The Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) says it has distributed 11, 000 fuel-efficient stoves to
families displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno.
Patrina Pink, FAO’s
Communication Officer, said in a statement in Maiduguri on Wednesday that the
stoves were provided under the Norway supported Safe Access to Fuel and Energy
(SAFE) programme.
Pink disclosed that 5,000
deserving families had so far benefited from the programme while additional
6,000 stoves would be distributed before the end of Dec.
She said that the programme
was designed to address the energy needs of the displaced households; enhance
protection and control deforestation, as well as checking violence against
women and children.
She revealed that the
organisation had established three production centers in Maiduguri, Jere and
Konduga Local Government Areas of the state, adding that 100 artisans were
trained in the making the stoves.
The FAO official said that
the stove lessened the demand for firewood by about 65 per cent and drastically
cut the amount of smoke produced, compared to traditional cooking methods.
According to her, the
organisation is working in collaboration with the Borno State Ministry of
Environment and International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development to
facilitate successful implementation of the programme.
The statement further
quoted, Suffyan Koroma, FAO’s Country Representative as saying: “We want to produce
the stoves locally to boost the income generating potential of Borno’s talented
local artisans, while meeting the urgent fuel and energy needs of at-risk
households”.
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