Energy efficient equipment for residents of Yaghnob

The 30 most vulnerable families in the villages of the Yaghnob Valley received energy-efficient equipment sets that will help them reduce fuel consumption, save money and reduce pressure on mountain ecosystems.

From August 19 to 21, 2022, the Little Earth staff members visited six remote mountain villages in the Yagnob Valley, where they distributed 30 sets of resource-saving equipment. Each set included a solar parabolic kitchen, a portable lantern with a detachable solar panel, and a pressure cooker.

For residents of six villages - Kashe, Nomitkom, Rovt, Dehbaland, Piskon and Polaravot - the new devices have become a real gift.

The villages are located at an altitude of about 2500 meters above sea level. The villages belong to the Ayni district of the Sughd region. The distance from the regional center Ayni to the villages is about 100 km. The villages are so remote that there is not even a grocery store here. The villages are located in the Yaghnob Valley, where the Yaghnob National Nature and Ethnographic Park was created in 2019.

Rural residents use inefficient metal stoves for heating and cooking. The main types of fuel are dry manure, firewood and partly coal. In many villages there are micro-hydro power plants, the capacity of which is only enough for lighting. In winter, some of them stop working due to the decrease in the water level of rivers and streams. Therefore, the distributed equipment will be a good help for the villages.

“There were no questions about pressure cookers and solar lanterns, but many residents were skeptical about parabolic solar kitchens. Only after we showed them how to boil water with them, they happily began to help assemble new devices,” says Anton Timoshenko, executive director of the Little Earth.

To two villages - Piskon and Dehbaland, where some families received devices, employees of the Little Earth had to get on foot - there is no road here. The cargo was carried on donkeys.

Before handing out the equipment, the Little Earth employees demonstrated how it operates, explained in detail how it functions and handed out instructions for users. The list of recipients was compiled by the residents themselves, together with representatives of the administration of the national park and heads of villages.

“I saw a similar parabolic kitchen at my friend's house in the regional center. I saw how it works. I was ready to exchange it for a ram, but he refused. Fortunately, now our family has become the owner of a solar kitchen, a lantern and a pressure cooker. Now we will see the smoke from the stove much less often, we will use the energy of the sun,” says Atobulloev Saymurod, a resident of the village of Piskon.

By using the disseminated devices, residents will not only consume less fuel and improve living conditions, but also save the family budget, at the same time helping to reduce the pressure on mountain ecosystems.

The distribution of equipment in the villages of Yagnob is a joint initiative of the Little Earth and the German public organization SunHelp International.

Timur Idrisov, The Little Earth
Photo: Shodibek Sharipov