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This article is an output from a DFID-
funded KAR project ‘Livelihood sub-
stitution: Involving the poor in urban
infrastructure and services develop-
ment’. Project managers: Jonathan
Rouse and Mansoor Ali, WEDC,
Loughborough University, UK. The
views expressed are not necessarily
those of DFID.
Background
Household energy crises and
fuel switching strategies in
Addis Ababa
After the two oil price shocks of the
1970s, there was growing concern
within international development cir-
cles, as well as the Ethiopian govern-
ment, about the link between energy
and environment and how informed
policy decisions could be made.
Several studies carried out in the sec-
tor in the 1980s concluded that with
heavy reliance on biomass fuels,
rapidly dwindling forest resources and
rising household energy expenditure,
Ethiopia was experiencing a serious
household energy crisis. In response, a
number of policies were implemented
to encourage households to switch
from using wood fuel to using
kerosene and electricity. This article
focuses on the implications of these
policies on traditional fuel suppliers
and their livelihoods.
The traditional fuels sector
The supply of traditional fuels in
Addis Ababa provides livelihoods for
many thousands of poor urban and
rural men and women. Informal sector
fuel suppliers include:
●fuel collectors who gather wood
either on a small-scale from com-
mon land, or a large-scale from
plantations (Figure 1);
●transporters who take the wood to
Addis Ababa and distribute it;
and
●vendors who sell wood from
kiosks in markets, or wholesale
from warehouses.
The average income of workers in
this sector is about one US$1 a day.
The sector is highly informal and
decentralized, and relies on what has
proven to be an unsustainable resource
base. The majority of traditional fuel
suppliers obtain fuelwood from state-
owned plantations but access is not
guaranteed – often bribes are required.
In summary, suppliers have no
secure access to fuel, are marginal-
ized, powerless, vulnerable and are
victims of harassment by authorities.
Fuel switching policies
The shift away from wood use
In response to the household energy
crisis, various strategies have been
adopted since the mid-1980s including:
●promoting and subsidising electric-
ity, kerosene and stoves;
●controlling and restricting the flow
of fuelwood into Addis Ababa; and
●improving the fuel efficiency of
wood stoves for those still using
wood.
These measures resulted in wood
accounting for just 13% of the total
energy used in Addis Ababa in 2000,
compared with 70% in 1980.
Electricity and electric
injera mitads
A revised electricity tariff was adopted
to encourage households to switch
from biomass to electricity. The
national electricity utility also
embarked upon large-scale production
and marketing of electric mitad stoves
at subsidized prices. The stoves are
used for making the local staple ‘pan-
cake’called injera. The utility provided
financing that made the mitads afford-
able to even the poorest consumers.
Ownership of electric injera mitads
increased from 13% in 1984
to over 70% in 1997. The deliberate
policy decision made by the govern-
ment to keep both electricity and
electric mitads affordable for the
majority of the households accelerated
the switching from biomass to electric-
ity in Addis Ababa from the mid-1980s.
Kerosene and kerosene stoves
Switching from wood to kerosene as a
household cooking fuel was almost
unknown in Ethiopia in 1980, until it
was proposed as a quick fix for the
energy crisis.Since 1983, the govern-
ment has relaxed import restrictions
and embarked upon mass importation
of kerosene stoves.
Consumption of kerosene grew from
about 3000 cubic metres in 1983 to over
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Boiling Point No 51 2005 31
The human and livelihoods cost of fuel-switching in
Addis Ababa
Melessaw Shanko1and Jonathan Rouse2
1Megan Power, P.O. Box 180884, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
2c/o Boiling Point, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby CV23 9QZ, UK.
Or Email: j.r.rouse@gmail.com
Figure 1 Woman collecting fuel, earning around $1US per day (photo: ESD Ltd.)
Boiling Point 51/correx 11/16/05 11:58 AM Page 31
220,000 cubic metres in 2001. Ever
since, consumption of kerosene has
grown at a rate of about 15% annually.
At least half the kerosene is consumed
in Addis Ababa, where 90% of house-
holds currently own kerosene stoves.
