Songwe embarks into coal cooking energy

SONGWE Region has embarked on converting coal dust into blocks for cooking and heating at household level. Songwe Regional Commissioner (RC), retired Lieut.

Chiku Galawa, said in Dar es Salaam that the region has started a scheme that seeks to produce small blocks for cooking at household level in the near future. She said experts have advanced in producing tiny soil-coal dust blocks to be used by families instead of charcoal.

“We have decided to phase out the use of charcoal in order to protect our environment. We are producing small blocks, using soil and coal dust, for cooking at homes,” she said.

She said when attending a signing ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for promoting rural irrigation in Tanzania, especially in southern highlands regions. The MoU was signed by the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and the Korea Rural Community Corporation (KRC).

Meanwhile the KRC President, Mr Chung Seung has pledged Songwe Region steady support, saying that he will look for extension officers who will help villagers raise productivity in their farms. Songwe Region was established recently after dividing Mbeya Region into two regions.

Songwe, with an area of 27,656 square kilometres, has a population of 1.17 millions in 307 villages in Mbozi, Ileje, Songwe and Momba districts.

The new region is also blessed to have a lot of socio-economic potentials and opportunities and if fully exploited Songwe will be among the top ten in production.