Pravin Kekhal, the Executive Director Burkona Factory explained to URN that they were driven by the increasing demands for firewood and charcoal for home use and commercial purposes which has led to the massive destruction of trees and forest cover in the country.
Gulu Archdiocese has entered into partnership with the Nwoya
based Burkona Agro Processors Limited to produce green fuel.
The green fuel is produced from dry cassava chips for
uses in local stoves.
The two entities say that they entered the partnership in a
bid to curb the high level of forest depletion following the increasing demands
for charcoal and firewood.
Through the partnership, Gulu Archdiocese through the
Acholi-Bur Parish Project (APP) will grow cassava and cheaply provide dry
cassava chips to Burkona Factory.
His Grace John Baptist Odama, the Archbishop for Gulu told
URN that the APP has more than 6,900 registered farmers across the Acholi Sub
Region who will grow cassava and sell to the factory to ensure consistent
supply.
The farmers are also receiving cassava cuttings support and
funding from the government under the Operation Wealth Creation -OWC through
the Ministry of Agriculture Animal, Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF).
The Archbishop disclosed that the government last week
allocated three billion shillings to the Acholibur Parish Project to facilitate
cassava growth and the environmentally friendly initiative.
Pravin Kekhal, the Executive Director Burkona Factory
explained to URN that they were driven by the increasing demands for firewood
and charcoal for home use and commercial purposes which has led to the massive
destruction of trees and forest covers in the country.
//Cue in: ‘’now we have…
Cue out: …deforestation every year.’’//
He disclosed that in their assessment, they discovered that
Uganda will be able to save between 6,000 to 7,000 acres of forest annually as
people will shift from the use of charcoal to the ethanol cook stoves.
Bhagyan Kekal, the Marketing Director Burkona Factory
disclosed that they have already produced several liters of the green fuel and
hundreds of its stoves and a test conducted discovered each liter can cook at
least five meals a day and lasts between 5 to 8 hours.
He explained that once fully unveiled, each liter of the
green fuel will be sold at approximately three thousand six hundred shillings
(one US Dollar) adding that it is environmentally friendly and does not emit
smoke.
Situated in Lapem Village, Koch Goma Sub County, Bukona Agro
Processors Limited was established in 2014 and commissioned in March 2019 with the initial intention to produce 30,000 liters of distilled from cassava starch per
day.
Abraham Odur, the Forest Supervisor for the Aswa River Range
is happy that such development would save Uganda`s forest cover from
destruction as it will curb the demand for firewood and charcoal which are
widely used by almost all households.
//Cue in: ‘’but above all
Cue out: …contribute to it.’’//
Tony Blair Onencan from the Forest Sub Ward in Pece-Laroo
division in Gulu City says that the reliance on charcoal for energy is
threatening to the environment and requires other friendly alternatives.
Cue in: ‘’ rather than using…
Cue out: …for pigs, cattle.’’//
But Santa Acan has asked the developers of the new
technology to sell the product at a reduced price lest it won`t meet its goal
due to unaffordability.
//Cue in: ‘’ki dong…
Cue out: …ki moo tara.’’//
Uganda has been reported to be losing approximately 90,000
hectares of forest cover between 1990 and 2010 annually majorly for charcoal
production, fire woods, timbers and settlement.
