Firewood and charcoal supply: Technology advances
Better kilns, village forest plans and truer statistics
What this tab covers The newest technologies in service or close to adoption, what each improves, and how the main options compare.Change here is less about new vehicles than about better kilns, legal and traceable supply chains, and better data.
Latest advances
Improved kilns (Casamance, brick) in service · OngoingKilns with chimneys or brick walls that control airflow3
Improves: Energy efficiency about 32% versus 18% for earth mounds in Rwandan tests
Community-managed sustainable charcoal demonstration · 2016Village forest plans with legal harvesting and per-bag royalties (Tanzania TTCS project)6
Improves: Keeps value and revenue in villages
Revised global wood fuel estimates research · 2025FAO-linked study using over 2,000 new data points1
Improves: Shows African wood fuel use about 50% higher than thought
Plantation charcoal in service · OngoingCharcoal from managed plantations, as in Malawi3
Improves: Reduces pressure on natural forest, though hauls are long
Comparing the options
| Option | Efficiency | Cost | Capacity or distance | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head-load or bundle10 | No fuel used; human effort | Unpaid labour, mostly by women | About 50 to 60 kg per load; forest 1 to 4 km away (Kenya) | mature |
| Bicycle or ox cart56 | No fuel used | About KES 150 per bag by cart or bicycle (Kenya) | Some bicycles carry more than two 90 kg bags (Tanzania) | mature |
| Motorcycle56 | Small petrol use | Often owned by producers | A few bags, to roadside or customers | mature |
| Lorry57 | Diesel; not quantified | About KES 13,000 per hired trip (Kenya, 2020) | 70 to 100 sacks (Mozambique) | mature |
| Rail7 | Lower cost per tonne | Relatively cheap where sources lie along lines (Mozambique, older data) | Large; limited routes | mature, rarely used |
Short trips are made by people, bicycles and motorbikes; long trips to cities by lorry. Retailers in Dar es Salaam reported receiving 50% of deliveries by small truck, 15% by large truck, 15% by bicycle, 15% by motorcycle and 5% by car. The real alternative to moving charcoal is replacing it with LPG, electricity or improved stoves.
Sources
- Global wood fuel production estimates and implications (Steel et al., Nature Communications 16, 6227; authors include FAO staff) Nature Portfolio, 2025
- Review of technologies for the production and use of charcoal (Kammen and Lew) Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, UC Berkeley, 2005
- Sustainable Business Models for Tree-based Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: Analysis of the Charcoal Value Chain in Kenya (Mutta) Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Formas project, 2020
- Charcoal Market Conditions in Tanzania (TTCS Technical Report 4, Ishengoma) Tanzania Forest Conservation Group / TTCS project, 2016
- Review of the existing studies related to fuelwood and/or charcoal in Mozambique FAO, 2001
- Women's work is never done: lifting the gendered burden of firewood collection and household energy use in Kenya (Njenga, Gitau and Mendum, Energy Research and Social Science 77) Elsevier, 2021