:
Food and Fuel Consultants, An der Gruengesweide 6, 65760 Eschborn, Germany
DAVE HARRIS
Affiliation:
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, PO Box 39063, Nairobi, Kenya
VINCENT DOYLE
Affiliation:
Concern Universal, PO Box 1535, Blantyre, Malawi
*
‡Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

We analyse the adoption of an Integrated Food-Energy System (IFES) in southern Malawi. The IFES combined the improved cookstove (chitetezo mbaula in Chichewa), designed to reduce demand for fuelwood, with the pigeonpea variety Mthawajuni, which increased both food supply and supply of fuelwood from pigeonpea stems. Adoption of the improved cookstove was found to be higher among households that were better off and where women had greater control over decision-making. However, adoption of the IFES was not associated with reduced demand for fuelwood from forests and hills or reduced frequency of collection. IFES adopters might have high fuelwood consumption because they were better off, but fuelwood consumption in better-off households did not differ significantly between IFES adopters and non-adopters. Pigeonpea increased food supply for adopter households, including children aged less than five years. Consequently, the IFES has had mixed results, improving food supply but not reducing demand for fuelwood. Households ranked early maturity, fuelwood and yield as the three most important reasons for preferring Mthawajuni over other varieties of pigeonpea. The plant breeding programme for pigeonpea in Malawi should evaluate improved varieties not only for earliness and grain yield but also for the production of fuelwood. Improved varieties with desirable market traits have had limited success in the absence of reliable markets and price incentives.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 191 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abate, T., Alene, A. D., Bergvinson, D., Shiferaw, B., Silim, S., Orr, A. and Asfaw, S. (2012). Tropical Grain Legumes in Africa and South Asia. Knowledge and Opportunities. Nairobi, Kenya: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.Google Scholar
Abbot, J. I. O. and Homewood, K. (1999). A history of change: causes of miombo woodland decline in a protected area of Malawi. Journal of Applied Ecology 36:422–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ali, M. and Delisle, H. (1999). A participatory approach to assessing Malawian villagers’ perception of their own food security. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 38:101–121.Google Scholar
Arnold, J. E. M., Kohlin, G. and Persson, R. (2006). Woodfuels, livelihoods, and policy interventions: changing perspectives. World Development 34 (3):596–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandhyopadhyay, B., Shyamsundar, P. and Baccini, A. (2011). Forests, biomass and poverty in Malawi. Ecological Economics 70:2461–2471.Google Scholar
Barnes, D. F., Openshaw, K., Smith, K. R. and van der Plas, R. (1993). The design and diffusion of improved cooking stoves. World Bank Research Observer 8 (2):119–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biran, A., Abbot, J. and Mace, R. (2004). Families and firewood: a comparative analysis of the costs and benefits of children in firewood collection and use in two rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Human Ecology 32 (1):1–25.Google Scholar
Bogdanski, A., Dubois, O., Jamieson, C. and Krell, R. (2010). Making integrated food energy systems work for both people and climate. An overview. Environment and Natural Resources Management Working Paper 45, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
Brinkmann, V. (2004). Impact Assessment at Local Level. Experiences from Malawi-Mulanje District. Programme for Basic Energy and Conservation Project (ProBEC). Mimeo report. Pretoria, South Africa: ProBEC, GTZ, 33 pp.Google Scholar
Brouwer, I. D., Hoorweg, J. C. and van Liere, M. J. (1997). When households run out of fuel: responses of rural households to decreasing fuel wood availability, Ntcheu District, Malawi. World Development 25 (2):255–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Concern Universal Malawi. (2012). Socio-Cultural Acceptability of Improved Cookstoves (ICS) in Rural Malawi, Mimeo. Dublin, Ireland: Irish Aid, 16 pp.Google Scholar
European Union Energy Initiative (EUEI). (2009). Malawi Biomass Energy Strategy. Eschborn, Germany: European Union Energy Initiative.Google Scholar
Fleuret, P. C. and Fleuret, A. K. (1978). Fuelwood use in a peasant community: a Tanzanian case study. The Journal of Developing Areas 12 (2):315–322.Google Scholar
French, D. (1986). Confronting an unsolvable problem: deforestation in Malawi. World Development 14 (4):531–540.Google Scholar
Government of Malawi (GoM). (2012). Integrated Household Survey, 2010–2011. Zomba, Malawi: National Statistical Office.Google Scholar
Hogh-Jensen, H., Myaka, F. A., Sakala, W. D., Kamalongo, D., Ngwira, A., Vesterager, J. M., Odgaard, R. and Adu-Gyamfi, J. J. (2007). Yields and qualities of pigeonpea varieties grown under smallholder farmers’ conditions in eastern and southern Africa. African Journal of Agricultural Research 2 (6):269–278.Google Scholar
