- Organisation profiles

Tanzania Country Report Synthesis

A. Household energy demand and use

COOKING

On average, Tanzanian households cook three meals per day. Where regional food shortages occur or energy supplies are low, this frequency may drop to two, or even one meal. The Tanzanians' breakfast typically consists of tea with porridge or bread, boiled sweet potatoes or cassava, buns, rice cakes, or leftovers from the previous night's dinner. For lunch and dinner, their diet commonly includes stiff porridge, rice, bananas, cassava or potatoes, which staple foods are mostly combined with beans, beef, fish, chicken, peas or vegetable stew. Food is commonly fried, boiled or roasted. In some cases, food preparation may involve several hours of cooking time, with an inevitably higher input of cooking energy (SEI1993, SIDA1998). Common cooking devices include the traditional three-stone fire, metal charcoal stoves, improved charcoal stoves, kerosene stoves and electric cookers.

While fuels for cooking are relatively diverse (firewood, charcoal, kerosene, electricity, cow dung, crop residues, wood processing residues), wood based biomass fuels clearly stand out as the most important. The use of kerosene is usually limited to lighting, and quick cooking purposes. Low income households are particularly dependent on wood fuels, although with distinct regional preferences: while more than 85 % of urban dwellers use charcoal, more than 98 % of the rural population rely on firewood. The consumption of energy is limited mainly by scarcity and costs. Health hazards associated with the use of wood based are mainly caused by poor combustion resulting in excessive smoke emissions.

The use of LPG by low income households negligible, firstly because it is more difficult to obtain in both urban and rural surroundings, and secondly because it is not only a more expensive kind of fuel, but does also require relatively expensive accessories and appliances. Non-users also tend to be concerned about LPG specific risks, such as possible asphyxiation or explosion accidents.

Roughly one-third of low income houses additionally use kerosene (paraffin). While it is a commonly used for cooking in urban areas, its use in rural areas is generally limited to lighting. While kerosene is widely available in Tanzania, food sometimes takes the odor of its exhausts, and the smoke discourages many potential users. However, the most significant constraint against the wider use of kerosene is its cost, and the necessary expenditure for special equipment. This holds true particularly in rural areas, where alternative sources of energy (wood, crop residues and cow dung) can still be used relatively freely.

Coal is not common as a source of household energy (even though it is produced by mines in southern Tanzania), due to the general lack of infrastructure for the promotion and marketing of coal. Electricity plays a similarly minor role, with consumption rates as low as less than 1 % (low income rural households) to around 40 % (urban areas). Less than 8 % of households in Tanzania are connected to electricity grid, but even where electricity is available, the costs for cooking are prohibitively high (electricity fees, prices of the necessary equipment).

HEATING

Heating is particularly important in the colder parts of the country (Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Mbeya, Iringa, Sumbawanga and Kagera). Wood consumption is significantly higher in these regions, particularly during the coldest months, June and July. While wood is the dominant source of heating energy in rural areas, charcoal is more widespread in urban areas. Three-stonefires and metal charcoal stoves are also used for heating purposes, heating in these cases is often provided as a side-benefit of cooking. Where more fuel efficient stoves are introduced, or biomass fuels substituted with kerosene or electricity, cooking ceases to provide heating as side effect. In these cases, specific heating devices may be required, in addition to improved stoves.

Wood scarcity poses the single most important restriction for heating in rural areas, whereas LPG, kerosene, coal or electricity are negligible. LPG and associated appliances for heating are not readily available in Tanzania. Although kerosene is widely available in Tanzania, its cost and the unavailability of specialized equipment limits its use. The same holds true for coal, which - besides being mostly unavailable - is also considered a health hazard. Electricity and the required equipment for heating are considered too expensive.

HOT WATER

Warm or hot water of more than 50 degrees centigrade is required for washing dishes, clothes, and for personal hygiene. Low income households are put at a particular disadvantage, because they have generally less access to both energy and (clean) water. Estimates for the average daily consumption of hot water vary between 30-50 liters per household.

Fuels used for heating water are largely § as for cooking (except solar boilers). Hot water is prepared either in large containers three-stone fires or charcoal stoves, electric heaters or solar water heaters. Again, low income / rural households are mostly cut off from advanced technology such as electric or solar boilers. Likewise, LPG an kerosene offer no real alternative, because of their cost, technical requirements, and the limited capacity of LPG / kerosene stoves. The use of electricity is almost zero for the reasons mentioned above, as is the use of coal (also because of its negative perception as a health hazard).

