What it is about

Cooking with solar cookers instead of wood
For centuries the population of Madagascar has been cooking their food with wood, which requires vast amounts of firewood in the form of charcoal. A Madagascan family uses about 100 kg of charcoal on a monthly basis, amounting to 1/4 of an average monthly salary. Madagascar has, especially in the south of the country, close to ideal conditions for the use of solar energy. Solar cookers, therefore, are highly beneficial to the population. The great advantages are:

• The fire doesn't need to be tended.
• The population will become less dependent on wood and charcoal.
• Families spend a lot less money on wood and charcoal.
• There is a pay back on the investment after only 3-4 months of using the solar cooker.
• Cooking with the solar cooker is hygienic, there is no smoke which affects health and therefore reduces life expectancy.
• There is no CO2, which is the main agent responsible for climate change.
• The population can contribute to a sustainable and long term future by cutting down less wood.
• 100 solar cookers save 720 tons of wood a year, which translates into 130 hectares of woodland in the South of Madagascar.

What is a solar cooker (Box Solar Cooker)?
This kind of solar cooker is an easily built, insulated box. Due to incident solar radiation the inside of the box can generate temperatures up to 150° C which is sufficient to cook almost all meals: Rice, manioc, mais, potatoes, vegetables, meat and fish. Also, bread and cakes can also be baked and medical tools or water can be sterilised.

There are also other kinds of solar cookers, like the Parabolic-solar cooker or the solar-drying machine. For further information see Products/Solar cookers.

A detailed description including technical information can be found on the homepage of our partner organization www.solarkocher.ch, www.globosol.ch and on www.solarcooking.org (International Association for solar cooking).


The production, construction and sales of solar cookers in Tuléar
Local craftsmen produce the solar cooker in the ADES factory in Tuléar in the South of Madagascar. ADES sells them to the population and can offer a fair price due to donations. The teaching of the population to use the solar cooker is an important part of ADES work. Regular demonstrations on how to use the solar cooker take place both in villages and in urban regions. In Tuléar, ADES also offers training on solar cooking in their own training facilities. The interest level of the population is very high.