Hosmer, D. W. and Lemeshow, S. (2005). Applied Logistic Regression. 2nd edn.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Hutton, G., Rehfuss, E., Tediosi, F. and Weiss, S. (2006). Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Household Energy and Health Interventions at Global and Regional Levels. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation.Google Scholar
Hyman, E. L. (1987). The strategy of production and distribution of improved charcoal stoves in Kenya. World Development 15 (3):375–386.Google Scholar
Jennings, D. E. (1986). Outliers and residual distributions in logistic regression, Journal of the America Statistical Association 81 (396):987–990.Google Scholar
Jones, R. B., Freeman, H. A. and Lo Monaco, G. (2002). Improving the access of small farmers in eastern and southern Africa to global pigeonpea markets. Agricultural Research & Extension Network Paper No. 120. London: Overseas Development Institute.Google Scholar
Jumbe, C. B. L. and Angelsen, A. (2011). Modeling choice of fuelwood source among rural households in Malawi: a multinomial probit analysis. Energy Economics 33:732–738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kambewa, P., Mataya, B., Sichinga, K. and Johnson, T. (2007). Charcoal: the Reality. A Study of Charcoal Consumption, Trade and Production in Malawi. Small and Medium Forestry Enterprise Series No. 21. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.Google Scholar
Makoka, D. (2004). A Value Chain Analysis for Malawi Pigeonpea. Mimeo. Bunda, Malawi: Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi, 32 pp.Google Scholar
Malakini, M. and Maganga, A. (2011). Does cooking technology matter? Fuelwood use and efficiency of different cooking technologies in Lilongwe district, Malawi. Munich Personal RePEc Archive Paper No. 33866. Available at: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/33866. (accessed 25 August 2014).Google Scholar
Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC). (2005). Malawi Baseline Livelihood Profiles. Mimeo. Lilongwe, Malawi: National Overview, 16 pp.Google Scholar
Malinksi, B. (2008). Impact Assessment of Chitetezo Mbaula: Improved Household Firewood Stove in Rural Malawi. Programme for Basic Energy and Conservation Project (ProBEC) Mimeo. Malawi: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbet (GTZ), 83 pp.Google Scholar
Masera, O. R., Saatkamp, B. D. and Kammen, D. M. (2000). From linear fuel switching to multiple cooking strategies: a critique and alternative to the energy ladder model. World Development 28 (12):2083–2103.Google Scholar
Mobarak, A. M., Dwivedi, P., Bailis, R., Hildemann, L. and Miller, G. (2012). Low demand for non-traditional cookstove technologies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (27):10815–10820.Google Scholar
Mwale, B., Orr, A. and Saiti, D. (1999). Pests and markets: why farmers grow susceptible varieties of pigeonpea. In Farming Systems Integrated Pest Management Project: Selected Reports 1996–2000. Vol. 3: Farmer Participation in Development of IPM Strategies, 396–418 (Eds Ritchie, J. M. and Muyaso, F.). Malawi: Bvumbwe Research Station.Google Scholar
Orr, A., Kabombo, B., Roth, C., Harris, D. and Doyle, V. (2013). Testing Integrated Food Energy Systems: Improved Stoves and Pigeon Pea in Southern Malawi. SocioEconomics Discussion Paper Series No. 8. Patancheru: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.Google Scholar
Simtowe, F. (2011). Determinants of agricultural technology adoption: the case of improved pigeonpea varieties in Tanzania. Munich Personal RePEc Archive Paper No. 41329. Available at: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/41329 (accessed 25 August 2014).Google Scholar
Simtowe, F., Asfaw, S., Shiferaw, B., Siambi, M., Monyo, E., Muricho, G., Abate, A., Silim, S., Ganga Rao, N.V.P.R. and Madzonga, O. (2010a). Socioeconomic Assessment of Pigeonpea and Groundnut Production Conditions – Farmer Technology Choice, Market Linkages, Institutions and Poverty in Rural Malawi. Markets Institutions and Policies, Research Report No. 6. Patancheru, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.Google Scholar
Simtowe, F., Shiferaw, B., Kassie, M., Abate, T., Silim, S., Siambi, M., Madzonga, O., Muricho, G. and Kananji, G. (2010b). Assessment of the Current Situation and Future Outlooks for the Pigeonpea Sub-sector in Malawi. Patancheru, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.Google Scholar
Snapp, S. S., Rohrbach, D. D., Simtowe, F. and Freeman, H. A. (2002). Sustainable soil management options for Malawi: can smallholder farmers grow more legumes? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 91:159–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snapp, S. S. and Silim, S. (2002). Farmer preferences and legume intensification for low nutrient environments. Plant and Soil 245:181–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, P. A. (2004). Roots of crisis: historical narratives of tree planting in Malawi. Historical Geography 32:89–109.Google Scholar