The most notable trends in the
Addis Ababa household fuel use
include:
●a remarkable decline of wood as a
cooking fuel;
●the overwhelming transition to
kerosene for domestic cooking;
and
●significant penetration of electri-
city for injera baking (Figure 2).
Figures from the national electricity
utility indicate a decline in electricity
consumption around the year 2000.
This is believed to be a short-term
response resulting from a reduction in
electricity subsidy in 1997. The con-
stant decline in consumption of wood
can be seen against steadily increasing
consumption of kerosene throughout
the period.
Fuel switching: benefits and
costs
Environmental benefits
The quantities of modern fuels con-
sumed annually indicate that remark-
able environmental gains have been
achieved due to fuel switching over
the last 20 years. It is estimated that
the equivalent of over 400 000 tonnes
wood were displaced by modern fuels
in the year 2001 alone. Environ-
mentally, the benefit is equivalent to
preserving around 50 000 hectares of
reasonably stocked forest land.
Social and health benefits
In the mid-eighties, scarcity of tradi-
tional fuels increased prices such that
poorer households were forced to scav-
enge for any combustible biomass from
nearby waste disposal sites in the city.
There are obvious hazards associated
with collecting such waste, and the
fumes produced from burning them.
The perceived benefits of fuel switch-
ing for household consumers included
reduced energy expenditure, improved
health due to the cleaner cooking envi-
ronment and ease of availability and
convenience of modern fuels.
Overlooked costs: impacts on
traditional fuel suppliers’
livelihoods
National energy and forestry policies
promoting fuel switching have
increased the vulnerability of tradi-
tional fuel suppliers whose numbers
have declined as a consequence. In
1984, in a single market day, around
42 000 suppliers were counted trans-
porting traditional fuels into the city.
By 1988 there were less than 10 000
falling to 3500 in 2001. This decline
exactly coincided with the adoption of
fuel switching strategies.
An indicator of the loss of supp-
liers’ livelihoods is the quantity of
traditional fuels displaced by modern
fuels. Surveys indicated that one sup-
plier supplies approximately 3.4
tonnes, and one retailer sells about 4.5
tonnes of wood equivalent annually. In
wood equivalent terms, an average of
205 000 tonnes of traditional fuels
have been displaced each year by
modern fuels in Addis Ababa since
1983 (Figure 3). This is likely to have
resulted in enormous losses of liveli-
hoods.
Ethiopia is committed to achieving
the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), which aim to halve poverty
by 2015. This means that new jobs have
to be created, but fuel switching has
had the opposite effect. Some new jobs
have been created by the modern fuels
sector, but these are unlikely to replace
all of those lost by traditional fuel sup-
pliers. For example, kerosene retailing
is usually undertaken through existing
petrol stations, so has generated few
jobs compared to the number it is likely
to have displaced. Other opportunities
in the modern fuel sector are not appro-
priate or accessible to displaced tradi-
tional fuel suppliers, as they require
formal education and skills, which few
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Boiling Point No 51 2005
32
Figure 3 Estimates of traditional fuels displaced, trees saved and suppliers displaced
annually in Addis Ababa (1983–2001)
Figure 2 Interfuel switching trends in Addis Ababa 1980–2000
Boiling Point 51/correx 11/16/05 11:58 AM Page 32
of them have. Around 2000 jobs have
been created by small businesses man-
ufacturing electric, kerosene and
improved-biomass stoves.
Addressing livelihood losses
Policy makers are either unaware of
adverse socio-economic impacts of
fuel switching interventions, or they are
reluctant to recognise and address the
problem. Attributing more value to for-
est resources, which puts trees before
human beings, is still a prevalent atti-
tude among some policy makers.
There have been some sporadic
efforts to minimize the hardships
encountered by traditional fuel sup-
pliers. These groups included the
“Former Women Fuelwood Carriers
Association”, (FWFCA) and the Fin-
finne Forestry Development and
Marketing Enterprise” (FFDME).
Their stories are described in Box 1.
