Short description of the best practice

Pine Briquetting was introduced as an experimental endeavor with the intent of reducing the drudgery of the womenfolk of Himalayan villages in the project area and also to address the perpetual problem of “Forest fires” caused by pine needles. Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector Project (GEF Funded) co financed with UDWDP project has up scaled the Pine Briquetting activity through various endeavours.
At the Project start, about 85% of the rural households were engaged in the collection of fuel wood. The average family size in the project area is five adult units, with an annual consumption of fuel wood per rural household of 2.7 MT collected by 183 women labour days. Pressure on forest resources, health problems because of smoke pollution, drudgery in fuel wood collection and transportation, and opportunity cost of women labour days spent are the costs associated with the use of fuel wood based energy for household use.
The usage of Pine briquettes as fuel not only brought a relief to the forest but also reduced the drudgery of women to an extent. The average requirement of pine needle briquettes per household is 1.1 MT per annum. The calorific value recorded for pine needle briquette is 5,885 Kcal/kg, 47% more than the fuel wood. Shifting out of fuel wood based energy in the beneficiary households would save 110 women days per annum. Given the opportunity, about 95% of the rural women engaged in domestic duties would work in their household premises in for other income generation activities. The opportunity cost of saved women labour is therefore high, and even at the current wage rate, its value works out to Rs 8,250 per annum per household.

Location

Nainital, Bageshwar, Augustyamuni, Chinyalisaur Divisions of Uttarakhand|

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

Warm temperate conditions prevail in the Middle Himalayan valleys, with summer temperatures usually hovering about the mark of 25° C and cooler winters. Cool temperate conditions dominate the higher areas of the Middle Himalayas, where the summer temperatures are usually around 15 to 18° C and winters drop below the freezing point.|
There are three distinct topographical belts - the Shivaliks in the sub Himalayan tract (300-600m amsl), the Himachal ranges in the lower Himalayan region (1,500 2,700m amsl), and the Himadri ranges in the upper Himalayan region (4,800-6,000m amsl). The Garhwal and Kumaon regions of the State together form approximately 350km of the 2,500km long Himalayan range. The middle hill region that lies between 1,800-3,000m is mostly forested, thinly populated and  has poor water supply.|
In the north, the soil ranges from gravel (debris from glaciers) to stiff clay. Brown forest soil—often shallow,
gravelly, and rich in organic content—is found farther to the south.

Prevailing socio-economic conditions of those living in the location and/or nearby

Main income sources- are through sale of farm produce, livestock products, livestock and other non farm based activities.   

On the basis of which criteria and/or indicator(s) (not related to The Strategy) the proposed practice and corresponding technology has been considered as 'best'?

•Use of  highly inflammable material into alternate source of energy which helps to reduce forest fire .
•Other indirect indicators include: Reduction in soil loss,  Increase in water availability

Main problems addressed by the best practice

Fuel wood requirement - The average family size in the project area is five adult units, with an annual consumption of fuel wood per rural household of 2.7 MT. This puts a lot of pressure on the forests. The total area of Pine Forest in reserve forest in Uttarakhand is about 3.43 Lakh Hectare. These Pine forests in Uttarakhand produces about 20.58 lakh tones dry biomass (pine needle) annually. These are now utilised for producing pine briquettes.|Drudgery of women -Shifting out of fuel wood based energy in the beneficiary households will save 110 women days per annum. Given the opportunity, about 95% of the rural women engaged in domestic duties would be willing to get engaged in livelihood activities in their household premises. The opportunity cost of saved women labour is therefore high, and even at the current wage rate, its value works out to Rs 8,250 per annum per household|Health of women – The fuel wood burning causes lot of smoke thus leading to many health problems. The pine briquette fuel is a very clean fuel with no sulphur content and low ash content of <5%. The stove used to cook food using pine briquette is also smoke less. Thus the use of pine briquette fuel would help in reducing the ill effects of fuel burning on women health.

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

80% of the project area lies in Chir pine zone and this zone is very prone to forest fires due to deposition of pine needles on the forest floor.
These fires cause destruction of bio mass available on the surface thus leading to depletion of organic matter from the soil. The soil becomes compact and the percolation of water into the soil decreases. This leads to excessive run off from the surface and causes lot of soil erosion.
The pine briquette would serve as an alternate to fuel wood, thereby reducing pressure on forest.  This would help in reducing degradation of forest.

Specify the objectives of the best practice

Reducing pressure and fuel load in forest- Pine briquette would help to replace the demand of fuel wood. This would reduce the dependency of local people on forest for fuel wood. The removal of pine needle would help to reduce inflammable material from the forest.   |Livelihood option- Pine briquetting would provide an alternate livelihood option to the local people as the availability of raw material in the adjoining forest is in plenty and the demand for fuel exists in the local markets. |Reducing drudgery of woman- Shifting to pine briquetting as an alternative fuel option would save time of the rural women. |Alternate renewable energy source- Pine needle charcoal briquettes is an ideal fuel as it is ecofriendly and also economical and cheaper than other solid fuels.

