[Stoves] Discussion of biomass cooking stoves <>

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Paal

Sesbania Sesbans I saw growing in Zambia a while ago. Planted in March, it
grew to 3 metres, 25mm diameter, by October without any rainfall in that
time. Used ground water only.

It is listed as a massive invader and occurs now in the extreme north east
of Swaziland in a strip tending NW from that point into Kruger Park and out
of it to the Lydenburg area if I recall the map correctly.

So it does grow well, but you might be better off with bamboo. That is the
opinion of Christoph Messinger (GTZ) as wise for Malawi. Easy to grow, slow
to invade, high production ...

Regards
Crispin

-----Original Message-----
Dear Paul, Michael and Karve

[snip]
One of them will be Sespaina Sespan .For 360 plants we need about 200 m2,
the first year you will have a small output, but the next year after cutting
the yield will increase with several sprouts and continue increasing every
year. The Miombo forest used to day for charcoal gives about 3 ton per
ha/year. Energy forestry can give 10-20 ton per ha/year depending on the
sort planted.  A household of 5 need 2-3 kg chopped wood per day for cooking
with a good FES. The rest can be sold. The leaves can be cattle-feed, and
the nitrogen-fixing roots will fertilize and bind the soil against erosion.