The price of charcoal rises up by 100 percent

CHARCOAL users in the city of Dar es Salaam have been digging deeper into their pockets to buy charcoal whose price has increased by 100 percent for the last two years. Charcoal commodity which is largely used as a source of fuel mostly by low income earners, has increased from Tshs. 15.000/- to Shs. 30,000/- for a sack weighing about 50 kilograms. The survey shows that, most people who are not able to afford the price of one sack, resort to a retail price whereby charcoal is sold in small tins in individual houses at a price of between Tsh. 800/- and Shs. 1,000/- per tin respectively, compared to Shs. 400/- and 500/- sold two years ago. Charcoal traders says that, the skyrocketing of this precious commodity is attributed to low production levels following the recent ban imposed by the government two years ago on wanton felling of trees from which charcoal is made in forests.

This is an area close to the main road which has been turned into a charcoal market at Gongo La Mboto suburb on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city. Most charcoal traders (the so-called middlemen) transports their sacks on their bicycles.

Apart from this, the increase has also been exacerbated by the currently torrential rains which have began to set in, thus rendering the transportation of charcoal sacks from the forests to become difficult. Forest tracks becomes muddy and ultimately rendered impassable, says Ramadhani Msewa a charcoal seller. A spot check at various designated markets selling charcoal within the city’s suburbs shows that, customers who buys this commodity have complained over the high prices and thereby asking the government to reduce measures it has imposed for most of them depends largely on the use of charcoal as a source of fuel in their homes.

A customer negotiates with a charcoal seller at Gongo La Mboto roadside market.

Hashim Karim a resident of Kiwalani says that, he has to leave Shs. 2,000/- everyday for his wife to buy two tins of charcoal to let her cook the whole day’s meals for his family. Hashim who works as a casual labourer encounters a lot of family problems owing to his minimal wage that is not enough to cater for the daily needs. Despite of the fact that charcoal price is high, on the other way round, charcoal traders, the so-called the middlemen of this business are complaining the way district authorities from the forest department treats them while transporting their sacks for sale to the designated markets in the city Salehe Rashid, a resident of Gongo la Mboto said in an interview recently that, the authorities from forest department of Kisarawe district do charge them a levy amounting to Tsh. 4,000/- for every sack, no matter how many sacks one might be transporting. High levies charged by the district authorities is another compelling problem facing us” he said adding that, this also might have contributed to the rise of the charcoal. According to Salehe who uses his bicycle to transport two sacks for a trip to the market, each sack he carries is charged without knowing the profit he gats from each one of them and after selling he virtually earns a minimal of Tshs. 3,000/- profit for every sack he manage to sell. Statistics shows that, the proportion of people using solid fuels like firewood and charcoal on the main land Tanzania rose from 9-0 percent in 2000 to 94 percent in 2005. The figures also reveals that in Zanzibar, this proportion currently stands at 96 percent.

Piles of sacks are being sold depending on their sizes, sometimes these are sold in retail price at a roadside market place.

Two women who are perplexed after having been told of the current charcoal price by charcoal sellers when they visited a roadside market with intention top buy the commodity.

Other statistical figures have it that more than 46 million cubic meters of fuel wood are required annually on the mainland alone. This does not only reflect the annual loss of forest cover with imminent effects on the environment, but also illustrates the importance that should be accorded to measures targeting the conservation of forest cover which constitutes more than 50 percent of the land surface. What matters is what can be done in order to increase the awareness of the alternative energy sources to forest depletion. Tanzania is currently implementing its policies and plans on how tom save its natural vegetation eg forest. According to one an environmentalist, to reduce further losses, he has urged that the private sector institutions should be more willing to keep their corporate doors open to any initiative aimed at reducing firewood and charcoal demands furthermore to reverse the loss of environmental. Resources. Biomass energy resources accounts for 93 percent pf the total energy consumption. Fuel-wood alone is estimated to account for 97 percent of all fuel consumption and 92 percent of all country’s source of energy.