2.2. Fuel-efficient stoves
Wood, crop residues, dung and grass are used in about 60% of the households in the
country as energy sources for cooking and heating. Development of fuel-efficient cook
stoves is a modest effort to help conserve biomass energy at domestic level. Improvements
in the efficiency of the conventional cook stoves have reduced the consumption of wood,
thus mitigating environmental pollution, saving domestic expenditure and slowing down
deforestation. Fuel Efficient Cooking Technology project was funded by GTZ of Germany
and implemented throughout the country. Following encouraging results, another
program (Fuel Saving Technology) was initiated by the government. The program,
providing incentives to NGOs and community-based organizations, resulted in NGOs and
private sector improving the quality and efficiency of cook stoves to a level that they are
now exporting cook stoves to Afghanistan and Central Asian States [10,19].