Ills of the thriving charcoal business

By
Damian Daga
Published in The Voice on Wednesday 13th June, 2012.

Charcoal is generally known as a dark or black form of carbon obtained by usually heating wood in an enclosed space without air. This charcoal is thereby used as fuel in cooking for either as the following: for drawing, smelting, absorbent, etc. Its use as fuel or fire could be traced back to the introduction of fire use in metalwork, which was developed after 4000 BC. Specifically, artisans, after deploying several other means of heating fire, discovered they could create a hotter fire by burning carbonized (partially burned) sticks and twigs. Eventually, they produced charcoal, a compact, efficient fuel, by slowly smoldering wood in an oven with little air.

This discovery led to felling of trees in forests in order to produce charcoal for several fuel uses which transcended just smelting to cooking, among others. It is appalling to note that this discovery which was made eons ago is still in use in countries like Nigeria in general and in Benue State in particular.

Not too long ago in the 80s, local government areas in Benue State such as Vandeikya had many forest reserves overlooked by the communities or certain families. All that is now in the past as scores of forest trees have been felled without replacement. In place of most forests in these areas are farmlands and homes.

In this regard, the expansionist need superseded the need of these forest owners in reserving the forests. They saw more gain in either felling the trees for timber, charcoal or simply expanding farmlands or homesteads.

The rising cost of petroleum products such as kerosene and gas as well as the high cost of operating electric cookers obviously gave rise to Nigerians embracing the use of charcoal in locally made charcoal stoves popularly known as “Abacha Stove” in the mid 90s. These stoves have a hollow base where charcoal is stoked and lit. It usually takes a while for the embers to properly light but once they do, they burn steadily. This process is said to cook food faster and better. Whether the aforementioned assertion is true or not, the use of charcoal in the long run attracts many environmental ills.

Charcoal making process is considerably easy and cheaper with little investment hence, the rush by the private sector and locals into its production from the available resource in the environment. Most definitely, the cost of using charcoal may augur well for the community but the overall cost in terms of environmental damage cannot be overemphasised. Although its use plays a major role in our economy and energy sector as an ideal fuel, charcoal is never the less a form of “dirty fuel.”

Suffice it to stress that charcoal, which is sold in the local areas of Benue State for 500 naira per bag (averagely 800-100 naira in urban areas), is an in-efficient fuel to produce and un-clean. In comparison, charcoal stoves which are usually out-door used, in as much as they are more efficient to use than firewood stoves still lag behind kerosene, electric and gas stoves.
In essence, the high use of charcoal results to the high consumption of wood which in turn results to more emission of CO2, CO and Cb4. The question is how to produce sustainable basis charcoal without causing deforestation and create a neural carbon cycle. There is no gain saying the fact that deforestation comes with loss of wildlife and other environmental degradation ills such as desertification.

This booming charcoal business which is fuelled by the poverty in the rural areas and sustained by the exploding population among the urban middle class and poor who find it cheaper to use charcoal in place of soaring kerosene price is not helping matters with climate change adaptation in the rural areas and North Central Nigeria. This brings to the fore the need for the National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) under the Federal Ministry of Environment to step up its regulatory role of protecting forest resources as stipulated by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife and Flora (CITES).

If mitigating moves are not put in place by appropriate authorities in checking the charcoal business, our forests would soon disappear do away with the traditional role of trees providing living things oxygen in the course of photosynthesis. More so, this anomaly coupled with other human activities is responsible for far reaching impacts of global warming and climate change.

To buttress this point, experts assert that only 5 percent of the country’s forest resource is standing, as those felled has not been replenished, as it ought to be. Little wonder, governments usually organise tree planting events year in, year out but do not put properly managed and supervised machinery in place to sustain the growth of the trees.

Asked if he knows the implication of the charcoal he sells in bulk to retailers, a charcoal producer who operates in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, Ahangba Ikyarsha, said he is not aware, although he confirmed that he pays off certain government forestry officials when they are caught transporting the charcoal.

According to Ikyarsha, he sees the business as a good venture to make money without depending on the government adding that he buys the trees he cuts down from locals and subsequently processes into charcoal.

By and large, as a matter of urgency, the introduction of clean and efficient cooking stoves among the Nigerian populace, especially the local ones, which will cut down about 80 percent of the use of fuel will spur the country on the way to sustainable development and a cleaner and more environment friendly cooking practice.