Spreading the Flame of the Smokeless Stove: Basic Economics Explored in India
When I threw down the 200 bidis — hand-rolled Indian cigarettes — they gasped. “Every time you sit in front of your open flame cooking stove,” I motioned to them, “it’s like you are smoking 200 bidis.” They were all shocked; the audience of 40 women and children fell silent.
“And how many times a day do you cook?” I continued, “Do you realize you are smoking 400 of these a day?” Daryaben, at my side, suddenly spoke up, cutting me off, “if your husband did that you’d call him crazy, and yet you do it everyday. And your daughters do it everyday, too.” She went on. “Now why are you surprised that you get TB and cancer?” I smiled. Daryaben was running the meeting. She was taking responsibility for educating these women about why they should invest in the new smokeless cooking stoves that she was building. Soon they wouldn’t need me anymore – and this thought made me incredibly happy.
Indoor air pollution, resulting from a lack of mechanical and technological progress, is a serious threat throughout the developing world. In India, the traditional chulha — wood-burning cooking stove — is a major cause of this pollution in both urban and rural areas. The chulha is an open-flame cooking platform wherein wood is burned directly under a pot or pan. This design not only makes the stove energy (wood) inefficient, but also subjects the homemaker (predominantly women and young girls) to high levels of carcinogenic fumes.
This is not a new problem, however; in fact, the Indian government has long recognized the urgency of this issue and has launched several initiatives to introduce newer technology to the populations at risk. Unfortunately, the programs have had mixed reviews due to lack of sustainability, high implementation costs, and inattention to user preferences. Moreover, the toxins and carcinogens released from these stoves still cause nearly 500,000 deaths annually in India alone.1
My year-long stay in India focused on introducing a smokeless chulha technology into a poor, urban community through a generation of grassroots demand and locally fulfilled supply. The objective of the project was to achieve sustainable, developmental progress with minimal external financial contribution or future support. Using a variety of techniques, from controlled experiments to interactive meetings, the families of Behrampura, Ahmedabad, began to see the benefits of a new, more appropriate and beneficial type of cooking stove.
That isn’t to say the task is as easy as it is feasible. The first objective was to create demand for the product. Members of the community were enthusiastic about the project and open to the idea of change, especially considering recent spikes in the local price of wood. The fuel costs of cooking had risen sharply and the families knew they needed a better way to cook. (Though gas stoves were cheaper on a per-day operation basis, the startup costs placed them out of the reach of most families in the community).
To build significant demand of this system took time; subsequently, it happened gradually over several months. After some initial conversations and slight interest, ten women were gathered for a live demonstration. In the experiment we ran the two stoves side by side – each group of women cooking the same meal simultaneously. The end results were clear: the women cooking on the smokeless stove finished in half the time, using 30% less firewood and in the absence of the carcinogenic fumes. First hand experience proved the first critical step in generating interest and demand in the product. A spark had been created and women were talking about it nonstop. (Those who couldn’t remember me by my name started calling me the “chulha girl”).
Next, we decided where to build the inaugural smokeless chulha. Set in a high traffic area in the home of a progressive member of the community, we built the stove on a Sunday afternoon and invited everyone in the neighborhood to witness its construction. It was built in about 3 hours and the hoopla and commotion attracted over 100 community members, an amazing turnout and tribute to the stove’s appeal. We followed the momentum with educational meetings explaining the economic, health and time saving benefits of the new cooking stove. Furthermore, the orders began trickling in and soon we had built seven smokeless stoves built in the very same neighborhood as the first.
Initially, the stoves were built by a female mason worker requested from a site about fifteen miles away. I quickly realized that, although she was reliable and hard working, she would not be able to invest the face-time required to encourage families to invest in the stove. The endeavor required an effort from within the community to encourage adoption of the new technology in order for a hopeful seven to grow into seventeen and, eventually, 107. I soon found a stove-evangelist: Daryaben – a smart, honest, and dedicated woman with a keen sense of business and bottomless enthusiasm.
She came up to speed quickly, training with the experienced chulha maker and accompanying me for the educational meetings. Before long, Daryaben began gathering women on her own and administrating informational sessions. It appeared that this was Daryaben’s business in the making!
The families of Behrampura were willing to pay money for a product that fueled their community and enriched their lives. As an economically dependent item, the key factors in promoting the stove were to create demand and to appropriately structure the incentives in the vein of sustainability. Daryaben, likewise, has a financial incentive to continue the educational meetings and maintain stove distribution and enthusiasm. The Sakalchand Mukhi Chaali community in Ahmedabad, India, has an estimated population of 5,000. Given the strong ties of the residents and the close proximity in which they live, this can become a thriving, sustainable business that benefits both the health of the community and the economy in which it is rooted.
Student editor: Justin Wheeler is an undergraduate at Cornell University and a member of the Class of 2011. Aside from editing articles for the Johnson School of Management's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Justin studies Communication and Applied Economics and Management. Justin hopes to pursue a career in the media or advertising worlds.
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