With Biogas cook stoves my cooking experience has been so enjoyable – no hustle in starting the fire, no smokes, no dirt, clean kitchen… and nowadays I can see my husband comfortably spending time in the kitchen. My neighbours say I am better off just because I no longer face the troubles of the three-stones traditional stove!
I would have never afforded to pay school fees for my children if it were not for income from sales of milk. I earn TZS. 700,000 each month – this was not possible in the past. I no longer invade the forest for meat, I sell milk and get enough money to buy meat at any butcheries.
Before I joined the project my family never had access to milk, I now get excess and sell to my fellow villagers. For the last two years I managed to make around TZS. 3,000,000. I used my income to buy 2 acres of land and planted 1200 trees – I earned around TZS. 6,000,000 from trees. I used part of the money to clear school fees for my 3 children and install piped water in my house. In the past I used to fetch firewood from 6am to until around 11am and was not able to attend my farm properly. The cows give me biogas and I no longer waste time in the forests, I use my time to attend my cows and my garden. Before I started applying animal manure that I get free from keeping cows, I used to harvest 3 sacks of maize per hectare, but now the harvest has been doubled.