Status of Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) in Rural Nepal

Abstract

The study entitled was carried out in Nareshwor Village Development Committee (VDC) of Gorkha district on the topic, Impact of cooking Stove (ICS) in Rural Nepal. In this topic we try to analyse the financial requirement and cost of ICS, also try to identify health impact on women and children and lastly try to identify causes of drop out of ICS user of the study area. For the study, Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) installed households were selected randomly including both men and women. The study cover only one ward i.e. 4, of Nareshwor VDC.The study was based on primary as well as secondary sources of information. The secondary information was collected from previous researches, journals, publications and related materials of ICS. The research technique included household survey, interview with key informants and field observation. A total of 50 respondents were selected. Literacy rate of the respondents was fairly satisfactory. Mostly people of Nareshwor VDC are engaged in agriculture sector. A large population of the respondent has income of 12000-15000. The people of Nareshwor VDC have accepted improved cook stoves. Majority of them have been using 2 holes type of ICS. Shree Swarna Integrated Community Development Centre seen as main motivators to install ICS in Nareswor VDC. Most of the respondents said that maintenance was not required since the installation of ICS.Status of ICS is visible in Nareshwor VDC. It has been able to save fuel wood per month. Majority of respondents of the study area found Chettri. Respondents use ICS for different purpose for eg. Cooking, boiling water, making liquor, animal food etc. Time is also saved in improved cooking stoves in comparison to TCS. ICS also helped to reduce frequency of fuel wood collection since the fuel wood consumption has reduced. Most of the respondents brought fuel wood from community forest. 7 The health problems in women and children were reduced resulting less medical expenses. Reduction in fuel wood collection, illegal tree felling and decreased in fire wood sale help to conserve forest, so forest seen denser in Nareshwor VDC. The utensil are easy to clean as it does not make utensil much black as in traditional cooking stove and it takes less time to clean. Kitchen and surrounding environment also remain net and clean according to the respondents of the study area. Thus, the impact of the ICS is seen positive in Nareshwor VDC.