Fight against poverty and solar cookers.

According to the  "Central Intelligence Agency" (CIA) 80 % of the Chadian population have less than one USD per day at their disposal. They are thus living below the internationally accepted poverty line.  For further differentiation, Chad has introduced two more poverty lines, one relating to minimal calory intake (194 FCFA, ca. 0,39 USD), the other general  (253 FCFA, ca. 0,51 USD).

 

Table: Percentage of population living under the nationally defined  poverty lines (according to the  "Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper", 2003).

 

	rural	N'Djamena	other towns	total
food related poverty	46,2 %	33,8 %	38,0 %	41,6 %
general poverty	48,6 %	35,0 %	39,3 %	43,4 %

 

It is evident, that the majority of the population cannot afford to buy "modern" fuels like gas or kerosene and electricity, the more so, as these fuels are consumed when being used. Solar cookers, on the contrary, are not consumed by daily use. They continue to be at the disposal of the families and can lead to economies of size in fuel quantities and prices.

 

Subsidizing solar cookers with carbon offset funds to bring prices down from 150 to 50 Euro could increase sales substantially and diminish vulnerability of families vis-à-vis price increases.  That would be an important contribution in the fight against poverty. 

 

More: Cooking with renewable energies

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