In many third world countries wood or wood-based fuels are by far the most important energy source and are used to a much greater extent than fossil fuels (Figure 1.1). This is especially true in the domestic sector, where wood fuels are used mainly for cooking. However, wood fuels are also used to a great extent in rural industries and smaller-scale village or cottage activities. Here, wood is used for generating heat for the drying and processing of many kinds of crops and raw materials. Although the wood consumption of this “industrial” sector is much smaller than that of the domestic sector, it is nonetheless significant. For some developing countries it has been estimated that the proportion of wood used in rural industrial activities is as much as 40 % of the total national fuel consumption.
In Kenya, for example, 26 % of wood is used by industry, accounting for over 70 % of all industrial energy. In Sri Lanka, 65 % of the energy requirement of industries is met by wood, its proportion being 18 % of the total use of wood. Curing and drying, beer brewing, food processing, lime and brick burning are typical fields of wood use. The average percentage of wood use seems to be around 15 % for the third world countries.
Figure 1.1 - PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL ENERGY SUPPLIED BY FUELWOOD, 1980 /1/.
Forest resources are gradually declining, the supply of wood for fuels has become more difficult to sustain and demand already exceeds the potential supply in many cases both at national and local level. For most of the rural industries and village activities under consideration, wood is more or less the only realistic fuel alternative both from an economic and technical point of view, except in certain cases, where a surplus of bioresidues or cheap fossil coal is available. Although, during 1986, the price ratio of wood fuels and fossil fuels drastically changed in favour of the latter, it is not probable that many third world countries could increase their consumption of fossil fuels compared to that of wood. The only way of overcoming this dilemma seems to be either to increase the existing fuelwood resources through reforestation programmes or to decrease the consumption of wood fuels by more rational and efficient use.
To fight the deforestation problem in the third world countries, FAO has started a wood energy programme. One of the main objectives is to find ways to reduce the woodfuel consumption of rural industries without affecting rural development and/or without conflicting with the local existing socio-economy. In addition to this sub-programme on wood energy systems in rural industries and village activities, there are other sub-programmes on afforestation, fuelwood plantations, utilization of agricultural residues, and improvement of cooking stoves and charcoal kilns.
Within the scope of the programme concerning wood energy in rural industries, some 20 case studies initiated by FAO have been carried out in different regions and countries. Of the so far available reports listed in the references, one is a summary paper prepared by the Italian TEAM company (18) on wood energy systems, and another is a summary paper prepared by the BEST company (19) on the situation in Asia and the Pacific Region. Two national summary papers on the facts of wood fuel consumption by rural industries in Sri Lanka (16) and Thailand (17) have also been prepared. Other papers deal with grain drying in Colombia (15), salt drying in Nicaragua (14), curing of tobacco in Malawi (13), tea drying in Sri Lanka (2) and Malawi (3), coffee and cocoa processing (12,11) in Indonesia, fish smoking Ghana (6) and Tanzania (7), the coconut industries of Sri Lanka (1), rubber and latex production in Malaysia (5) and Sri Lanka (4), the lime industries of Thailand (10) and Indonesia (8), and the production of bricks and rooftiles in Indonesia (9).
Although many facts and data about wood fuel supply and consumption and heat generation systems used by different industrial sectors have been presented in the reports mentioned above, there is still a lack of more precise data, on the basis of which further FAO interventions and activities could be initiated and specified. A clear need of preparing more detailed analysis and case studies both on a national and local level has been identified.
