An association of female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia hopes to install an ethanol distillery to serve 1,000 households in Keranio, a community outside Addis Ababa, in 2012.
The Former Women Fuel Wood Carriers’ Association plans to produce 1,000 litres of ethanol a day from sugar cane, fruit and vegetable waste from Merkato, one of eastern Africa’s largest food markets.
The ethanol will be priced cheaper than wood to save local forests, said Fiona Lambe, a research associate with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).
SEI has worked with the Ethiopian Gaia Association, a local non-governmental organisation, and the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority to help the women develop a business plan and train them in the running of the plant.
The women will also sell ethanol stoves to the villagers as part of the project.
The Nordic Development Fund, a multilateral development finance institution of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, has provided about US$465,000 to finance the two-year project.