Accelerated impact program Burundi alternative energy - peat

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will implement the project, which will expand peat extraction and marketing, strengthen ONATOUR"s technical and administrative capacities, and conduct research on technical and social aspects of peat production and use. CRS will help ONATOUR to expand existing small-scale peat operations by developing six extraction sites capable of producing 30,000 MT of processed peat yearly. CRS will contract the services of four Irish peat cutters, who will provide TA to ONATOUR site managers and demonstrate efficient harvesting and processing techniques. Peat marketing and distribution systems will be developed. Consultants will be hired to conduct research on technical and sociological aspects of peat production and use. Topics to be studied will include the acceptability of peat as an alternative to fuelwood and charcoal, the potential agricultural and other uses of peat, quality control, marketing, and distribution. Also, experiments will be conducted to improve the design of locally manufactured tools for peat cutting. To strengthen ONATOUR"s institutional capacity, CRS will help ONATOUR to recruit and train additional staff and to introduce improved management and accounting systems. The project will also fund procurement of several vehicles, including trucks for transporting peat to rural and urban markets.