CNC's pilot project: belonio cookstoves with families of nueva ecija, philippines

The stove project deployed by CNC in July 2014 was designed to evaluate stove usability and char handling. The 12 initial users cooked their meals on the rice-husk stove, collected the char, and sent samples from each batch for analysis. The project management and administration was undertaken locally by CNC field associates Baltazar Cruz and Salvacion Belonio.

The families that were selected for this project had two basic profiles. One group were rural families from San José, located in close proximity to the project manager, related by family or friendship, with small gardens. And two, semi-rural families from Muñoz, directly related to the Center for Rice Husk Energy Technology, where Alexis Belonio was conducting his research and development until December 2014.

With the samples collected, a simple study was done to evaluate the toxicity levels of the biochar produced by CNC stoves, which produced encouraging results in terms of seedlings viability. 

Summary:

• The project made possible our first rice husk biochar seedling and germination experiment as well as carbon recalcitrance testing of the char samples collected

• The project explored stove usabililty and char handling: evaluating user acceptance for the stoves, collecting feedback regarding any difficulties reported, educating the users and their families about safety and char handling

Photos from the team's visit to the Philippines, July 2014
Seen here:
Philippine-Sino Centre for Agricultural Technology
Stove demonstration at the home of Baltazar Cruz
Batad Terraces Rice Farming
CNC Collaborators and Friends