On 5th Jan, 2011, Dr. Sai Bhaskar Reddy, founder of GEO (Geoecology Energy Organisation) and an expert on efficient cook stoves and biochar visited The Shola Trust. The three day visit started off with a visit to a nearby village, where Dr Sai could see the traditional stoves which are currently used by the tribals, their cooking patterns and eating habits. The next day, based on his observations, Dr. Sai designed a cookstove which is very similar to the traditional stoves but is more efficient in
1) Fuel wood consumption
2) Visibly less smoke
3) Increased charcoal yield
Based on the initial, positive test results of our new stove, we are eager to give out these stoves on an experimental basis to a few local people. Depending on their feedback, we aim to introduce it on a larger scale covering many households in the area.
Dr. Sai also shared his views about the importance of biochar in agriculture and maintaining soil fertility to the members of the Shola Trust and some other interested youth. He also visited the sites where we are conducting soil trials to prove that biochar does indeed enhance soil fertility and shared his learnings and hands on experiences on how this can be further improved.
Overall, the visit was extremely productive for our team and the passion shown by Dr. Sai towards biocharculture, a term coined by him, is something worth admiring and a source of inspiration to our team here.