Conclusions and
recommendations
Fuel switching interventions adopted
in the past have been remarkably suc-
cessful and have produced consider-
able environmental and social benefits.
Very little was known about the liveli-
hood impacts of fuel switching before
this research, which indicates that
interventions have had adverse impacts
on the livelihoods of many traditional
fuel suppliers. These impacts include
loss of jobs, declining incomes,
increasing vulnerability and insecure
access to natural resources. There are
insufficient employment opportunities
in the distribution and sale of modern
fuels to compensate for the high liveli-
hood losses experienced by traditional
fuels suppliers (Figure 4).
Despite its role as a major source of
household energy and provider of
livelihoods, the official attitude
towards traditional fuels is generally
unfavourable. There are no policies to
inform and guide interventions to
address the livelihood-related out-
comes. Policy makers are either reluc-
tant or unaware of the unintended con-
sequences of fuel switching.
In the absence of formal mitigation
measures, traditional fuel suppliers
have borne the brunt of livelihood losses
and harassment. Organizing traditional
fuel suppliers into groups and providing
them with technical and financial sup-
port has proved successful in securing
some sustainable livelihoods. There is a
need to include and consult suppliers in
the energy policy formulation process,
and to protect both natural resources and
the poor, for as long as their livelihoods
depend on them.
References
Shanko, M. 2000, Poverty Alleviation
Aspects of Successful Improved Stoves
Programmes: Ethiopia, Country Report,
DFID KaR, MGP Ltd: Addis Ababa.
Shanko, M. and Abebe, T. 2002, Poverty/
Sustainable Livelihood Impacts of Fuel
Bess, M. and Shanko, M., 1993. Electric
Mitads Producers Survey Results.
Bess, M. and Shanko, M. 1993. Implications
on Ethiopia’s Power and Biomass Con-
sumption, Ethiopian Energy Authority:
Addis Ababa
Rouse, J.R. 2004. Absorbing informal sector
operators into improved urban services.
Small Enterprise Development, Vol 15,
No 2 June 2004.
Shanko, M. 2004. Impact of fuel switching
policy on traditional fuel suppliers in
Addis Ababa. Field report by Megan
Power Ltd.
Woody Biomass Inventory and Strategic
Planning Project (WBISPP). 2003.
The Fuelwood Situation in Ethiopia,
WBISPP. Addis Ababa. 2003.
Melessaw Shanko is an independent consul-
tant and managing director of MEGEN
Power Ltd, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a con-
sultancy firm specializing in renewable
energy, energy efficiency, environment and
sustainable development. mgp@ethionet.et
Jonathan Rouse is an independent
consultant specialising in household
energy, urban enterprise and participatory
research.
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Box 1 Addressing livelihood losses
Former Women Fuelwood Carriers Association
This ILO-supported project organized women fuel wood carriers into an associ-
ation that provided alternative employment opportunities. The project brought
together over 100 women offering them training and technical support in alter-
native income generating schemes, and set up an association in the mid 1990s.
In spite of serious resource constraints that hampered scaling up of its activities,
currently the association’s membership has grown to about 200. The associa-
tion, in collaboration with some partners, has prepared a project concept that
would enable its members to participate in, and benefit from, sustainable man-
agement of existing fuel wood plantations around Addis Ababa.
Finfinne Forestry Development and Marketing Enterprise
The FFDME owns 27 000 hectares of plantations on which the livelihoods of
about 25 000 traditional fuel suppliers depend. The FFDME understands that
complete denial of access to the plantation will have far-reaching social, eco-
nomic and even political ramifications. Therefore, in addition to allowing some
access to forest resources, the FFDME is also initiating alternative employment
opportunities as forest guards and wage labourers, providing seedlings to com-
munities to develop their own forest resources, and improving access to educa-
tion and water supply to communities whose livelihoods depend on these state-
run plantations.
Figure 4 Selling fuel provides employment for thousands of suppliers (photo ESD Ltd.)
Boiling Point 51/correx 11/16/05 11:58 AM Page 33
