From 2012 to 2014, The Kindu Trust distributed environmentally friendly mirt stoves to sponsored families 

‘Mirt’ means ‘best’ in Amharic, and these eco-stoves are used for baking Injera, a pancake like thin bread made of teff flour which is native to Ethiopia, and  is also used to cook and boil food while baking without the use of additional fuel.

Mirt is produced with mortar – a mixture of river sand with cement and has an average lifespan of five years. Urban, peri-urban and rural households use the stove to bake up to 30 injeras per baking session. In a typical household there are 2-3 baking sessions in a week.

Although heavy in weight, these eco-stoves work with all types of biomass fuel, is dual purpose, is low cost to produce, creates employment, has low emissions and is produced using readily available local materials.

A series of control cooking tests revealed a fuel saving of about 50% and kitchen carbon monoxide (CO) concentration reductions of about 90% compared with three-stone open fire.  Results from laboratory tests conducted by the Ethiopian Rural Energy Development & Promotional Centre showed a range of 18-23 percentage heat utilisation.

From 2012 to 2014, 216 mirt stoves were distributed to households across Gondar and Debark. Mirt stoves continue to grow in popularity as communities start to feel its environmental and economic value: the reduction in firewood and kerosene used for cooking. This leads to a reduction in the amount of money households would have invested if they were solely dependent on the firewood and increasing costs of kerosene.

The Kindu Trust will continue our distribution of mirt stoves to families in Lalibela, Tikil Dingay and Addis Ababa in the coming years. Thank you to everyone who has bought a mirt stove.