Determinants of clean cooking fuels utilization in three peri-urban communities in Ghana: key lessons to inform national policy

Abstract

Use of polluting fuels has negative effect on human health and the environment. Use of clean cooking fuels (liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can address this burden but in Ghana adoption is low with accessibility, convenience and safety concerns being potential barriers to LPG use. In order to address these issues, the Ghanaian government launched a new LPG distribution model through cylinder recirculation in 2019 on a pilot basis As part of the CLEAN-Air (Africa) project, we collaborated with National Petroleum Authority implementing the CRM to conduct face-to-face surveys of randomly selected households on household cooking fuels preferences and use in three peri-urban CRM pilot communities in Ghana. To analyse determinants of adoption and sustained use of LPG for cooking, individual, household and wider community characteristics were entered as covariates into logistic regression models as potential predictors. A total of 5,008 respondents completed the questionnaires across the three communities (Obuasi; 1,987 (40.0%), Kwaebibirem; 1,731 (34.9%) and Hohoe; 1,248 (25.1%)). A total of 48.6% (Obuasi (50.1%); Kwaebibirem (44.4%); Hohoe (52.2%)) households reported currently using LPG as the main cooking fuel. Being head of the household, increased household size, home ownership, an indoor cooking area, increased educational status and an increased number of LPG burners were associated with household’s choice of using LPG as a primary fuel. Households using an LPG stove with three or more-burners, were 68% [OR:1.68 (95%CI: 1.32, 2.14), 001] more likely to use LPG as a primary fuel than those using a single burner on top of the cylinder. Given the importance of the CRM, understanding household level characteristics for adoption are important. Better education and awareness raising of benefits will be important in scaling adoption of LPG as a clean fuel for cooking at the household level. Keywords: clean cooking fuels, LPG, Cylinder Recirculation Model, primary fuel use