Drivers and Hindrances to Substituting Wood Fuel with Briquettes Coal in the Minawao Nigerians Refugees’ Camp

Abstract

The objective of this article was to assess the level of substitution of wood fuel with briquettes in Minawao refugees’ camp. The chosen methodology combines survey tools for data collection and practice. The results show that the refugees need 18,339 tons of wood fuel that must be substituted by 19,654 tons of biomass briquettes per year. Thus, since the promotion of briquettes coal in Minawao camp, the largest annual production is roughly 75 tons, covering 0.38% of household cooking energy needs. Today, more than 43% of refugees’ households have integrated the briquettes use, but they don’t have enough tools and biomass to make that much. Within a radius of 12 km around the refugee’s camp, the amount of different biomass residue is estimated to 243 ± 1 tons, that produce 111 ± 1 tons of briquettes, which could cover 0.56% of refugees’ households needs. All this shows that the refugees will not stop putting pressure on Zamay forest reserve to collect firewood. Thus, it is important to supply refugees with rice husks from SEMRY and scraps wood from sawmill in eastern region of Cameroon and equip them with materials of briquettes making. The implementation of these actions requires financial means.

Keywords: Driver, hindrance, substitution, wood fuel, briquette coal, Minawao refugee Camp

DOI: 10.7176/JETP/12-4-03

Publication date:October 31^st 2022