Community members in Traditional Authority Kabudula in Lilongwe have expressed excitement with the installation of solar-powered cooking stoves at Permaculture Community Training Centre.
The centre, established in 2020 to enhance communities’ livelihood through climate-smart agriculture technologies, is benefitting at least 50 villages.
On Sunday, Ugandan engineer Soddo Paul, who is also IntelliSys Limited chief executive officer, installed three solar-powered stoves at the centre.
In an interview, the centre’s project coordinator James Gomani said the stoves are in line with their objectives of using cleaning energy to protect the environment.
He said: “The stoves will help us demonstrate to people the importance of clean energy amid climate change shocks.
“As a training centre, we teach people about efficient stoves that can use little firewood. However, the reference point will be the solar-powered stoves.”
Gomani thanked the centre’s United Kingdom (UK)-based donors for buying and flying the stoves from Uganda to Malawi.
The centre’s project manager Edwin Mponela, who is also group village head Gumbi, said the stoves will make the centre a role model in advocating for clean cooking.
Speaking in an interview, Paul said the stoves do not emit smoke, as such, a family cannot suffer kitchen-related respiratory diseases.
“Much as they consume a quarter of the power as that of a regular resistive-type electric cooker, they prepare beans and other regular meals in an hour or less,” he said.
In an interview from the UK, a donor, who opted for anonymity, said she is interested in sustainability of the planet and she founded two small charities based on sustainable fashion to empower women.
“An Internet search revealed that a small UK charity was developing a permaculture training farm at Gumbi [in Malawi], so I supported it,” she said.
