Rice husk stoves revolution in Myanmar

U Htwe Gyi demonstrates the use of rice husk stove. Photo: UNDPDo you know a way to kill three birds, not two, with one stone? U Htwe Gyi, a fisherman from Myat Khaine village in Myanmar, has recently discovered a way to apply this idea to set up his own business making and selling cost-effective and efficient rice husk stoves.

“Using an efficient stove can lower the expenses for fuel and also benefit the environment. We can also earn extra income by making them ourselves and reselling them to others. It means we can get our three birds in an easy way,” explained U Htwe Gyi, 38.

The stoves are in high demand because of the price and the easy accessibility of the fuel. U Htwe Gyi has already accepted 30 orders for the stoves from his village and other nearby villages and another 10 stoves were sold recently.

“These stoves are mainly made of clay and use rice husk for fuel which we are able to get very cheaply. The capital for one stove may be about Kyat 300 (30 US cents), but the profit is eight times that! I am now thinking about making a new model using cement which will be more durable,” said U Htwe Gyi. He dreams about using the profit from the stoves for his children’s education and the reconstruction of his family’s house.

U Htwe Gyi learned about stove making from the Effective Stove Making Training organised by UNDP. Fifty-three participants from 51 villages within Labutta Township attended the training, conducted in the third week of May. During the training, the forestry specialist of UNDP demonstrated methods of making rice husk stoves, efficient fuel wood stoves, and saw dust stoves.

U Aung Ko Thet, the forestry specialist of UNDP Labutta, explained that if saw dust was used as fuel for a stove, it would cost only about Kyat 400 (40 US cents) for one bag of saw dust which could be used for two weeks. This is much cheaper than the previous method of using fire wood for charcoal stoves, which cost every household about Kyat 200 (20 US cents) per day.

“So it is really the cost-effective way for every household. Then, since it produces less smoke, causing air pollution will be avoided. In addition, deforestation can be prevented in this way,” U Aung Ko Thet added.

U Win Zaw Hein, another stove maker from Chaung Gyi village, agreed. “As soon as I got back to my village from the training, I demonstrated how to make these stoves to my villagers. At the same time, I shared my knowledge concerning how using these efficient stoves can help in environmental conservation,” U Win Zaw Hein explained.

In this way, U Win Zaw explained that the environmental impact of the stoves has been positively received in the communities.

“Most of our villagers were pleased with these methods since we realise the mangrove and non-mangrove forests in our surrounding area are disappearing year by year. In the past, even though we have noticed this destruction, we couldn’t avoid it as wood was our major source for fuel. Now we’ve been enlightened!”