Masinga — When Njeri Njoka first became a housewife 20 years ago, finding firewood was hardly a problem. These days, however, she combs the floor of the furniture-making sheds that have mushroomed in her village of Igoji in Eastern Kenya, looking for wood chips. Seldom are any to be found.
Firewood has long been used as a cooking fuel in many homes in rural Kenya. But demand for timber is stripping the countryside of its mature trees, while charcoal making claims younger trees. Tea processing - which requires heat from fires to cure the leaves - also claims a share. And so the 42-yeard-old Njoka must look for alternative sources of cheap energy.
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