LIGHTING

Lighting is an important convenience for all households. One distinguishes between permanently fitted indoors or external lighting, and portable light sources. Lighting is important for extending the daily working hours, and for public safety after nightfall. Small enterprises rely on electric lighting after dark also for advertising purposes. According to the variety of uses, light sources are manifold, and include wood sticks, candles, kerosene, batteries, solar electricity, and grid electricity.

About one-fifth of low income households rely on wood even for lighting purposes, while the proportion of low income households using LPG is negligible. The use of wood for lighting must always be considered but a stopgap, which is used when other light sources are not available or too expensive. For more than 90 % of low-income households, kerosene is the light source of choice, despite the often inefficient and smoky lamps. The use of kerosene reaches almost 100 % in rural areas.

Only about 10 % of low income households use candles for lighting, mainly because of the related high costs. The use of batteries for lighting is virtually unknown, and flashlights are used only occasionally. Around 2 % of low-income households are connected to the power grid, with a certain variation between rural and urban areas. Extending power lines requires substantial investment, and many consumers cannot meet the required wiring standards.

REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING

Refrigeration is required for storing perishable foods. It allows users to buy these perishable products in bulk, which saves money and time. Air conditioning is a useful convenience in hot and humid areas of Tanzania, however most low-income households cannot afford it or have access to this service. The main fuels used for refrigeration are electricity and kerosene, on either refrigerators or deep freezers. Electricity is the preferred choice for refrigeration. The use of LPG for cooling purposes is negligible.

COMMUNICATIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES

Communication and entertainment services are needed to keep in contact with relatives, friends and colleagues located in different areas (for both social and business purposes). Media communication is required for keeping abreast of world events, sports etc.; hi-fi music systems are also used for entertainment.

Energy consumption for fixed line telephones is not considered in this report, because they draw the necessary power from the transmission lines. However, since radio communications are used in many rural areas, there is a small energy requirement. Energy sources used for communications are grid electricity, solar, dry cell and lead acid batteries. Common devices are radios, mobile and landline telephones, computers, hi-fis, television sets, tape and video recorders. A few electrified households sometimes use battery powered radios during power cuts.

60 % of low-income households use batteries for communications and entertainment services. Most rural un-electrified households use batteries. Some electrified households continue to use battery-operated radios because they do not have access to either inverters or DC adaptors. Constraints are cost and convenience, batteries do not last long, and are considered expensive. In order to reduce costs, and prolong the lifetime of dry cell batteries, many low-income households use these sparingly, for example, people will listen to important broadcasts such as news bulletin, stories, and sport. These batteries are also sometimes 're-charged' in the sun.

2 % of low-income households use grid electricity for communications and entertainment services. A major constraint is the access to electricity. Grid electricity is still not available for the vast majority of households in Tanzania.

HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

Although these appliances are required and are often found in low-income households, there are no studies that have been conducted to quantify their occurrence exactly. Most studies concentrate on basic services, while other appliances are mostly perceived to be luxury items (Food processors, Cookers, Sewing machines, Televisions, Radios).

ENERGY FOR MICRO-ENTERPRISES

Tanzanians operate a variety of micro-enterprises. These include sales of cooked food (in urban areas), cold soft drinks, ice cream, cold beer, home brewed local beer, freshly slaughtered chickens, shop operations, hair and beauty saloons, welding, battery charging stations, cloth sewing etc. Energy sources for micro-enterprises are wood, charcoal, electricity and kerosene. Three-stone fires are used to heat water in two hundred-liter open drums. Other appliances which require energy are sewing machines, refrigerators, hair dryers.

While no data are available on the use of batteries, it can be safely concluded that this must be the exception rather, than the norrn, due to the comparatively high price of batteries. 2 % of low-income households use grid electricity also for micro-enterprises. Quality and reliability of the electric power supply is relatively poor, which creates an additional disincentive against the use of electricity also for income generating activities.

B. Household energy supply

WOOD

While wood continues to be collected freely and virtually at no cost by the rural population, there are some areas where wood is already commercialized due to scarcity. However, also where wood is freely accessible, its collection is time consuming and creates considerable physical strain for women and girls, who cover long distance in the collection of firewood. Around 7,600,000 Tanzanian households consume an average of 10.7 mtoe of wood annually (1999) for fuel. Studies indicate that more than 90 % of the total population depend on wood for their energy needs. The total population is estimated at around 32 million. Wood-dependent households are mostly (around 75 %) located in rural areas. While traditional stove technology is simple and does not require maintenance, it also tends to be inefficient. Improved, fuel-saving stoves may offer a long term remedy, but require some investment and continuous maintenance. The difference in performance may be significant though, with traditional stoves running at around 10 % efficiency, while modern stove models approach 30 %. Improved stoves (ceramic and metal ceramic) are mostly supplied through sales in the market, while mud stoves offer a cheap alternative (and can be self-produced by households).

