Assessment of the performance of fuel-efficient stoves and factors determining its adoption: evidence from Northwest Ethiopia

Environmental and health risks stemming from traditional biomass fuel use remain a significant challenge in developing countries like Ethiopia. Improved cooking stoves have become a viable option to reduce these adverse effects; however, the adoption and use rates remain low. This study aims to analyze the performance of Mirt-improved stoves and identify the factors that determine its adoption in Northwest Ethiopia. A kitchen performance test (KPT) was conducted based on three days of repeated firewood measurement on randomly selected 15 Mirt-stove users and 20 three-stone stove user households. Additionally, 420 households were surveyed to identify factors determining the adoption of Mirt-stove. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model. An independent t-test was also employed to analyze the kitchen performance test. The KPT results reveal that Mirt-stoves saved about 5.4 kg of firewood/injera baking session, which translates to about 777 kg (40.5%) reduction in firewood use per household per year compared with three-stone stoves. Besides, the KPT results show that Mirt-stoves reduce the time needed to bake injera compared to three-stone stoves by 23.5 min (28%), equivalent to an annual per capita time-saving of about 56.4 h. Further, estimates of the empirical results highlighted that household age, sex, education, family size, type of housing, availability of separate kitchens, access to credit, and access to information significantly and positively influence Mirt stove adoption. In contrast, distance from the stove market and fuel sources have significantly and negatively affected Mirt-stove adoption. The study suggests that fuel-efficient stoves like Mirt, if well adapted to local injera baking needs, can significantly contribute to forest conservations, improving livelihoods and lessening the workloads of women and children in fuelwood collection.