Buliisa women turn agricultural waste into fuel to avoid deadly journeys for firewood
In June 2023, Janet Bero Pamungu, left her home in Waiga village with two of her children to collect firewood from the nearby bush. The 42 year old mother of seven did not return alive. Pamungu was attacked and killed by a stray elephant while searching for firewood need for cooking according to the report by The Cooperator.
For many families in Buliisa, collecting firewood is part of everyday life. But in villages bordering Murchison Falls National Park and Bugungu Wildlife Researve, that responsibility can bring women into areas frequented by elephants and other wildlife.
Figure 1: Elephant crossing the road in Buliisa district (Photo by Harriet Kugonza)
As firewood becomes harder to find close to their homes, women say they must walk longer distances to collect it.
Pamungu’s death is not an isolated incident. The Uganda Wildlife Authority says its available records show that three people were killed in elephant attacks during the first quarter of 2025.
Media reports have separately documented elephant attacks involving people collecting firewood, tending to gardens, grazing animals and walking through affected communities.
On February, 9 2025, 51-year- old Eunice Kyabadiri Nyajangi Kutegeka of Kigoya village in Buliisa Sub County was killed by an elephant while collecting firewood near her home. Her 4-year-old son, who had accompanied her, was seriously injured. According to Daily Monitor, local leaders say at least 18 people have been killed by elephants and buffaloes in Buliisa district since 2022, while others have sustained injuries (https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/buliisa-residents-live-in-fear-of-elephant-attacks-4939708 ).
Figure 2: Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Mr. Tom Butime (standing) had visited a family in Kigoye village where Janet Tugulihikya was also killed by an elephant (Photo by Harriet Kugonza)
A whole day spent looking for firewood
Buliisa is in Uganda’s Albertine region, a landscape containing wildlife habitats, farming communities and major oil and gas developments. Communities face growing pressure on land and natural resources as the population increases, demand for firewood, land and food rises.
For women such as Olive Akumu, finding enough firewood can take most of the day. “We no longer have enough firewood in the area. One can spend almost the whole day travelling about 10-12 km looking for firewood,” says Akumu, a resident of Waiga village in Buliisa Sub County.
When the firewood collected runs out, Akumu says some families cut cassava stems from their gardens and use them for cooking.
Video: Akumu narrating
Women in the area say the time spent searching for firewood could otherwise be used for farming, doing productive work, caring for children and completing other household responsibilities.
At the same time, the growing demand for firewood has turned the risky activity into a source of income for some women, who collect and sell it to other households.
“Some women collect firewood for sale. I buy a bundle between 10,000 and 15,000 Ugandan shillings, and I need about three bundles of firewood to take me through the week,” says Judith Berwoiroth, a resident of Ngwedo Sub County in Buliisa district.
This means her household spends between 30,000 and 45000 Ugandan shillings a week on firewood, demonstrating the financial burden that families face in meeting their cooking energy needs.
Figure 3: One of the women who had gone to sell a bundle of firewood to Judith Berwoirwo (Photo by Precious Naturinda)
For those who collect it themselves, walking farther from home also increases their chances of encountering wildlife. “When we go deeper into protected areas, we risk being attacked by wildlife or even unscrupulous people. And at that point, even making noise cannot save you,” added Akumu
From agricultural waste to cooking fuel
In response, Buliisa Grassroots Women Association (BUGWA) is training women to make charcoal briquettes from locally available agricultural residues and household waste.
The women dry materials such as cassava peelings before carbonizing and crushing them. They mix the result with charcoal dust and soil, and a binder made from cassava flour porridge. It is then molded and dried to produce briquettes that can be used for cooking.
Instead of being thrown away, the cassava peelings and charcoal dust become an alternative source of household fuel.
Figure 4: kitchen waste that is used to make briquettes (Phot by Kugonza Harriet)
BUGWA Executive Director, Harriet Kugonza says the training is intended to reduce how frequently women enter areas where they could encounter elephants while collecting firewood.
“So far we over 50 women have been trained in making these charcoal briquettes and making energy saving stoves. Some of the women are already using them at home. This helps protect women from wildlife attacks while also reducing some of the risks associated with collecting firewood, such as gender based violence,” she says.
Figure 5: Some of the women during hands on training by Bugwa (Photo by Harriet Kugonza)
Women who have benefited from the initiative say briquettes burn for long and require less attention than firewood. This gives women more time to rest and attend to other productive work while food is cooking.
Figure 6: some of the briquettes made
“I do not have to remain beside the cooking place continually adding fuel. This gives me time to rest or attend to other work while food is cooking,” says Emily Fwacan, one of the beneficiaries.
Growing demand for briquette training
BUGWA has used radio programs to explain how briquettes are made and households may benefit from using them.
Figure 7: Women during a radio talkshow (Phot by Harriet Kugonza)
Kugonza says the radio programs generated calls from community members interested in learning how to produce fuel.
“We received many calls from people requesting the training. The demand is high in Buliisa and the neighboring districts, but our resources are limited,” added Kugonza.
The association wants to acquire briquette making equipment, train more women and help women develop small businesses.
However, the briquettes alone cannot end human-wildlife conflict in Buliisa. Communities also need effective barriers around protected areas, timely responses when animals enter cillages and accessible mechanisms through which affected communities can seek compensation for death, injuries and damages to crops or property.
UWA expands measure to reduce human-wildlife conflict
UWA reports that approximately 141 kilometres of electric fencing have been completed around the Murchison Falls Conservation Area. This includes 40 kilometres in Buliisa, 76 kilometres in Nwoya, 15 kilometres in Oyam and five kilometres each in Masindi and Kiryandongo.
An additional five-kilometre section is under construction in Purongo and Anaka sub-counties of Nwoya District. However, approximately 258 kilometres, representing 65 percent of the required fencing, remain unfinished, including sections around Bugungu and Karuma.
According to UWA Communications Officer, Mr. Bashir Hangi, the overall fencing programme is about 35 percent complete.
Figure 8: Progress of electric fencing around the Murchison Falls Conservation Area. Source: Uganda Wildlife Authority.
He says electric fencing has proved to be one of the most effective measures for reducing human-wildlife conflict, but it cannot work alone. Other interventions include digging trenches, promoting beekeeping along park boundaries, carrying out scare shooting, cultivating crops that wildlife generally avoids, and recruiting, training and equipping community wildlife scouts.
Because elephants are highly adaptable, UWA says a combination of measures is needed to reduce human-elephant conflict sustainably.
Women’s efforts to produce alternative cooking fuel can complement these measures by addressing search for firewood, as one of the reasons they enter wild prone areas.
For women such as Akumu, briquettes do not remove every threat facing communities near protected areas but they can reduce how frequently women must take long journeys to look for firewood.
In a district where ordinary search for firewood has cost women their lives, one reduce journey, by using charcoal briquettes, matters. BUGWA’s initiative shows the importance of supporting women to develop solutions based on their daily experiences.
This story was produced by Harriet Kugonza and Akugizibwe Peter Araali, with support from Women’s Media Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE) and additional information obtained from published media reports.