CROP RESIDUES / DUNG

Dung and crop residues are wood substitutes used for cooking, water heating and space heating, which are mainly used in rural areas where wood is scarce (central and lake zones of Shinyanga, Mwanza, Dodoma and Singida). In households with cattle, people make cow dung cakes and leave them to dry, or they collect dry cow dung on the grazing ranges. During the dry season, when there is not enough grass for grazing, dung also becomes scarce. Crop residues are mainly available during the harvesting season, with considerable regional variation. No data are available on the amount of crop residues / dung used by households (toe per annum). Dung is not commercialized.

CHARCOAL

Charcoal is a very important source of household energy in urban Tanzania. Studies have shown that about 85 % of the urban households depend on charcoal for cooking. Charcoal is produced in rural areas, mainly from trees harvested in natural forests. It is widely distributed by middlemen, who handle truckloads of about 150 bags (30kg each). The supply of charcoal to urban areas is very reliable, and decreases slightly only during the rainy season. 850 toe per annum charcoal is used by households. About 1,000,000 households use charcoal for fuel. Traditionally charcoal is used in metal charcoal stoves with low efficiencies of below 15 %. A small, but growing number of households have adopted improved charcoal stoves with higher efficiency rates of more than 30 %. The lifetime of traditional metal stoves is about six months, while that of improved stoves is about 18 months. The prices also vary, metal traditional stoves cost about 2 Euro, whereas improved stoves cost about 4 Euro on average.

COAL

The use of coal by Tanzanian households is negligible, and does not warrant further analysis.

KEROSENE

Kerosene is popular among medium and low-income households, because of its generally good availability in both rural and urban areas. Kerosene is mainly used for lighting and cooking. Despite its popularity kerosene, is often unsafe because of its hazardous exhausts. About 225,778 cubic meters of kerosene were imported in 1997 mostly for household level consumption. About 7,600,000 households use kerosene for fuel. Kerosene Stoves are popular because they are relatively cheap, and simple to use. They have efficiency rates of about 45 %. While most kerosene stoves still use outdated wicks and vaporizers, more recent pressure burners are gaining ground among Tanzanian consumers. The main disadvantages of kerosene technology lie in the relatively short life-span of the stoves, and the potential risks of their use (fire hazards, burn injuries).

LPG

While LPG is generally thought to have considerable potential as a source of household energy, the lack of distribution infrastructure limits its availability. In the few households where it is used, it is preferred for cooking only. LPG stoves mostly are high-pressure gas cookers - similar to the low pressure ones, except that they are attached directly to the gas bottle. Also LPG stoves are in short supply, and tend to be available mostly as single flame cookers. LPG as yet offers a convenient, though supplementary source of household energy to a limited number of people who can afford it.

C. Household energy sector governance

The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), Department of Energy and Petroleum Affairs, is the responsible lead agency for energy matters. Due to the characteristics of household energy consumption in Tanzania, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Forestry and Bee-keeping Division, also plays an important role. Lead agencies like the MEM or MNRT provide strategic guidance and sectoral governance, and wield executive powers. They also administer state subsidies, where these are available (fuel substitution efforts were subsidized by the government in order to promote kerosene). In Tanzania, commercial energy (electricity and fossil fuels) planning is carried out in a centralized fashion by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Department of Energy and Petroleum Affairs, in collaboration with related energy parastatals. The MEM has no local offices that could deal with the planning of energy issues at the regional and district offices. Biomass resources which supply wood fuels (firewood and charcoal) are managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The demand side of the wood fuels is not managed or co-ordinated by any governmental institution.

There is no formal institutional framework at the national and local level to monitor and co-ordinate energy projects and programmes.

Electricity

The Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO) is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Tanzania with an installed capacity of 860 MW. At present the electricity supply industry in Tanzania is dominated by a vertically integrated electricity supply and distribution utility TANESCO which is state owned.

A uniform pan territorial tariff is charged with a lifeline tariff of the first 100 units of consumption. Only 1 % of the rural households are electrified. For rural areas government follows a selective process of electrifying district head offices, agro-processing industries and economically viable settlements near the grid. The Ministry of Health and the Directorate of the Environment / National Environmental Management Council (and the Office of the Vice-President) are more distantly involved in energy matters.

Wood

The government does not manage firewood supply. Rather, communities collect firewood or buy firewood from an unregulated market. Sources of wood include: Natural forests, village wood-lots, public woodlands, small-holder farms. Whereas people in rural areas depend on the natural forest resources for their wood supplies, those in urban areas rely on wood vendors. Wood is cut from natural forests and transported by trucks to urban areas.

