The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is aiming to establish a sustainable local market and industry for clean cooking solutions in Haiti, a country whose high demand for charcoal has contributed to widespread deforestation. USAID recently announced an award to Chemonics International to implement the three-year Improved Cooking Technology Project. Through close coordination with the Government of Haiti, the Haitian private sector and Haitian civil society, the project will establish a thriving local market – on both the supply and demand sides – as well as a sustainable industry for clean cooking solutions, including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and more efficient biomass cookstoves.

"The goal of the Improved Cooking Technology Project is to decrease Haiti's consumption of charcoal by establishing a sustainable market for clean, efficient and affordable cooking solutions," said USAID/Haiti Mission Director Carleene H. Dei. "Without the protection of natural, wooded watersheds, Haiti's denuded hillsides leave the country vulnerable to erosion and devastating flooding."

This $7.2 million project in Haiti will support and develop viable for-profit businesses in the production and distribution of improved charcoal cookstoves and LPG stoves. Large charcoal consumers will be targeted for conversion to LPG. The project will target nearly 10,000 street food vendors in Port-au-Prince, along with about 800 schools, orphanages and other energy-intensive entities in and around the capital.

USAID will also assist the Government of Haiti in building a legal and regulatory framework for LPG, including developing and adopting rules to ensure safety, developing appropriate licensing regimes, discouraging predatory commercial practices and encouraging investment. In addition, by promoting more efficient charcoal stoves that produce less greenhouse gases, the project will be able to earn additional revenues that will go toward reducing the costs of stoves to customers and further expanding the improved cookstove market.

HL/ HaitiLibre