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This is a humanitarian project providing specially designed efficient smokeless cooking stoves (chulas) for the tribal villagers living in hamlets in rural areas around Pune district.
Most of the population cook their food using firewood, dung cakes, agricultural waste and biomass using open flames stone/brick stoves in their one room homes. This causes the family, especially women and small children, to inhale toxic smoke which is a very serious health hazard. Over 70% of rural India still cooks on open chulas, which is responsible for over a million deaths annually in India alone. As women almost entirely do the cooking in rural India, hence most of the victims and those with serious health issues, are women.
Local NGOs in the rural areas of Pune District have identified several underserved tribal families who are in need of such smokeless stoves for wood and agricultural waste to cook their food in their one room huts with poor ventilation.
• Toxic smoke is a very serious health hazard, which can lead to respiratory diseases and death. A huge health benefit for women indeed, with 50% reduction in risk of pneumonia.
• These smokeless cooking stoves reduce smoke and toxic emissions by up to 80%, reduce fuel wood use and greenhouse gases by 60% and cooking time by 50%. So, the benefits are threefold - reduction of carbon dioxide, saving tree cutting for wood and reducing fuel costs.
• Earthfit's cookstove are built to Indian conditions and specifications. The stoves are durable, easy to operate, portable, stable and maintenance free, requiring no blowpipe.
• The stove design uses the convection airflow to burn the fuel completely up towards the cooking vessel with no toxic smoke. The sturdy build makes the cookstove a lifelong device.
• This smokeless stove works on any biomass fuel including firewood, agricultural waste, dung cakes etc improves cooking efficiency as the insulated inner chamber helps the flame to burn more efficiently, with the food cooked faster while retaining the same flavor as the traditional chulas (stoves).
The timeline is Jan 2025 to June 2025 for training and distributing 1200 smokeless stoves to tribal families in rural Pune District. The funds will be used for buying smokeless stoves, training and distributing these smokeless stoves. The club members will be involved in the identifying the NGOs which will distribute and track the tribal families over 3 years to ensure proper usage and maintenance of the long-lasting smokeless stoves.
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