AZAM business group is spearheading a new initiative to support the clean cooking agenda, with a campaign to reach 10,000 women food vendors across the country.

Hussein Sufian, the group corporate affairs director for the Said Salim Bakhresa (SSB) group of companies, said at a press conference yesterday that his initiative is intended to augment efforts to combat climate change.

The Azam clean cooking campaign is being conducted in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and a gas distributor tied to the group.

It seeks to distribute ethanol stoves to food vendors nationwide, complementing the government’s efforts to mitigate climate change effects, thus the campaign kick-off will see the group donate 500 ethanol stoves in Dar es Salaam, with plans to expand upcountry.

“About 80 percent of households rely on charcoal and firewood for cooking, which amounts to upwards of 8m households. This reliance has resulted in the loss of over 25 percent of forest cover,” he stated.

Ethanol is one of the most affordable alternative energy sources and is widely available in the market, he stated, complementing the campaign starting May this year when President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched a 10-year national clean cooking energy strategy.

It was pegged to $1.8bn (4.0trn/-) expenditure estimates in the campaign, with a number of public institutions tasked with organising shitting to cleaner energy when serving in-house communities of over 100 people, including prisons, military camps, educational and health establishments, etc.

In remarks at the launch, President Samia expressed concern on the dangers posed by unsafe cooking methods, pointing at firewood and charcoal, urging that the strategy be integrated into the Vision 2050 expression of views.

There was also a need to establish a specialized fund to mobilize resources for clean cooking energy access, while energy firms came up with donations of gas cylinders in the aftermath.

Victor Hakim, the UNIDO resident representative, appealed to organisers of the new initiative to take its outreach efforts to wider areas, ensuring that the majority of the population can access its supplies.