No shortage of supply
Last week I
was in Ghana, monitoring a project that promotes bamboo charcoal as an
environment-friendly alternative to wood charcoal. The justification of the
project is straightforward: 80% of primary energy consumption in Ghana is
satisfied with firewood and wood charcoal causing high deforestation rates;
switching from wood to the more sustainable bamboo, you can contribute to
preserving the environment.
The
advantages are quite impressive: bamboo grows quickly (3-4 year to maturity)
and spontaneously; the supply far exceeds the current demand that comes mostly from
the construction sector; lab analyses show that the calorific value of bamboo
charcoal is as high as wood charcoal; last but not least, women prefer to cook
with charcoal because it lasts longer and doesn’t produce nearly as much smoke
as firewood. With these credentials, I expected high adoption rates. I was
wrong. Households cannot be bothered to use bamboo charcoal instead of wood for
a variety of reasons. I heard complaints about cooking time, amount of ashes,
price, size of the chunks, etc. To sum it all up, bamboo charcoal is considered
a grade B charcoal that sells for the same price as grade A. Among potential
buyers, the decision is a no-brainer: they stick to wood charcoal.
However, of
all the justifications I heard, the only one that seems to be supported by
facts is that bamboo charcoal is being sold for the same price as charcoal made
from wood, product that households have been using for generations. All the
other issues (size, ashes, heat, etc.) are far less clear-cut as I heard both
complaints and praises of the new type of charcoal. So, according to my highly
un-scientific method, they cannot be taken seriously into consideration. Since
there is no agreement on the performance of bamboo charcoal, I suspect that
people are still strongly influenced by their preconceived ideas about it.
Bamboo
charcoal suffers because of its poor image among potential buyers. Bamboo is
flexible and strong, while wood is hard. People know from experience that hard
wood makes good charcoal; therefore in their mind bamboo doesn’t make good
charcoal. End of the story. And pricing it on par with wood charcoal was the
final mistake. Nobody buys a new/inferior product for the same price as an
old-time favorite.
In this
case, an oversimplified logic poorly served the organization involved in the
project. They analyzed the technical and cultural components of the issue, but
completely ignored the economic/marketing challenges posed by introducing an
innovative technology in an established sector. A good marketing plan could
have removed some obstacles to bamboo charcoal.
