Case Study- Use of Bio-Mass stove

Place
Village- Utawad
Cluster -Khargone
State-Madhya Pradesh

Conceptual Setting of the Intervention

Integrated Holistic Village Development Program implemented by Navrachna Mahila Vikas
Trust and sponsored by HDFC Bank works in 10 villages of Khargone District in Madhya
Pradesh. Utawad is one of the beneficiary village where the organisation is working.

According to Census 2011 information Utawad village is situated 18km away from sub-district
headquarter Kasrawad and 28km away from district headquarter Khargone. The total
geographical area of village is 630.37 hectares and has a total population of 1,311 people.
There are about 275 houses in Utawad village.

The organisation has been working for the education, health and better livelihood in this
village. When the basic survey was done by the organization, it was found that most women
in the village prepared food on the stove made by mud.

Intervention

The staff of NMVT talked to the villagers about Bio Mass Stove, and how it helped in solving
the smoke problem caused by the traditional chulha. The smoke that is emitted from the
traditional stoves affects their health and the bio mass stove uses less wood as fuel and most
importantly it emits less smoke which does not have any effect on the health of women. In
an average, 5 member family need 10 Kg wood for cooking means around 70 Rs. Per day.
Now their expense for wood is reduced up to 50 percentage.

The staff provided these stoves to the women of SHG groups which they are using at their
home. All these women thanked NMVT and HDFC Bank for this support.

Beneficiary Selection

15 beneficiaries were selected for the bio mass stove.

Process adopted and support

 Selection of beneficiaries done with the discussion of SHG meeting.

 Support from the organization with collaboration of HDFC was done as well in
providing the structures and the materials needed for the establishment of the solar
water lifting pump.
Challenges-

Initially, the people were not interested for using the bio mass stove since they did not have
knowledge about this setup. After explaining the benefits and seeing the demo, women
agreed to use these stoves.

Benefits of the Intervention- Conclusion:

 The families are now able to increase their savings since the significant portion for
purchasing wood or charcoal has been reduced post using the bio mass stove.
 Cooking over an open fire can cause increased health problems brought on from the
smoke, particularly lung and eye ailments, but also birth defects. Replacing the
traditional 3-rock cook stove with an improved one helped in improving the health of
the family.
 The intervention goal is to use the bio mass stoves to reduce the pressure placed on
local forests by reducing the amount of wood the stoves consume since deforestation
and erosion often result from harvesting wood for cooking fuel.
Condition before and After