Kenyase No.3 women get new improved gari stove
As part of its effort to promote sustainable livelihoods and also enhance the productive capacity of women, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has donated eight ‘Gari Elephants’ cook stoves to the Kenyase No.3 Cassava Processing Association in the Asutifi North District in the Brong Ahafo Region.
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The UNDP also presented a cheque for GH¢ 20,000 to the association to help them complete a building that would serve as a gari processing centre for the women in the community.
The cook stoves were to help the members of the association to manage some of the hazards associated with the use of the old local earthen cook stoves and also save them more fuel and protect the environment.
Gari elephant cook stove
Gari Elephant cook stove is an improved stove developed by a local company with the approval of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that uses less fuel, which has a chimney that directs the smoke from the firewood away from the fryers.
It is energy efficient and can fry twice what a local earthen cook stove does.
UNDP
Presenting the stoves and cheque to the association, the Communication Specialist of UNDP, Mr Bossman Owusu, said the donation was to support and strengthen community-level resilience, “increase equitable access to natural resources and better protect them against economic and environmental shocks by promoting a wide array of livelihood opportunities.”
According to him, aside from reducing the health complications from exposure to smoke, the use of the stove would also assist in achieving at least 10 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said with the improved health as a result of the use of the new technology, the women would make more money through the use of less fuel.
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The new improved stove, he said, would also make the women more productive, thus reduce poverty, save the environment through the reduced use of firewood and also promote gender parity.
He said with the extra income, the women would be in a better position to contribute to the upkeep of their household thus reducing hunger and also sending their children to school.
Appeal
Mr Owusu appealed to the government to assist the community to complete the building that would be used as a centre for Cassavaprocessing in the area.
He said the programme had earlier assisted the association with equipment to improve on its production processes and also given a seed money to support the construction of a centre where the equipment would be installed to be used by the members who were mainly women.
However, almost eight years after the project started, the building is still at the lintel level due to lack of support from the district assembly.
To date, the women continue to rely on their old way of milling their cassava and drying before frying the dough for gari.
DCE
The District Coordinating Director, Mr George Padmore Mensah, who represented the District Chief Executive, said he was grateful to the UNDP for the donation which he said would go a long way to help the members of the association to improve on their production and also on their income levels.
He pledged the support of the assembly to ensure that the building was completed to enable the members to benefit from its use.
He said when completed, the centre would not only help the members but also contribute to the government’s policy of ‘one -district, one- factory’ policy and to even make it “one- community, one- factory” as there were opportunities in almost all communities to create jobs and improve on their income levels.
