STOVE ADOPTION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR LAND DEGRADATION AND DEFORESTATION: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIA, 2011.
Zenebe GEBREEGZIABHER
Land degradation is a global concern. It affects some 2 billion hectares of land worldwide. In Ethiopia deforestation is a major problem and many peasants have switched from fuelwood to dung for cooking and heating purposes, thereby damaging the agricultural productivity of cropland. The government has embarked on a two-pronged
policy in an effort to stem deforestation and the degradation of agricultural lands: (i) tree planting (afforestation); (ii) dissemination of more efficient stove technologies.
This paper investigates the potential of the strategy of disseminating improved stoves in the rehabilitation of agricultural and forests lands, using a dataset on cross-section of 200 farm households from the highlands of Tigrai region, northern Ethiopia.
Results indicate that farm households in Tigrai/ Ethiopia are willing to adopt new/improved stove
innovations if these result in economic savings. Moreover, results suggest a significant positive impact in slowing the degradation of agricultural and forested lands. On a per household basis, we found that adopters collect about 70 kg less wood and about 20 kg less dung each month, which indicates adoption of improved stove reduces harvest
pressure on local forest stands. In terms of wood alone, assuming an average of 120 metric ton of biomass per ha, we found the potential reduction in deforestation amounts to some 1,200 ha per year, not an inconsequential savings.
