An energy expert has called for a clear strategy to help in the attainment of set targets for improved cookstove (ICS) in the country.
The Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP) has a target to reach 1.3 million households, while the Nationally Determined Contribution to Climate Change Mitigation Document seeks to achieve two million cook stoves by 2020, yet there is no clear strategy.
An Energy Advisor at the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Mr Dramani Bukari, said there ought to be some level of action to be taken to realise the World Bank estimate of 1.3 percent of improving cooking rate annually.
“We can’t just set targets and leave them aloof. Concrete and deliberate actions ought to be taken to realise them,” he stated in an interview at a training workshop for journalists at Elmina in the Central Region by the SNV Voice for Change (V4C) Partnership Programme.
The V4C is an evidence-based advocacy programme implemented in partnership with the International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the period of 2016-2020.
Focused on four themes, namely; renewable energy; food and nutrition security; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), it seeks to build vibrant civil society organisations to advocate for conducive environment in these sectors.
Thus, the energy component focused on increased access to affordable, efficient and sustainable energy solutions with emphasis on clean cooking and access to off- grid electrification.
About 21.7 percent of Ghanaians have access to clean cooking technologies and fuels and 22.1 million people in Ghana still rely on solid fuels for cooking and heating.
Experts say relying on traditional cooking methods such as firewood have serious health, environmental and economic consequences.
A total of four million deaths annually globally and over 13,000 in Ghana through exposure to Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia causing acute, pneumonia, lower respiratory infections, lung cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
