[Stoves] Height of stove (Crispin)

[Saibhaskar Nakka]

Dear Crispin,

Thank you. I think this issue is beyond imagination as far as my experience
with community is considered. India being a tropical country, the
biodiversity is very high and so the food habits are diverse. Which is
reflected in the diverse stoves (size / design / raw material) existing and
the diverse fuel (wood / sticks/ dung / crop residue / husk / charcoal /
pellets / dry leaves / grass, etc) and the utensils of different material
(earth / brass / copper / bronze / iron / aluminium / steel, etc), sizes and
shapes (round / flat bottom / cylindrical / conical sides / straight sides /
hemi-spherical / flat / concave / convex / closed / open) used for cooking
different types of food. Over years these methods of cooking have become
traditional and are part of culture.

Stoves are the assets of women, men rarely deal with stoves used for cooking
at household level. The literate women are relatively less in villages. The
families where women are young and literate they were very much convinced
and were ready to adopt the Good Stove as it was designed. They agreed to
raise the Jowar roti making plate and also were willing to change their
sitting position according to the stove height, whereas the older and
illiterate women were not convinced, who constitute majority of women
population. Yes through good awareness programs the people would adopt
efficient technologies, but it requires some time and it is evolutionary.
Presently we are conducting an ERGONOMICS study (covering sitting posture
during cooking / time spent in a particular position / women's health
problems / etc) for the women who have adopted Good Stoves and those still
using traditional low level stoves. These results will be useful for
understanding the long term sustainability of stoves.

http://e-adptstoves.blogspot.com/

Thanks and regards,

Dr. Sai Bhaskar Reddy



Dear Dr. N

Thankyou for that report.  It is interesting how much resistance there is to
increasing the stove height.   One could for example raise the surface onto
which the roti was placed instead of lowering the stove.

I have heard many reports about stoves in India being highly constrained by
the demand that the height be limited to what is in fact an
inadequate-for-combustion size.

Is it not possible to introduce other methods of getting either the cook or
the working surface raise so that stoves with better combustion and
performance can be introduced?  It certainly would be better for the cook if
they were accomodated on comfort, while also giving the fire room to breathe
properly.

Thanks
Crispin