Brief description of main activities, by objective

Awareness generation and capacity building-People were made aware about the usage of pine briquettes and significance of the conservation of forests.
|Organizing into self help groups (SHG’s)-Local people were organized into self help for ease of mobilization, social interactions and economic interactions. These SHG’s facilitated production, marketing and sustainability of the enterprise. |Demonstration of technology- The technology of pine briquetting was demonstrated to the local people for enabling them to adopt and use it.
Organizing into self help groups- Local people were organized into self help groups and trained to facilitate production, marketing and sustainability of the enterprise. |Sale of excess produce-For income generation, excess produce was manufactured and sold in the local market.|Record keeping- Groups were trained on accounting and record keeping.   
Awareness generation- Women were made aware about the benefits of using pine briquettes-like time saving, less hazardous, energy efficient. |Promoting use of smokeless stoves-Villagers were motivated to use smokeless stoves for house hold purposes because   they are less hazardous and energy efficient.|Organizing into self help groups for production- Women  were organized into self help groups to produce briquettes  for self consumption and for income generation.
Awareness generation- People were made aware about the usage of pine briquettes and significance of renewable energy resource in the conservation of forests.|Organized collection of raw material-Villagers were organized into groups for collection of pine needles and production of briquettes.|Organized  marketing of produce for sale- Self help groups (SHG’s) were motivated to the extent that apart from producing briquettes for self consumption, they  analysed the potential market in local and urban areas and started marketing briquettes in these areas.

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

Charring of Pine Needles:
The charring kiln is used to convert pine needles into charcoal. The needles are fed gradually in a specially designed charring kiln. After the batch is completely fed, the door of the kiln is closed. Due to partial oxidation the needles are charred and not burnt.
Power Operated Briquetting Machine:
The char obtained from the charring kiln, is mixed with 10% of suitable binder (cow dung, starch, soil) and the mixture is fed in the hopper of the machine, which is conveyed by the augur to the exit tubes from where the cylindrical briquettes come out and fall on the pan, placed under the machine.
The briquetting machine is made of mild steel and works on two HP Motor. The production capacity of the machine is 60Kg /hr.
Biomass Fuel Cooking Stove:
Considering the importance of design of cooking stove, a new kind of advanced design of cooking stove for the purpose of using biomass fuel briquettes and in particular to reduce the loss of heat due to radiation and convection, has been developed. In this stove, the briquettes burn efficiently with less smoke production.

Name and address of the institution developing the technology

Watershed Management Directorate|Forest Colony, Indiranagar, Dehradun

Was the technology developed in partnership?

No

Specify the framework within which the technology was promoted

• Programme/project-based initiative

Was the participation of local stakeholders, including CSOs, fostered in the development of the technology?

No

For the stakeholders listed above, specify their role in the design, introduction, use and maintenance of the technology, if any.

N. A.

Was the population living in the location and/or nearby involved in the development of the technology?

No

Describe on-site impacts (the major two impacts by category)

Reducing the health hazard of women
Reduction in pressure on forest
Reduced drudgery of women.
Increase in income of local people.
Controlling land degradation

Describe the major two off-site (i.e. not occurring in the location but in the surrounding areas) impacts

Demonstration effect.
Improvement in the eco-system services.

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

No

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Yes

Where?

Other parts of Uttarakhand

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Yes

Specify which type of incentives:

• Policy or regulatory incentives (for example, related to market requirements and regulations, import/export, foreign investment, research & development support, etc)
• Financial incentives (for example, preferential rates, State aid, subsidies, cash grants, loan guarantees, etc)

Can you identify the three main conditions that led to the success of the presented best practice/technology?

Simple and easily adaptable technology.
People were organized into self help groups to facilitate production and organized marketing with  funding support from the project for up-scaling the activity.
Availability of raw material -80% of the project area lies in Chir pine zone. These Pine forest produce about 20.58 lakh tones dry biomass (pine needle) annually in the state.

Replicability

In your opinion, the best practice/technology you have proposed can be replicated, although with some level of adaptation, elsewhere?

Yes

At which level?

• Local

Related to human resources

Capacity building and awareness generation if adequately provided leads to change in the mind set of local people. |Organizing the people into self help groups facilitated production and marketing. |Capacity building facilitates the rural people in accounting and record keeping.

Related to technical aspects

Simple Technology helped in adaptation. |As the machine runs on electric power so the production capacity is higher than the manually operated ones, hence it is time saving for the local people.|Easy operation and maintenance cost helps in acceptability of the technique.