Wood is sold in various quantities. When managing forests (plantations or natural forests) firewood is one of the products, sometimes given to the nearby population under certain regulations (e.g. only once a week, only dead wood etc). The supply for firewood is also regulated by law, even if it is not always enforced.

Charcoal

Charcoal production, trade and use is a more than Euro 120 million industry in Tanzania. The industry is not managed by any governmental structure. The industry is in the hands of informal sector where the government has very limited control. Charcoal is produced from wood cut from natural forest by rural charcoal producers who uses traditional earth mound kilns. It is then packed into 30 kg bags and transported to urban areas where it is either sold wholesale in bags or in small quantities of one kg by charcoal vendors or households.

Measures intended to manage supply and consumption of energy more rationally, are in the case of low-income social strata mostly focused on renewable energy sources, specifically through promotion of improved charcoal and wood stoves. Efforts to promote the use of biogas, solar home systems, and small hydro-power technology have been going on for years, although on a relatively small scale and mostly in an isolated fashion. These efforts have been targeted at remote rural areas, which are not likely to be reached by grid electricity in the medium to long term. New, lager size and more organized renewable energy programmes are being initiated by the government with the support of several donors. Energy saving in low-income households happens both involuntarily and through outside intervention. Under adverse economic conditions, households are compelled to turn to alternative, less expensive energy sources. In more severe situations, households will have to cook less hot meals, and avoid using energy for heating in order to save money. Households also tend to use different options in parallel, switching to alternative sources of energy according to availability / prices and the specific cooking requirements.

Kerosene

Kerosene is imported by private oil companies, and sold at fuel stations. There is a fairly well established kerosene distribution network, which facilitates the use of kerosene in low-income urban and rural households.

LPG

LPG is commercially available - although in very small quantities - through some Petroleum companies. The structure for the supply of LPG is not adequately developed. Distribution of LPG is strictly regulated for safety reasons. LPG distributors and retailers must be licensed by the government.

Overall households' electrification in Tanzania stands at less than 8 %, in rural areas it is about 1 %.

D. Household energy information

National data on household energy related issues are regularly collected during the national census. The available information dates from 1988, the next data collection campaign will follow later in 2003. The Ministry of Energy and Minerals is responsible for processing information related to household energy issues. The Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics conducts the census. Available sets of data include information on fuel wood, charcoal, kerosene, electricity and LPG use.

E. Household energy case studies

The following sketched information is based on KAALE and HIFAB (1998), who conducted a rural energy study.

A low income rural family was observed, living in a house built of burnt bricks and thatched with grass. The annual household income reaches TShs. 180,000 or EURO - 250. It is a family of ten, made up of a couple with eight children, two boys and six girls. The household is located in Isela village, Shinyanga Region, in the Northern Tanzania (approximately 2° South and 36° East; semi-arid climate with a vegetation cover made up of savanna / miombo woodland).

The head of the household, aged 44, is a farmer. In his family, five people are productive and five are juvenile dependants (still attending school). The main economic activities of the family are farming and livestock rearing. The wife manages the household (cooking, cleaning and fetching wood or farm residues).

As family head, the farmer decides on household spending, however in consultation with his wife (who is in charge of acquisition and use of energy for cooking, and preparation of the meals). Income sources include sales of cotton, maize, peanuts, dairy products and surplus cattle. No formal banking/credit services are available in the village, but the household may raise capital through a traditional micro-finance credit arrangement (Ifog'onho).

Food preparation is done by the wife and her elder daughters, with some occasional help from the other children. Construction of the house and the kitchen was accomplished with the help of neighbors and relatives. The kitchen house is a simple structure, based on the traditional designs. The main house has three rooms, which are shared between the couple, daughters and sons, respectively. Cold periods (mainly June and July) restrict the family's daily routing (family members gather round the kitchen fire, and retire to bed early after dinner).

Fuels used for cooking and heating include farm residues (maize cobs, cotton stalks, cow dung, and - more rarely - wood). For lighting, kerosene is used in a wick-lamp. There is a strong seasonal variation in the availability of crop residues, depending on which crop is being harvested at a given time. Biomass fuels are also used for burning bricks and brewing beer. Wife and elder Children are responsible for collecting/supplying fuel, which activity takes one to two hours per week. The family spends about Tsh. 3000 monthly on kerosene. They are mostly ignorant of improved technologies, and have only heard about improved wood stoves, which are not available in the village. The women would, however, prefer to acquire more efficient stoves and better lighting appliances.

Entertainment and communications is provided by a dry cell powered radio, which is the main source of information outside the village. Electricity is used for charging a cellular phone and communication.

Categories: Tanzania| Country Profiles

Pagename: :TanzaniaCountrySynthesis