Amuru Up with UPCHAIN Briquettes

In October 2023 Amuru District leaders gave a piece of land in Pabbo town to Gulu University to establish a facility that would produce briquettes from agricultural waste, technically called green charcoal. Sixteen months later, they returned to a buzz of activity in an enclosure of what was previously a thick bush. Their excitement made them dream big and even pledge to give more land when required for the university to expand the facility.

Inside a green shelter, machines were raving, grinding and binding char into a protruding roll as a pair of hands cut fairly equal-sized pieces of what was being ejected. More hands continuously fed the machines while others ferried and put the wet briquettes in a solar drier adjacent to the green shelter.  

Members of Yele Ber youth group operate green charcoal machines at Pabbo

Beside the shelter, beans were cooking on cookstoves arranged in a row. Each stove was burning either green or ordinary charcoal (charcoal from trees) – a demonstration to compare the variations when the two types of charcoal are used in cooking.  Now and again someone lifted the lids one by one to check and compare the status of the beans and also add charcoal where it was needed.

February 27, 2025, was for celebrations. Pabbo was witnessing the official launch of the “UPCHAIN Living Lab”, a facility established by the university but managed by a local youth group known as Yele Ber, where other community members can learn about the production and use of green charcoal.

Amuru RDC Osborn Geoffrey Ochen officially launches the UPCHAIN Living Lab in Pobbo. To his immediate right are Prof. Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld (UPCHAIN Principal Investigator), Mr. Titus Jogo (Head of Refugee Desk in Adjumani), Prof. Charles Nelson Okumu (Secretary to the UPCHAIN Advisory Board) and Ms. Marie Gry Torup Idvedsen (Manager of BSU project, Danida Fellowship Centre)

Since May 2022 Gulu University, in partnership with Danish universities, has been researching different aspects of production, marketing, and adoption of green charcoal as a viable alternative to ordinary charcoal and firewood especially in cooking.

Turning to charcoal from agricultural waste would reduce the pressure on northern Uganda’s tree cover and avert deforestation, a threat that led to a presidential decree in 2023 banning the production and trade in charcoal from the region. Besides, carbonised briquettes burn without producing smoke and therefore provide a cleaner and healthier cooking environment than charcoal from trees or firewood.

Also, as demonstrated at Pabbo, carbonised briquettes burn for a longer period and currently, at UGX 1000 per kilo, they are comparatively cheaper to cook with than charcoal from trees. And, for Amuru, green charcoal production presents employment opportunities, especially for young people. The district leadership would like to exploit that. The Pabbo lab is already employing nearly 30 youth. They collect waste including rice husks and ground nut shells, transport it to Pabbo, and process it into briquettes which they later sell to the community.

Yele Ber group members count money from the sales of green charcoal during the launch event

“This project gives hope to children who were affected by the [LRA] war. In Amuru 100 percent of us got displaced during the war. The majority of the people here [working at the facility] were born in IDP [Internally Displaced People’s] camps. I am happy we [Amuru] are part of this [UPCHAIN] project. Even when the project period is up support for the tangible aspects of this project should be continued,” said Michael Lakony, the Amuru District LC5 Chairman.

UPCHAIN researcher Prof. Elizabeth Opiyo shares a moment with Mr. Lakony during the launch ceremony

“We have seen the potential of this project. When you require more land for expansion we shall give you,” added the Mayor of Pabbo Town, Richard Camhara.

The Amuru Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Osborn Geoffrey Ocheng, who officiated at the launch, said he at first had doubts about the green charcoal project “but my mind has been changed.”

“We need to mobilise all our colleagues [leaders in northern Uganda] so that we open a centre in Gulu City where we can sell our briquettes,” said an excited Oceng, showing a desire for commercialisation of green charcoal.

UPCHAIN Coordinator Dr. Agatha Alidri demonstrates the difference in cooking between green and black charcoal. Dr. Alidri also heads UPCHAIN’s gender research component.

UPCHAIN research continues with different teams working on different aspects including machine fabrication and raw materials. Others are looking into the social aspects of green charcoal such as gender relations, marketing, and adaptability.