Assessing the Demand for Improved Cook Stoves among Low Income Households in Kenya: Case of Baringo and West Pokot Counties

Abstract

In recent years, clean and improved cooking solutions have significantly evolved globally, generating an attractive market opportunity for enterprises engaging in the provision of innovative cooking appliances, fuels, and financing to speed uptake of the disseminated technologies. Improved Cook stoves (ICS) have been widely touted for their potential to deliver triple wing benefits of improved agricultural productivity, enhanced household health and time savings through reduced scrimmage in sourcing for biomass fuel, and sustainability through reduced local deforestation, further reducing black carbon emissions. Despite decades of promotion, diffusion of ICS has continued to remain slow. This project aimed at investigating the factors that hinder the uptake of ICS in some selected poor villages from Baringo and West Pokot Counties in Kenya, East Africa. Data was collected from 2918 households across 12 villages and analyzed statistically. On average, households spent approximately KES 2149 on fuel per month, covered 2.15 km and spent around 1.5 hours collecting/getting their primary cooking fuel. Majority of the consumers, 94% expressed willingness to pay (WTP) for an ideal cookstove (one that emits less smoke, saves fuel, safe during cooking, easy to light, and that could cook fast). A majority of the consumers (46.5%) preferred to acquire ICSs through equal monthly installments while 40.47% preferred to pay cash and the rest opted for the “pay-to-use” model and whenever cash was available. From the binary Probit model, consumers’ WTP for the ICSs was positively influenced by age and level of education of the head of the family, size of the family, number of children under five years, distance to the source of fuel, and the desire to use and own an ICS. Policies that are aimed at maximizing cook stove effectiveness and uptake among the poor in the target counties and Kenya at large was recommended.