{"id":3982,"date":"2026-09-25T15:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=3982"},"modified":"2026-09-25T15:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:32:47","slug":"cheaper-cooking-fuel-drives-new-stove-rollout-for-kigali-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/25\/cheaper-cooking-fuel-drives-new-stove-rollout-for-kigali-families\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheaper cooking fuel drives new stove rollout for Kigali families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A new clean-cooking initiative in Kigali is giving 1,280 households an alternative to charcoal, with beneficiaries receiving locally made gasifier stoves and fuel free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme, implemented by BioMassters Ltd with government and development partners, began on September 23 in Busanza village, Kicukiro District, covering households in five resettlement villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each household received a Tier-4 gasifier stove and 20 kilogrammes of specialised fuel. The company puts the combined value of the 1,280 stoves and 25,600 kilogrammes of fuel at Rwf94.208 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The stoves normally sell for Rwf65,000, while a kilogramme of the specialised fuel costs Rwf430, according to BioMassters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company says the fuel is made in Rwanda from plant residues and other organic waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Beatha Mukarutesi, one of the first beneficiaries, the cost difference is important. She said her household normally buys charcoal at about Rwf16,000 per bag and uses two bags each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis stove has come at the right time and is cheaper compared with the charcoal we used before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But access to affordable fuel after the initial free supply remains a key part of the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sylvain Rucyaha, BioMassters\u2019 director of business development and sales, said the company was expanding its distribution network so beneficiaries could continue using the stoves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are not just selling stoves. We are also building a network to deliver fuel to their owners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

BioMassters currently has more than 40 fuel distribution points through its shops and partners in Kigali and elsewhere in Rwanda. It plans to establish access points near the five villages covered by the latest rollout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme comes amid continued reliance on polluting cooking fuels. The World Health Organization says 98.5% of Rwanda\u2019s population used polluting cooking fuels in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BioMassters says its Iryacu stove has been tested and approved by the Rwanda Standards Board and claims the technology can reduce biomass fuel use by up to 90% and cooking costs by up to 50% compared with charcoal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company says about 8,500 households in Rwanda currently use its cooking equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also working with the Ministry of Education on clean cooking in schools, with the technology already introduced in 10 schools and plans under an MoU to reach 250 schools in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest initiative is supported through EDCL under the Rwanda Energy Access and Quality Improvement Project, funded by the World Bank and Innovate UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new clean-cooking initiative in Kigali is giving 1,280 households an alternative to charcoal, with beneficiaries receiving locally made gasifier stoves and fuel free of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,53,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3987,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982\/revisions\/3987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}