New firewood saving Tsotso stove introduced for tobacco farmers

Senior agronomist Lazarus Gatawa has introduced new technology of tsotso stove to small scale tobacco farmers in Chiweshe communal lands, Mashonaland Central province. The Tsotso stove is hand-built using locally available materials and the farmer does not need to buy anything. It is built using pot molding clay soil and ash for heat insulation. In view of the demand for firewood for curing tobacco and cooking purposes, the Tsotso stove comes at the right time to alleviate the challenge. The indigenous technology also resonates well with the much advocated  sustainable tobacco production (STP). Gatawa said the technology will go a long way to save not only firewood but also time as the stove cooks fast because of its efficiency.


This is a relief to Women who are used to fetch firewood from long distances. One can cook using few twigs (Tsotso in Shona and Incwathi in Ndebele). If Women can cook fast after returning from tobacco activities like weeding, bud topping or reaping, they will save more time for other household chores like  washing or even resting. The stove also adds aesthetic value in the kitchen and improves hygiene as it can be polished all the time and ash management is made easier.

The program will see more women being trained to build the stoves and be stove promoters in their communities. Tobacco farmers are being urged to embrace this technology to save our fast diminishing indigenous forests as a result of tobacco curing demand.